I had the pleasure of meeting with one of the stakeholders I identified in the ‘Who’ exercise undertaken at our first MIT weekend in February. The reason I wanted to meet was to discuss the design process of the website and mobile app that he’d put together for his business, and whether I could apply any of this to the design thinking process I am undergoing for my project.

I was shocked to learn the start up costs of the development of an app, not including ongoing maintenance etc. I don’t know why I was shocked. I guess that came from just generally not knowing what the start up costs actually are. This lead to the discussion around information flow, in terms of user interaction with the contents and materials within both a website and an app. When I explained that I wanted to organise information within a digital tool, that would encourage users (essentially teachers) to both learn from, download resources from, and apply within their teaching practice, it became apparent that perhaps an app wasn’t necessarily the best or most effective tool to develop. This aligned completely with feedback from Dorothy and Zac from the prototyping task at our second MIT session earlier in the week.

What I have learnt from this conversation is the value of feedback from people who have existing digital tools, and the need to revisit the problem and opportunity that I am wanting to address. Learning from other people’s experiences is particularly useful in using my own time and resources effectively, and also clarifying the direction of the next steps that I will take in the design process.

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Connecting

Sharing progress in our thinking. As we have faced the reality of the cohort of learners (and teachers) we are spending 2018 with, how has the thinking you developed at Kuaotunu gelled when ‘the rubber hit the road’?

Sharing the progress in my thinking with my fellow MIT peers since our first MIT weekend together, meant focusing on the 'problem' as well as the 'opportunity', as outlined in the image below.

The shifts in the usage of various VTaL tools from early in 2017 through to later in the year, showed that the Tracking Sheets was the tool that resonated most clearly with in terms of accelerating and shifting student achievement. Therefore, I have decided to focus on this particular tool as the main driver of the entire VTaL framework ... well, at least for the time being anyway. Connecting the focus to the problem, meant that every class (or class site) should have the tracking sheets visible and embedded into their sites for students, teachers and parents to view.

Design Thinking- Experimentation

Session 6: Design Thinking- Experimentation. The one we didn’t get to at Kuaotunu. Prototyping the solution we have arrived at.

This session involved prototyping and sharing our ideas in small groups to gain feedback. This was a particularly useful exercise which has in actual fact, lead to a re-design of my initial outcome idea, as well as my inquiry.

Pitching the idea gave some clarity on how I envisaged the digital tool could work and would work, in relation to (based on peer feedback) how the digital tool should work, and therefore be developed. The idea of needing to produce a mobile app wouldn't necessarily meet the needs of the intended user of the app, being teachers. Feedback suggested that a site would allow for more scope and depth of VTaL as an overall resource.

When I discussed the motivation and intent behind the idea of the app in more detail, it became clear that the responsive design of Google Sites, would enable the VTaL framework to sit nicely in a NEW Google Site for desktop-friendly use, as well as mobile-friendly use. So, the outcome design has essentially changed. This in turn, has huge implications on the development process, as there is no longer the need to focus on app development. This is a game-changer!

The first three images show what a NEW Google Site looks like on a desktop as well as on a mobile device. The last image shows the existing VTaL website, which I don't believe is particularly effective in it's current form.

Ed Tech Summit

https://events.edtechteam.com/sydney2018

Time to get our proposals in for the workshops we want to present in Sydney

We will help you!! A geeky, toolkit type of session OR Unpacking aspects of your classroom practice

The session about preparing for the Ed Tech Summit in Sydney later this year, provides a great platform to present and gain feedback from an audience who I am unlikely to have spoken to or with about VTaL. Hence, they will be a set of fresh eyes and ears with new perspectives and views on the tool. A great resource for stakeholder feedback.

As I am also presenting at the Auckland Ed Tech Summit in the April School Holidays, this will give me an opportunity to trial the resources and presentation that I intend delivering in Sydney. The presentation details are as follows:

Name : Hinerau Anderson

Kia ora! I am the Head of Technology at a high school in Auckland, New Zealand, Tāmaki College, where I also teach Digital Technologies to 12-18 year olds. I have developed a Visible Teaching and Learning Framework, aptly named VTaL, based on the pedagogical practices of Learn, Create and Share.

Title : VTaL - Visible Teaching and Learning : Tracking Student Progress in a High School

Outline : Knowledge is key! Imagine how empowered learners become when they have a very clear idea of what they are learning, the goal or outcome relevant to the learning, information relating to the learning, and the ability to track their own progress towards the goal and outcome. That is exactly what the VTaL Framework enables students to do.

This session will look at VTaL Tool 03 : Class Project Task Lists, or Tracking Sheets, which have been developed using Google Sheets, and enables students to monitor their progress throughout their projects.

Connecting with Inquiry Frameworks

We have been very clear that the MIT group are participating in a Design Thinking process in 2018. However, the reality is that as teachers we also carry out teaching as inquiry. In this session we want to ensure that people are working smarter not harder. We want to make the connection with your inquiries.

The changes in the development process, have also meant that I will be tweaking my original inquiry idea. This is what it looks like now ...

"My Proposed Area of Inquiry in 2018, is to develop a VTaL Purpose-Built Innovative Tool, to enable all elements of the VTaL framework to be accessible to teachers, in order to accelerate student achievement."

With the changes and adaptations to my inquiry and design thinking, I feel that I have a clearer idea of the pathway from here. Thanks to Zac and Dorothy for the feedback during the prototype session, and again to Dorothy and Anne for your ongoing critiques and support of my inquiry which is greatly appreciated.

Huge thanks to Justine Todd and KPMG for the amazing work space and hospitality today!

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Tuakana - Teina Collaborative Teaching Strategy

Level 2 students completing their first project were starting to fall behind with specific tasks within the project. In order to support students to catch up on their work, I teamed up the Level 2 students with some of the Level 3 students from last year who had completed the standard in 2017.

The Level 3 students directed the Level 2's to the exemplars in the DigiTech Level 2 Google+ Community. The Level 2's followed the instructions in the Workspace, and using both the support of the Level 3 students, as well as the exemplars in the Google+ Community, completed and submitted tasks for Activity 1 in the project.

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Step 1 : What are students learning today?

Students navigate to the DigiTech with Ms Anderson Google Site > Year 10 > Year 10 Overview and Calendar.
Once in the calendar, students locate the link for their class in today's date.
Students can also add the class calendar to show in their own calendar (as shown in the image below).
The calendar post includes details of today's lesson instructions.

Step 2 : What are the instructions for the task?

The instructions refer students to a Workspace in the Student Dashboard of the learning activities and evidence required for each task. The Workspace also includes resources that might help the students to complete each task. NB: Students who (for whatever reason) cannot access the work in the Workspace, can also locate the same learning information directly from my site.
Students are able to submit completed tasks for marking.
Work that students complete and submit, that satisfies the requirements of the task, is marked and returned to students (as marked). Work that needs changes applied, will have comments added by myself, giving students feedback on what else needs to be done (as shown in the image below)

Step 3 : How do students know if they are on track?

Students are able to access information on tasks that they have completed in the Workspace Grade Sheet, which has been adapted into a Class Project Task List - Tracking Sheet (as shown in the images below).
Green indicates that the task is complete. Orange indicates that the task is incomplete. Red indicates that the task has not been started.

Overview

A lot of this process of work flow, impacts on students having access to their learning information, as well as up to date information on their progress.

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The Tamaki College CoL Teachers, Dorothy, Karen, Nicola, Noelene and myself, presented with Lenva to staff about Teaching as Inquiry.

The section that I presented on what 'Setting up your Inquiry for 2018' as outlined in the link below.

The link navigates to practical instructions for staff to set up their 2018 inquiry within their professional blogs, that aligns with one of the Manaiakalani Achievement Challenges.

Where to start

Setting up your Inquiry for 2018