Digital Fluency Intensive Day 1 - 26 July 2019

Feeling a little anxious as I walked into my DFI Day1 class this morning.  The beginning of a new journey. Come walk with me! I may trip, I may stumble but I will get back up again!

It is funny how up until now, what I knew about Manaiakalani has just been "myth and legend".  I was so pleased to finally hear the background story of Manaiakalani, how it came about, how it has grown, the legendary vision that was captured by a few clever individuals - who knew it started in 2006?  I didn't even own a mobile phone in 2006.  I am pleased to (finally) be a part of Manaiakalani (better late than never). Day 1 and I am already excited about what I can take back and share with our kaiako and tamariki at Cobham School.

I guess it is time to confess that I am digitally "a mess". There is no rhyme nor reason with my google drive or my docs for that matter and imagine my surprise when I realise that all this time I have been using the wrong google account with the email account - personal with the principal, principal with the teacher, teacher with the personal - oh my! The tangled webs we weave. Pleased to say ... my google accounts and my email accounts are sorted! I usually pride myself in being orderly, little did I know.  Although I have a long way to go I can now say that I am able to set up a google group. I didn't know there was such a thing. I've always been a person that went to their email and put all addresses in manually ... no more!

One of the many things I would like to take back to share with our learners is the voice to text tool. Too many times I see our tamariki sitting, not writing, not being able to share their thoughts because they simply do not have that capability yet. How much easier for them would it be if they could simply tell their story out loud? The success would be huge, confidence levels would rise - I see a new love for writing on the horizon. I won't forget the paper cup as a voice tunnel - what a fabulous idea that is!

Remove.bg is my new favourite tool. Another magnificent tool I will taking back to kura to share not only with our learners but also our kaiako. All this time I have persevered with mucky backgrounds. I will be forever grateful for being introduced to this site. Today I was able to make an A to Z (unfnished at the mo) of Cobham School using Remove.bg ... wowza! I'm addicted!

I am constantly looking at ways to improve the way in which I manage the different roles I have outside of school. Google groups is going to help me with this. I can see how separating my google accounts and google emails is going to tidy up the way I store information on my laptop - no more chopping and changing between accounts because "oh no" I see I'm saving crocheting patterns in my principal drive!!  Planning for birthday parties, weddings, timetabling drops off and pick ups will work a lot smoother (in my head) as I have a platform I can use and share with the family so we are all on the same page.

I survived (click for a quick waiata) my end of day. Pic for evidence! I walk away mentally exhausted but completely full of knowledge.