My Space and My Place

Students from Glenbrae School talk about accessing the learning in DigiTech, including task instructions, their progress and achievement.

Students from Glenbrae Primary School explain the use and benefits of Subject Sites, Google Calendars, and Class Blogs (Communities) to engage student learning, including the learning of their peers in class.

Students from Glenbrae Primary School explain the use and benefits of Subject Sites, Google Calendars, and Class Blogs (Communities) as Rewindable Learning Tools.

Public G+ Communities

When you start up a G+ Community for your subject, think about how this will function. What you should definitely do is make the community PUBLIC, because you can’t change this function once the community has been set up. I’ve been caught out with this with communities that I’ve set up for classes a couple of years back, which is annoying. Although those communities still exist, and for at least the next year, I’ll add my students into those communities, it will take a while for the new public communities to generate resources and traffic. #rookieerror


Year Level Subject G+ Communities v Class Communities

Going back 2-3 years when I first started developing and using G+ communities, and for that matter, Blogs, I was setting them up for each class. That worked well for that particular class, but wasn’t very clever in terms of broad ideas around sharing. I say this, because I was teaching 2 x intermediate classes, 2 x Year 9 classes, and 1-2 Year 10 classes, alongside my multi-level senior class. That was semester 1! Enter semester 2, where the seniors would stay, but I’d get a whole range of different junior classes, then semester 3 etc. When students at a particular year level were learning similar concepts, regardless of which ‘class’ they belonged to, it was senseless to have individual class communities and blogs (as well as a logistical nightmare). It made more sense to create a year level community with labels or categories, that students could easily share and learn from. Hence, in my case, it made more sense (for longevity) to go Year Level instead of Class by Class. Another reason I’ve had to set up new G+ communities ... #rookieerror2


Generating Feedback

Students generating feedback on each others work isn’t something that just happens by chance. Students need to, not only be reminded of the value that feedback has for their peers, but also be given the opportunity (timewise) to feedback within the timeframes of the lesson. I know this sounds impossible, when we’re trying to jam all of the knowledge of the universe into 50 minute slots, but over time it can be done. Does it have to happen every lesson? Debatable. Does it have to happen regularly? Absolutely.

The following is a link to information on Student Blogs in the VTaL Site.  The VTaL Google Site includes a brief explanation of each of the different components of the VTaL Framework.  The site includes a VTaL Starter Kit, and connects various components of the VTaL Framework to the 7 Principles of Learning from the Nature of Learning, published by the OECD Project Innovative Learning Environment.  In addition, links are provided for aspects of the Practicing Teaching Criteria to the different components of the VTaL framework, including reflective questions for teaching practitioners.

The following is a link to information on Subject Google+ Community or Blogs in the VTaL Site.  The VTaL Google Site includes a brief explanation of each of the different components of the VTaL Framework.  The site includes a VTaL Starter Kit, and connects various components of the VTaL Framework to the 7 Principles of Learning from the Nature of Learning, published by the OECD Project Innovative Learning Environment.  In addition, links are provided for aspects of the Practicing Teaching Criteria to the different components of the VTaL framework, including reflective questions for teaching practitioners.

The following is a link to information on Year Level Google Sites in the VTaL Site.  The VTaL Google Site includes a brief explanation of each of the different components of the VTaL Framework.  The site includes a VTaL Starter Kit, and connects various components of the VTaL Framework to the 7 Principles of Learning from the Nature of Learning, published by the OECD Project Innovative Learning Environment.  In addition, links are provided for aspects of the Practicing Teaching Criteria to the different components of the VTaL framework, including reflective questions for teaching practitioners.

The following is a link to information on Student Subject Google Sites in the VTaL Site.  The VTaL Google Site includes a brief explanation of each of the different components of the VTaL Framework.  The site includes a VTaL Starter Kit, and connects various components of the VTaL Framework to the 7 Principles of Learning from the Nature of Learning, published by the OECD Project Innovative Learning Environment.  In addition, links are provided for aspects of the Practicing Teaching Criteria to the different components of the VTaL framework, including reflective questions for teaching practitioners.

The following is a link to information on Subject Google Calendars with Hyperlinks in the VTaL Site.  The VTaL Google Site includes a brief explanation of each of the different components of the VTaL Framework.  The site includes a VTaL Starter Kit, and connects various components of the VTaL Framework to the 7 Principles of Learning from the Nature of Learning, published by the OECD Project Innovative Learning Environment.  In addition, links are provided for aspects of the Practicing Teaching Criteria to the different components of the VTaL framework, including reflective questions for teaching practitioners.

The following is a link to information on Student Project Checklists in the VTaL Site.  The VTaL Google Site includes a brief explanation of each of the different components of the VTaL Framework.  The site includes a VTaL Starter Kit, and connects various components of the VTaL Framework to the 7 Principles of Learning from the Nature of Learning, published by the OECD Project Innovative Learning Environment.  In addition, links are provided for aspects of the Practicing Teaching Criteria to the different components of the VTaL framework, including reflective questions for teaching practitioners.

The following is a link to information on Class Project Task Lists in the VTaL Site.  The VTaL Google Site includes a brief explanation of each of the different components of the VTaL Framework.  The site includes a VTaL Starter Kit, and connects various components of the VTaL Framework to the 7 Principles of Learning from the Nature of Learning, published by the OECD Project Innovative Learning Environment.  In addition, links are provided for aspects of the Practicing Teaching Criteria to the different components of the VTaL framework, including reflective questions for teaching practitioners.

The following is a link to information on SOLO-Focused Learning Activities in the VTaL Site.  The VTaL Google Site includes a brief explanation of each of the different components of the VTaL Framework.  The site includes a VTaL Starter Kit, and connects various components of the VTaL Framework to the 7 Principles of Learning from the Nature of Learning, published by the OECD Project Innovative Learning Environment.  In addition, links are provided for aspects of the Practicing Teaching Criteria to the different components of the VTaL framework, including reflective questions for teaching practitioners.

The following is a link to information on Subject Google Sites in the VTaL Site.  The VTaL Google Site includes a brief explanation of each of the different components of the VTaL Framework.  The site includes a VTaL Starter Kit, and connects various components of the VTaL Framework to the 7 Principles of Learning from the Nature of Learning, published by the OECD Project Innovative Learning Environment.  In addition, links are provided for aspects of the Practicing Teaching Criteria to the different components of the VTaL framework, including reflective questions for teaching practitioners.

What is the purpose of the site?

This may sound like a really obvious question, with a really obvious answer attached, but it actually needs some serious thought. There definitely isn’t a one size fits all scenario around this, although there are some basics. What information should you absolutely include on the site? How would this information best be accessed (mostly from the point of view of the student, but possibly also by other stakeholders such as parents etc)? What layout would best allow for the information to be communicated and accessed?

Print Media Google Site version 1

Gosh I still remember the hideousness of this site. It was the first Google Site I’d put together for my (then) courses. It was back in 2012. When I put the site together, I thought it was the business! Um, no! Think of the first time you put together a presentation, and you found all of the transitions, so decided that you’d use them all. You play your presentation, but noone has any idea what you were trying to say because they’re dizzy from all of the transitions. That was me and my first site. Text. EVERYWHERE. Not the greatest communication tool. Well there was nothing wrong with the tool, it was how I was trying to use it eg. take the info out of my head, and place it in text form, on a site. The feedback came back from students, by means of “Miss, what are we doing?” a lot!

Digital Technologies Google Site version 2

Fast forward to 2014, and then there’s a new site. But have I learnt my lesson? Not exactly. The site had a new look, still hideous!, but also had added extras. As well as what the previous site had, I also had embedded my calendars into the site, and started dabbling with those as communication tools. Calendars themselves have actually turned out to be a really effective way of enabling rewindable learning to occur in my classes, but not when the calendars were embedded into a mass of colour and text destruction. By now, it became clear that I needed to wipe the slate clean, and get some meaningful feedback from students on what worked and what didn’t in terms of website layout for them to access learning resources.

DigiTech Google Site version 3

So the current model is the DigiTech site. Minimal text on the home page, and trying (I did say trying) to keep the tabs to a minimum. It’s always a work in progress, but it’s probably the most user friendly of the three versions so far. It works very much like a landing pad to all other learning materials and resources. These resources include learning activities by year level, careers information, DigiTech Communities (blogs and G+), and other websites that directly relate to the subject area that I deliver. Calendars are embedded for all year levels, which include hyperlinks to various learning activities relevant to each lesson of the day. Again, another example of a landing pad.



Things to consider when putting together a Google Site for your Students

The minimalistic effect is usually the best! Not always, but usually.

Stakeholder feedback is vital. If it doesn’t suit the needs of the end user, cut your losses, and rebuild something, considering what the stakeholder needs and wants.

Be creative, but be smart. If it functions properly, but doesn’t look great, then it doesn’t work. If it looks great, but doesn’t function properly, then it STILL doesn’t work.

Good luck!

Siaosi Malafu explains the use and benefits of Subject Calendars and Project Task Lists.

Talita Aho explains the use and benefits of Task Lists and SOLO Focused Learning Activities.

Chae Hohepa explains the use and benefits of Google+ Communities (DigiTech Google+ Community).

The idea of sharing examples of student voice, is that if this learning tool is useful for encouraging and enabling student engagement and achievement to occur in one learning area, perhaps it can also be applied across other learning areas.

I was playing around with different ways in which students could visually display their work that could be used for a variety of purposes including moderation, courses, employment opportunities etc.  I'd looked into Google sites previously, but hadn't quite grasped how that might look like as far as visually displaying their work, but in a way that the development and ongoing maintenance of the digital resource wasn't going to be too taxing on the students.  So I started putting together what would essentially become an ePortfolio Google site template that students could use.

Before getting to the point of developing the ePortfolio template, I was sketching notes around the various 'Share' options that I was already using in my subject.  These included Google+ Communities and Blog Communities, as well as Student Blogs.  Each having a different focus or purpose for the student.  As I started (literally) throwing down notes into my visual diary about the ePortfolios, I started to unravel backwards where the students would access the evidence from to embed into their ePortfolios.  This essentially linked directly to the 'Create' aspects of the students' learning; whether that be in the form of presentations, drawings, videos, documents, images etc.  So then I had a clear idea of what I wanted the students to include and embed into their ePortfolio sites.  However, I was trying to envisage the point in the learning process by which students would know when to update their ePortfolio, as well as what that might look like.  This connected directly into the 'Learn' aspect of the equation, and essentially, sketches and notes around different 'learn' components.

When I saw a lot of my sketched notes down on paper, I had I guess what can only be referred to as a LIGHT BULB moment ... an epiphany as such.  With an end focus in mind eg. Subject and Year Level ePortfolios, and the unravelling and repackaging of the learning and creativity that would come together to form the ePortfolio, this essentially became the early ideas around an eLearning Framework.

Exciting ... but also a task and a half to extract the 'BIG Picture' out of my braincells and into a form that would not only be understood by others, but also be able to be implemented by others.  Nonetheless, the IDEA was formed!