My Space and My Place

The following is a screencastify on a quick task that I've set with my learners, so that I know, that 'they' know, how to access their learning on my site.

This was a timely reminder for learners to know how to access their learning, while they are in the classroom, as well as when they are offsite including during lockdowns.  It is also an extremely useful for students who are new to my subject and are completely new to Tamaki College.

Describe how you will collect information about the implementation of your changed practices/intervention (so it is clear what you doing differently)

My target group of learners for my Inquiry 2020 will be my Year 11 NCEA Level 1 class. I intend inquiring into the process of using the LearnCoach online programs (content) and VTaL Visible Teaching and Learning (workflow) to accelerate student achievement for Tamaki College students undertaking courses in Digital Technologies NCEA Levels 1, 2 and 3.

The following is a screenshot to show how I am collecting information about the implementation of my changed practice.  The screenshot shows student feedback in the [Current] DigiTech Level 1 Community.  The student feedback is a short comment "Very Helpful" that shows how the student feels about the video explanation to undertake the work.

Describe how you will collect information about the implementation of your changed practices/intervention (so it is clear what you doing differently)

My target group of learners for my Inquiry 2020 will be my Year 11 NCEA Level 1 class. I intend inquiring into the process of using the LearnCoach online programs (content) and VTaL Visible Teaching and Learning (workflow) to accelerate student achievement for Tamaki College students undertaking courses in Digital Technologies NCEA Levels 1, 2 and 3.

Two of my Year 13 students who are consistently logging into the Google Hangouts to complete work are both involved in YooBee Design courses.  However, their courses take place on different days; Character Design on Tuesdays and Game Development on Fridays.  This means that both students are not available at the same time for all of the ONLINE Lessons for Digital Technologies.

To overcome this problem, I am using the Google Meet Screen Recordings as rewindable learning resources.  The following screenshot demonstrates in the chat function in the Google Hangout, that one of the learners is accessing a screen recording from the lesson that they missed due to attending the YooBee course, to enable him to get up to speed with the work that we covered in class.

The chat shows me inquiring into the students learning, and asking if they need help.  Their response "yea miss, I'm just watching the recording that you sent".

In our department meeting last week, I asked the staff (myself included) to reflect on our learnings from the last lockdown in March-May this year.  

The idea was to take our learnings from last lockdown and adjust or adapt our approach to teaching for this lockdown period, that would benefit both the learners, and ourselves the teachers.  This includes teaching resources for learners for who whatever reason, are unable to log during the lockdown period.

In addition, I also wanted us to reflect on what we would be delivering online during lockdown, and what our plan would be going back into the classroom when we are all back onsite again.  For Technology, it is not as clear cut as transferring our existing programs from an onsite capacity to online, as our teaching and learning programs include a huge element of practical work in addition to theory.  This requires specialist tools, resources and environments in which to complete the practical work.  The same applies when we return to the classroom.  It is important that we consider what our program will look like when we're back onsite.  Will we resume exactly what we had started online?  Will we integrate the online learning into the teaching programs that we were doing pre-lockdown, and continue this onsite?

The following sections outline my approach to each of the year levels that I teach that I modelled to the department, including teaching and learning during lockdown, and teaching and learning when we return to the classroom.

Year 13 NCEA Level 3

Based on what I learnt from the previous lockdown, I learnt that three students regularly logged on during the lockdown period.  I anticipate that 2-3 will regularly log on again.  I will focus on offering a new standard 91611 worth 6 credits for my 2-3 Year 13 students during the next two weeks that they are able to complete online.  I will direct the rest of the Year 13s to complete the previous assessment 91901 worth 3 credits, that they can do from home.  When we are back onsite, I will focus on working on the standard we were completing in class for my learners and having discussions with all students individually. 

Adapting Programs of Learning for NCEA Level 3 Students during Lockdown Level 3

In addition to regular class work, the Year 13 students were given the opportunity to participate in Gateway or STAR courses offisite. Some of the students are attending Design courses at YooBee, which is continuing online throughout the lockdown period.

Year 12 NCEA Level 2

Based on what I learnt from the previous lockdown that none of my Year 12 students attended online lessons. I will focus on ensuring students have access to work via calendar invitations for my Year 12 students during the next two weeks to the previous assessment 91901 worth 6 credits, that they didn’t finish and can complete from home.  When we are back onsite, I will focus on working on the standard we were completing in class for my learners and having discussions with all students individually. 

In addition to regular class work, the Year 12 students were given the opportunity to participate in offsite courses through the Trades Academy. Some of the students are attending IT Courses at Techtorium, which is continuing online throughout the lockdown period.

Year 11 NCEA Level 1

Based on what I learnt from the previous lockdown that one student logged on to every lesson, and 2-3 other students logged on regularly. I will focus on continuing  to deliver the current assessment, 1.4 Create a Website worth 4 credits, for my Year 11 students during the next two weeks. The online program needs to be adapted as students don’t have access to the software in T2. When we are back onsite, I will focus on resuming our pre-lockdown program for my learners. 

Adapting Programs of Learning for NCEA Level 1 Students during Lockdown Level 3

In addition to regular class work, the Year 11 students were given the opportunity to participate in offsite courses through the Trades Academy. Some of the students are attending IT Courses at Techtorium, which is continuing online throughout the lockdown period.

Year 10

Based on what I learnt from the previous lockdown, very few Year 10 students logged on during lockdown.  I will focus on providing work for my Year 10 students during the next two weeks via calendar invitations that students can complete in their own time at home.  When we are back onsite, I will focus on resuming our pre-lockdown program for my learners around Game Development and assessing against Design Development and Computational Thinking in the Digital Technologies Curriculum. 

Year 9

Based on what I learnt from the previous lockdown, very few Year 9 students logged on during lockdown.  I will focus on providing work for my Year 10 students during the next two weeks via calendar invitations that students can complete in their own time at home.  When we are back onsite, I will focus on resuming our pre-lockdown program for my learners around Website Development and assessing against Design Development and Computational Thinking in the Digital Technologies Curriculum. 

The following is a description of the adaptations that I made to the current project for the NCEA Level 1 students to undertake during Lockdown Level 3 in August 2020. 

This group of learners are my Target Learners for my Inquiry 2020, so I was particularly keen, to come up with strategies that will enable the students to continue with their program of learning.  Having undertaken a similar process for my other senior students, I was fortunate in this instance, that I was able to return the same project and the same standard, but adapt the resources that the students would access, in order to continue with their work in a remote learning environment.

The project is to Develop a Website and includes the following standard:

AS91880 Develop a digital media outcome

This achievement standard involves developing a digital media outcome, in this particular instance, a Website.

Prior to Level 3 Lockdown, students were undertaking tasks in class to work towards completing the project.  This involved the use of Visual Studio Code; a free software download that is used for code editing.  Unfortunately, the application cannot be downloaded to and used on Netbooks or Chrome books, which are the common devices that students would use to learn from home, including during the lockdown period.

Fortunately, I was able to adapt the course materials to use a different application for Remote Learning during lockdown.  This is the Codepen Online Code Editor which I dropped a link to, into the Project Workspace as shown below.

I explained to the learners what they would have to do with their existing work, in order to use the Codepen Online Code Editor, to see what their feedback was.  It would essentially mean that the students would have to re-do some of their existing tasks, to ensure that the Codepen application included all of the work that they had completed up until lockdown, in order for the learners to progress forward with their tasks.  As much as this meant that time would be consumed doing so, the learners seemed to be happy and grateful about a way of them progressing forward with their work.

Signing up to Codepen - Alternative to Visual Studio Code for Remote Learning

Click on the image below to view a short clip of me demonstrating to learners the signup process for Codepen.

Setup of HTML pages in Codepen

The following screenshot is me demonstrating to students how to setup their HTML pages eg. Pens, in Codepen.

Saving Codes to Google Docs

Working in Codepen is just a temporary measure for during Level 3 Lockdown.  When we return onsite and back to the classroom, we will also return to using the original software, Visual Studio Code, that is accessible on the desktop Mac computers.

In order to have a backup of the work that students are completing every lesson online using Codepen, I had the students set up folders and documents into their Google Drive, as shown in the screenshots below.  

Briefly restate the specific change you want to bring about in student learning and the evidence used to select that focus

My target group of learners for my Inquiry 2020 will be my Year 11 NCEA Level 1 class. I intend inquiring into the process of using the LearnCoach online programs (content) and VTaL Visible Teaching and Learning (workflow) to accelerate student achievement for Tamaki College students undertaking courses in Digital Technologies NCEA Levels 1, 2 and 3.

• that learners did not necessarily understand the formative feedback that I was providing them with in order to progress forward in their learning; or, 
• that they didn't understand why I was asking them to share their work, and through the sharing process, reflecting on the task, would give them a greater understanding of the work.

Therefore the specific change that I want to bring about in student learning is 'Student Understanding'.  The way that I intend focussing on Student Understanding, is by inquiring into learning interventions to support the following:

1. Comprehension - levels of support required for task completion of assessment tasks
2. Meeting Assessment Criteria - outcome or impact of pace of task completion for Technical Skills Tasks, and levels of support required to complete assessment tasks, and how these combine to maintain engagement in meeting assessment deadlines 

Explain how some of the data you have used to build a profile of the students’ learning will be used as baseline data at the end of the year.

My target group of learners for my Inquiry 2020 will be my Year 11 NCEA Level 1 class. I intend inquiring into the process of using the LearnCoach online programs (content) and VTaL Visible Teaching and Learning (workflow) to accelerate student achievement for Tamaki College students undertaking courses in Digital Technologies NCEA Levels 1, 2 and 3.

The blogpost  BP4 : Evidence, Data and Preliminary Findings - Student Progress during Covid19 Lockdown demonstrates how Student Progress through the use of Tracking Sheets for a particular project or assessment, can be measured over a specified timeframe.  Within the specified timeframe, the Tracking Sheet relevant to a particular date, can show the Student Progress and completion of the tasks within the assessment.  When this is compared to previous Tracking Sheets, it is possible to measure the rate of task completion for each student.  This is particularly important, when students need to hit mini deadlines within an overall assessment deadline.

1. Digital Technologies 1.7 & 1.8: Develop a Computer Game

In order to support learners to understand the assessment task, and to complete the assessment activities for the NCEA Assessment 'Develop a Computer Game',. I developed a Task/Hei Mahi to be an Overview of the Context for the assessment, and a much shorter version of the Overall Assessment.  My hunch from previous experience, is that the shear volume of information within NCEA Assessment Tasks can be overwhelming for students.  Whilst the information is important in terms of what needs to be covered and completed within the assessment, as well as the criteria that learners need to meet, it is still a lot of information.

I decided that I would develop a Student Checklist for students that would chunk and break down each individual set of evidence for all tasks within the assessment.  I spent a double lesson discussing, demonstrating the explaining the purpose and use of the Task/Hei Mahi, Assessment Task © and Student Checklist to the class.  

I also had an initial Tracking Sheet, that consisted of the four different sections of the Assessment Task.  The students were expected to submit all of the evidence for each section into one document for the relevant section.  However, throughout the lesson, some of the students indicated that they would prefer if a adapted the Tracking Sheet to include each individual set of evidence that is required for the assessment.  I asked the students if they understood that would make the Tracking Sheet extremely long and how they felt about having a long Tracking Sheet.  The students still preferred a longer Tracking Sheet to represent each single piece of evidence.  The outcome is the Updated Tracking Sheet.

1. Student Checklist and Tracking Sheet

At the end of the lesson, I asked Olever and David how they felt about the lesson, and whether they felt as though they had a better understanding of the Assessment Requirements.  The following video outlines what the boys had to say about the Task, Assessment Task, Student Checklist, and also the Tracking Sheet.

1. Building a profile of students' learning to be used as Baseline Data

Based on my inquiry findings from my previous blogposts;  

• BP3 : Tools, Measures and Approaches
• BP4 : Evidence, Data and Preliminary Findings - Student Progress during Covid19 Lockdown,
• BP5 : Academic or Professional Reading 1 | Collaborative strategies for teaching reading comprehension 

as well as student feedback during class time and captured in the short video above, suggests that the combined use of Student Checklist and Tracking Sheets will be effective tools to use to focus student learning and also to measure student progress.  The Tracking Sheets at the beginning and end of assessments, for each assessment throughout the year, will provide a gauge of baseline data from the beginning of the assessment, up to the due date for the assessment.  

I have inquired into the use of Tracking Sheets to accelerate student achievement in previous years.  However, the difference of this inquiry to previous inquiries, is investigating the use of LearnCoach online tutorials (for content knowledge and skill development), and Visible Teaching and Learning (Student Checklists, Tracking Sheets and Google+ Communities) to accelerate student achievement.