DFI Day 4: Data day!

Today's focus was all about sharing (tohatoha) and making connections. As we heard from Dorothy today, it is human nature to want to share. The only thing that’s changed over time is the mode. In 2005 the world changed, when sharing via the internet was born. Facebook, twitter, youtube, bebo all started in 2005. Traditional modes of sharing are still great! But are constrained by time, place and people. Sharing via the internet allows students to share to an authentic audience on a global scale.

There are lots of different social platforms to share now - so why choose Blogger? The answer lies in the ability to use Blogger to teach digital citizenship. There will be a point where students are sharing on their own in the digital world in their own chosen method, and they need to know how to keep themselves safe in this space. We can use Blogger to teach these skills. It's also good for teaching kids to FINISH work. This used to be the bane of my classroom existence. Getting a whole class of learners to complete a task!! An exercise book doesn't teach students the need to finish, but a blog post does. You don’t publish a half written blog post. This is such an important life skill, and it’s great to have a tool like Blogger that can help to teach this.

Google Forms

Jeremy shared some great ideas for how to use forms to save valuable teacher time! I particularly liked the idea of using a form to mark spelling tests. This would have saved me countless hours of repetitive marking! Also has the added bonus of not having to decipher spidery handwriting or student corrections.

Hāpara

Being able to see and access student blog posts and comments at a glance without having to go into each student's individual blog is another great time saver.

Google My Maps

I really enjoyed having a go at using Google My Maps to import data from a google form. What a neat way to display responses!