Mirror, mirror, on the wall, which is the most effective and engaging Cybersmart lesson of them all?

Well hopefully you've got beyond the huge title and realised it a weak attempt at linking the end of term reflection (hence the mirror) to a more exciting title.

As I've mentioned on a previous bog post I spent around half of this term teaching Cybersmart sessions from home, as Auckland moved into another lockdown and cases continued to emerge in close proximity to some of my schools. I'll try not to repeat myself but you can see that blog post here.

Tips and Tricks:

After a few weeks of teaching in this way (again) I realised that without much explicit planning or conscious effort, my classroom (or Meetroom) management had adapted to suit the new circumstances. Some examples off the top of my head are:

-using a lot of thumbs up and thumbs down to judge understanding

-students showing on their hands (out of five) how confident they were to start an activity

-students choosing one key idea to put in the chat after watching a video or reading a text

-following up a student sharing by letting them pick a number, then counting on Gridview to see who that student is to give them the opportunity to share next

-encouraging students to hop back into the Meet if they were stuck and want to ask a question without having the rest of the class present

Positives:

Because the teacher was in the room but I wasn't during these sessions there was a shift in roles and responsibilities. Teachers were called upon to roam and support students more as I was not able to do so. At first this often meant that we did not have time to catch up and discuss any challenges or goals. I soon realised that it was vital to build this time in. So the teacher and I would stay on the Google Meet once the students had left to catch up for ten minutes or so. As well as the obvious benefits for the teacher this also forced students to be more independent as they started their activities. By using Hāpara Teacher Dashboard we were also able to share examples where students had used this time constructively.

Another benefit is that students won't have had a huge gap between Google Meet experiences if  we were to go into another distance learning situation in Term 4 (here's hoping we don't though). I like the idea of having Meet drills just as you would have fire drills (to help prepare for any future distance learning scenarios) but for the classes I've been working with in this way they would be less of a necessity.

Challenges:

Lights, camera, camera, camera? - I noticed the older the students got the more reluctant they were to have their cameras on or the more easily distracted they got by being able to see each other. My general tactic was to normalise being able to see your face e.g. People see your face all day, on the playground, during lunch...

Who wants to share? Who else wants to share? - Encouraging a range of students to share their work rather than always using the couple of super keen sharers has always been a challenge. Being confident to share in front of your peers relies on having a strong and positive classroom culture. However, I think having lessons via Google Meet amplified the difference between those wanting to share and those not wanting to. I wonder what percentage of the unmuting, chat use and screen-sharing was accounted for by just a couple of individuals in each class.

Timing is everything - Students love creating DLOs but this takes time. Often the class would be incredibly engaged with creating a Screencastify, pick-a-path story or animation, only for the time to run out. I don't like leaving work to finish off for classes as I'm supposed to be taking things off teacher's plate not adding more! 

Some classes continued with Cybersmart when I left so that they could finish and others had time blocked off later in the week for 'finishing off' which seemed to work quite well. After a great discussion with other facilitators I'm also thinking of running multiple sessions with the learn content then blocking off the next session purely for the create part.

Moving Forwards:

As I plan Term 4's Cybersmart sessions I will be keeping in mind the fact that they may be delivered face to face or they may be delivered online. I hope to create sessions that will work equally well in person and over Google Meet. I'm also excited about collaborating more with facilitators from around the country to provide the best learning experiences for our students and teachers.

Happy holidays / non-contact time everyone!

Cybersmart at level 2.5

Kia ora koutou,

I simply had to post today as yesterday I had two of my most successful and inspiring Cybersmart sessions ever.

The success of these sessions is a tip of the cap to the huge amount of hard work that teachers, leaders and principals have put in over the last few months. And let's not forgot the students and the epic stint they have put in!

I've been facilitating from home this week due to the current situation in Auckland. Around two thirds of the classes I was working with were in class and socially distanced. There were also some learners who were at home but joined via Google Meet.

 

 The biggest bonus for me was being able to facilitate lessons as I did during distance learning but having the teacher in the classroom to roam and trouble shoot any problems that arose. I think this was also good learning for the teachers as they could see what the learning looks like from a student's perspective.

I realise there are still huge challenges around equitable access but yesterday gave me so much hope with teachers and learners showing they are flexible, resilient and willing to learn. It also reinforced what I already knew about the technology we use empowering learners and making the learning visible and ubiquitous.

The lessons were around quality blog commenting. Once students had learnt what quality blog comments look like and demonstrated their confidence they moved onto creating DLOs to teach others. The choices included Scratch, Canva and Screencastify. Here is an example of each:

Screencastify - Asfan 

Canva - Mehmet 

Scratch - me (no one chose to do Scratch so I did one)

                             

If anyone is interested here is the link to the lesson on the Ako Hiko Cybersmart site. On reflection there is a lot in this lesson and I might split the create part into two and move the actual commenting half into the learn section and scrap what's there already.

And if you're looking for a chance to practise your quality blog commenting yourself, why not leave me a comment or check out the Ako Hiko bloggers of the week and give them some well deserved feedback.

Ngā mihi

Cybersmart Planning

Another term lies ahead and after my first full term of facilitating I had a lot to reflect on. Here is my list of things that I tried to keep in mind while planning sessions and resources for Term 3.

keep it simple!

less talking by me - use Screencastify videos more for rewindable content

make sure resources are visually engaging on the site

offer different levels of choice for learners e.g. beginner, getting going and smart learner

make sure the create tasks are genuinely creative and that they allow students to demonstrate that they have learnt the 'learn section'

how do these activities reflect the Key Competencies?

more modes of text on the site, especially audio

plan opportunities for students to provide feedback

This seemed like a daunting task and the list seemed to make the very first bullet point impossible. In Term 2 I think I was guilty of trying to fit too much into a session. This meant that sessions were often left unfinished or ran over two weeks and lost some momentum.

I've realised that I can not possibly fit everything I'd like to into each session and still deliver a clear and effective Cybersmart programme. However, I still believe that all aspects of a successful Cybersmart session are visible at some point in the term. From giving students choice over what they create, to challenging and supporting learners with different levels of scaffolding. I haven't forced these features into each lesson but they are there throughout the term.

If you have time to look at some of the lessons I've prepared I'd love to hear your feedback and suggestions.

Term 3 Site:

And here's a link to the Term 2 resources if you wanted to compare:

DFI Session Seven

Today we heard Fiona share her expertise on all things Cybersmart. It was a good reminder to delve into the Cybersmart resources beyond smart learner, smart footprint and smart relationships (luckily I got a chance to do so on this very afternoon). 

I realised that in the last month or so I've focused a lot on the visible aspect of the Manaiakalani kaupapa, especially in terms of class sites and school websites. Fiona's session made me reflect more on the ubiquitous aspect. If the visibility is there and students have access to their learning (I realise some do not), what other barriers are there that might be preventing them from engaging in distance learning?

It was a timely reminder to check in with leaders around whether Cybersmart is being taught in all classes and how teachers are embedding Cybersmart learning into their existing programmes.

...

Gerhard's session on Chromebooks was really interesting. I've been using a Chromebook as my primary device through necessity but now I can see how valuable it has been as I am fluent and comfortable with the device. Having said that, I still learnt a lot of new shortcuts during the Digital Dig. For example:

• search-l to lock my screen 
• ctrl-l to copy the contents of the omnibox.

In the afternoon we were able to make a Screencastify based on the content of one of the Cybersmart areas. I chose Smart Surfing and created this summary.





Ngā mihi