DLO vs. DLA

As a follow up to my post last week, I just want to add a note about some pieces that fell into place for me at last week's toolkit.

Before the 'Quality sharing on Blogs' toolkit, I was idly reading through some of the resources the presenter had linked into their slides. I noticed Woolf Fisher had mentioned DLO's vs. DLA's. I am a naturally curious person so I asked what the difference was. 

The presenter outlined it like so: A DLA is a digital learning artefact, something from a student's learning that they are proud of and want to show the world, but are not inviting further comment on. Whereas a DLO is a digital learning object, something that captures current learning and invites a conversation; or if I were to put it in knowledge building terms 'build on' the students work.

Wow. 

This is just a small titbit that may not have been of any interest to other people in the toolkit, but it has just triggered a connection for me. 

I can now see clear links between knowledge-building communities, which has been of huge interest to me in my teaching practice for the past four years, and learn-create-share which has formed the other string to my teaching inquiry.

I can see how I could leverage the affordances of blogging for knowledge building conversations with my students.

Oh, the possibilities.

Learning about Gifs

I have recently been the learner in a Manaiakalani toolkit workshop. I chose the 'fun with gifs' workshop thinking that I would have a bit of fun there and maybe come away with something to take back to the classroom.

I soon realized that I could make gifs from google slides and talltweets.com and simply set up the sequence like a stop motion. movie. So super easy.

I then noticed a student of mine talking about how the photos they had been taking of their work showed it evolving.

This sparked an idea that I could use gifs to bring the process to life and even get students to incorporate this into their blogging. 

Happy days

Looking to the future

As I finally start to close the door on 2017 and look to 2018, I am increasingly excited.

I have some amazing opportunities ahead of me. I am studying for my Masters (and will get paid my salary while I do this). I will be a part of a knowledge building research group, that will regularly review literature and produce resources together.

I feel incredibly lucky to have this opportunity. Watch this space as I share my learning journey with you.

Kāhore taku toa i te toa takitahi, he toa takitini

Reimagining teaching and learning - self effiacy

http://ikit.org/fulltext/2002AERAAnn.pdf

So I've been thinking about the learner's role in knowledge building. It's quite a different dynamic to traditional, more transactional modes of learning where the teacher is the conduit and all learning flows from them.

Knowledge Building which I have been tinkering with in one of my classes for a few years, puts the student at the center of their learning - they are agents in it and as legitimate knowledge creators in our learning community. It is really scary for some students as they haven't known anything other than direct instruction. But the rewards are huge for when they get it.

I guess the question is how to empower students to see themselves as being capable of inquiry ... and also how to scaffold them so we're not throwing them in the deep end before they've learned to swim!

So in my inquiry, I'm thinking about 'learning how to learn'. How can I give my students the skills that they need to create knowledge? How can I give them the tools that they need to reflect on their learning and be empowered as epistemic agents?

For those of you who have been working with knowledge building and collaboration for a while, how do you support metacognition in your students? Are there particular resources or tools that are really effective?

My inquiry hunch is that knowledge building will improve self-efficacy over time.
To identify a shift I will need to gather qualitative data over time. I was thinking of using the Learning Dispositions survey that we often use with NetNZ students. Teachers, can you think of any other good ways of getting a picture of students as learners? The main thing really is that I'm collecting student voice about their learning as self-efficacy is defined by the learners' beliefs about their abilities.

Please share your thoughts, ideas, and feedback with me.

Meeting - Pūtaki Toki

Once again the Pūtaki Toki meeting has left me with fuel in the tank and fresh inspiration for another term of learn-create-share. The nice thing about these meetings is that there is somewhere for everyone to jump in no matter their 'level' or experience with digital immersion. For some staff, they set up an inquiry blog which was a huge learning step for them. For others (who are a bit more experienced with 'share') it was a timely challenge to dive in a little bit deeper and investigate how they could enrich the blogging experience.

For me, it was a reminder about the rich communal resource we have with the Manaiakalani and Toki Pounamu sites and blogs. As educators we don't have to tough it out alone, there are others that have walked before us.

 Nā tō rourou nā taku rourou - ka ora ai te iwi.