Future Focussed Learning

Our children are entering a world that is looking for abilities far different from the traditional. We want them to be able to collect, synthesise and analyse information and then work collaboratively with others to apply that knowledge. They need to learn how to learn and to respond to the constantly changing technologies and social and global changes in the world.

Why BYOD?

The learning needs of students in the 21^st century are different to those of previous generations. The NZ Curriculum reflects this need with a strong focus on promoting digitally capable, global citizens. Technology is moving at a fast pace and many of the careers we are preparing our students for do not yet exist. Skill-sets no longer revolve around merely learning facts, as this information is now at our fingertips. E-learning and BYOD provides a structure for delivering a responsive curriculum and this learning at primary will help foster a smoother transition to intermediate.

Bring Your Own Device allows students to have one-to-one time on a device that is set up to their specifications for their learning. This has many benefits, including:

• enabling students to take increasing responsibility for their own learning

• empowering students to learn at a pace and place as well as a way which suits them

• teaches students how to discern what tool will best help with their learning

• encouraging and enabling teachers to more easily implement personalised learning

• prepares students for a future where they are likely to be working in an environment with increasing amounts of technology and IT/collaborative/cloud based tools.

Why a Chromebook?

• Chromebooks work seamlessly in the Google Environment

• Cloud-based storage

• Automatically complete software updates without disruption

• Light-weight

• Less on-device distractions

How does Google Suite for Education (previously GAFE) work?

The Google Suite for Education (GSuite) offers apps for email, calendar, blogs, documents, presentations and website creation as well as Google Drive, which is a way of organising all of the work done on these apps. The use of these apps are free and can be used in ‘the cloud’ - a collaborative environment where others can access and work on documents together in real time. GSuite allows students to access their work from school, home, the local library - anywhere with an internet connection.

What is Hapara Teacher Dashboard?

Hapara Teacher Dashboard is an interface which brings together the tools of GSuite in an overview style so that teachers can access, set tasks, mark and comment on work completed in the GSuite. It gives teachers the ability to oversee an entire class of work, like they would a class set of exercise books. It also allows teachers and senior school staff the ability to oversee all the activity of any student account. This gives the ability to do a range of things, including, but not limited to: changing passwords if students forget them or suspending an account if the Student Responsibility Agreement is breached. You can read more about Teacher Dashboard here: https://hapara.com/products/g-suite/

Digital citizenship is a powerful enabler of inclusion in social, cultural and civil society. Becoming a digital citizen is ‘part of who we all are’ in school; it should be planned for, and addressed, through multiple contexts including structured activities and wherever there is a meaningful opportunity to talk and learn about being online.

It is time to seek a definitive statement for digital citizenship and its relationship to ‘digital literacy’ and ‘digital fluency’. At Sunnyhills we are informed by the guidelines set by Netsafe. Netsafe’s view is that the proliferation of terms and abstract concepts does not help schools. A consensus view of the values, aims and knowledge underpinning these terms is required.

Netsafe presents arevised model of digital citizenship:

Netsafe asserts that digital citizenship combines the confident, fluent use and combination of three key elements:

• Skills and strategies to access technology to communicate, connect, collaborate and create;
• Attitudes, underpinned by values that support personal integrity and positive connection with others;
• Understanding and knowledge of the digital environments and contexts in which they are working, and how they integrate on/offline spaces;

and then critically:

• The ability to draw on this competency of ‘digital fluency’ to participate in life-enhancing opportunities (social, economic, cultural, civil) and achieve their goals in ways that make an important difference.

Six Under-pining Principles for Digital Citizenship

Netsafe advocates for the following six principles to underpin approaches to the development of digital citizenship:

1. Ako | Young people are “active agents” in the design and implementation of digital citizenship, including approaches to online safety
2. Whānaungatanga | An unbounded, coherent home-school-community approach is central to the development of digital citizenship and online safety management
3. Manaakitanga | Approaches to digital citizenship are inclusive, responsive and equitable in design and implementation
4. Wairuatanga | Digital citizenship in action positively contributes to wellbeing and resilience development enabling safer access to effective learning and social opportunities
5. Mahi tahi | Digital citizenship development and online safety incident management are fostered through partnership approaches, coherent systems and collaboration
6. Kotahitanga | Evaluation and inquiry underpin the ongoing design of digital citizenship approaches, based on rich evidence from young people and their whānau.

Alongside the wealth of resources available on the NetSafe site for parents here, we have found that parents like the information on this site too, to support how to be aware and use cyber smarts at home.