My Space and My Place

VTaL Visible Teaching and Learning Site

• the aesthetics of the site
• the functionality of the site
• the usefulness of information

Workspace PD Overview

I recently ran a Workspaces PD session for some of the staff involved in the Integrated Unit 'Parakuihi Hauora'.  The purpose of the workshop was not to show staff how to use Workspaces.  The purpose of the workshop was to show staff how to use Workspaces to integrate a unit of work across multiple learning areas.



The way in which I started the workshop was to demonstrate to staff, a process in the form of a Workspace flowchart, that would enable staff to identify from a unit of work, the types of information that could be used to populate an integrated Workspace.

Integrating Tasks from Multiple Learning Areas

The next stage was to encourage staff to determine the order and sequence in which tasks would take place that would enable the learning outcomes to be achieved by students across the entire unit of work.  I did this by demonstrated an example template of a Workspace to give staff a visual idea of the cards and sections.



I then asked staff to work through a row of Workspace cards for one learning outcome, using A4 paper and sticky notes.  The row of sticky notes was to represent the following:

• Task Learning Outcome
• Task Instructions
• Task Evidence
• Task Criteria

This was to model the same structure as an actual Workspace itself.  The purpose of using A4 paper was that each piece of A4 was to represent one learning outcome, and associated instructions, evidence and criteria.  The purpose of the sticky notes, was so that staff could move or change the sticky notes around as desired.  The A4 pages could be moved around the table, to represent the order or sequence of learning outcomes and tasks from the multiple learning areas.  It was a relatively uncomplicated way of allowing staff to experiment with the order of tasks, before starting an actual Workspace.




The image below shows how Carol Heka, our Specialist Food Technologist, has used the A4 paper and sticky notes after the Workspaces PD session to structure her learning activities for the Parakuihi - Hauora : Technology and Maths Workspace.



The Parakuihi - Hauora : Technology and Maths Workspace developed by Carol Heka in collaboration with Sheila Singh, is visible within the Rise Above: Parakuihi & Hauora Google Site.  The Google site enables the work to be visible to anyone who would like to view the unit of work including students, teachers, parents or any other stakeholders.  Students access the learning activities through the specific Workspaces that have shared with the students via the Student Dashboard.