Another distance learning day full of information!!
We began with a talk about being CONNECTED which is even more relevant at present while we are in lockdown and all learning remotely.
We have all spent the last two weeks...yes, the holidays!... thinking about/planning and setting up our distance learning for the first two weeks of Term 2 for our classes. Our Sites and hangouts are making the learning visible and making connections digitally not only with our kids, but also with their families. Every one is unsure of this new learning platform, so we are all stepping into unknown territory! Still some teething problems of course, even getting msgs during DFI to say the Principal and one parent can't get onto our Google Hangout...We'll have it sorted by the time lockdown is finished & we return to school!!
It's a great time to be on DFI actually, because at least we have had an insight into using all these digital tools, before we all HAD to put them into real life practice in order to teach and interact with our staff, our learners and their whanau.
Gerhard guided us through the basic site requirements and some valuable points to think about... does the site allow the children to accelerate?? Can they get to the learning within 3 clicks??
It's all about the VISUAL APPEAL and the SITE FUNCTIONALITY.
There is a lot to balance and we become graphic designers/artists/techno wizards while building our sites.
We viewed the sites of others in our regional groups and filled out a form to give each one feedback. It was a bit like speed-dating with sites!...
Luckily we were able to spend a bit of time making some improvements. Especially after going into an incognito window to view our site to find all the things without access. It's important to put everything we want to put on our sites into a seperate folder in our Drive, allow anyone with the link to view items in the folder and then put them into our sites. I have added more photos because it might engage more whanau to view our site. Will keep working on it. Luckily ours is a shared site with input from two other teachers also, so it is evolving quite quickly.
Kerry talked to us about Blogs and showed us how to add a gadget. I managed to add Melissa's Site to my Blog, then add Edwina's Blog to mine as gadgets in the side bar! Will search out some junior sites and blogs to add.
Also reviewed with Venessa today how to embed a video into my Blog with success.
Whew! Time to stretch & do some yoga :)
Donna,
ReplyDeleteI'm pleased that you are finding DFI useful and that we are able to support you with your distance/online learning. This is a challenging time for all, and a time where in the past, we would have been disconnected from the world and our students. It is lovely to be able to continue building relationships with our students and to hear about their adventures during lockdown.
Your class site is looking amazing. I can tell you have put thought into making it visually appealing yet functional.
Keep up the great work.