Online Social 

 

Networking

Karren O'Carroll 

Taipa Area School

Week 29 Task-Using Social Online Networks in Teaching/ Professional Development

Using the Following model; I will reflect on my use of Digital platforms for engaging the students.

Jay and Johnson's (2002) reflective model

Descriptive Stage

After completing the online survey I realised that I am sing social media tools to engage and support my learners. On line learning activities are useful to provide an engaging real-world relevance for students of all ages (Magette, 2014).

 I use the google sites and created a web-page which we use in our year 7/8 class. Myself and another  teacher are able to collaborate on the web-page and upload tasks that the learners are to work on. Our tasks invited the students to make slide show presentations. As part of the task they could seek information to upload  you-tube clips to present as part of their learning activities. Students were invited to self reflect and assess there own presentations. This further strengthened the learners to build knowledge and take ownership of the learning tasks.. 

This webpage is working for both, the teachers and learners as all the instruction are easy to follow. I feel quite confident in using the google webpage but I am still trying to find out if there is any other social media tool we can use to pass important notices to learners. This can be any app which all the learners can easily access.I have also asked my senior student to set up and use blogging to record their learning. We also communicate regally through facebook chat.

Comparative Stage

Our teachers have access to upload and edit tasks on the google web page which we have set up with learning tasks. We were able to comment on and give feed forward /feedback as required to assist the students. 

I am interested in knowing if there are ways to share with the wider parent community. As our school will soon join the Manialkalani group I am hopeful that the students will be able to visit and view students work, Engaging with our community more is an important goal for the future.I think of parents viewing and commenting on the students work as well as teachers as a positive step to assist with student engagement.

Whitaker, Zoul & Casa (2015) suggest that teachers are changing their teaching habits to get out of their comfort zones to connect and utilize the media tools for learning. We have already taken our step in the right direction through professional development and networking with teachers who share the same passion for change for the betterment of our learners.

Critical Reflection Stage

Social media has been a successful way to enage our whauna in the Taipa Community. Other platforms, such as the Manakalani,  could be a great way to engage parents and learners and gives them all the opportunity to converse with the stakeholders (Magette, 2014). I think what we are using is a really good tool. However, we need to engage with parents more frequently so that they can also comment on the learner's tasks. I am also open to more professional development for our teachers with better tools that creates awareness for learners to perform even better in school. I liked the idea of "follow 5, find 5, take 5" from Whitaker, Zoul & Casa (2015). 

References

Magette, K. (2014). Embracing social media : a practical guide to manage risk and leverage opportunity. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers.(Available in Unitec library).

Solis, B. (2018). The Conversation Prism. Retrieved from: https://conversationprism.com/

Statista (2018). Number of social media users worldwide from 2010 to 2021 (in billions). Retrieved from https://www.statista.com/statistics/278414/number-of-worldwide-social-network-users/

Whitaker, T., Zoul, J., & Casas, J. (2015). What connected educators do differently. New York, NY: Routledge.

Ethical Eats

Ethical Eats...

My Inquiry Beginning in June 2018 Is to work with Y13 students completing a Report about Ethical eating. My question is surrounding student agency;

Can students plan their own assignment? That is, direct the learning and achieve suitable results that also  assist them to attain literacy credits at Level 3.

Students will be presented with the Achievement standard -Home Economics 91468: Analyse a food related ethical dilemma for New Zealand society.

The requirement will be to write a report. The students are interested in the ideas  surrounding ethical seafood gathering.The completion of this report can be used as a submission for English formal writing task also.

Students in Previous years have not had the opportunity to complete this ASTD as the previous Y13 cohort were participating in Hospitality at Level 2 & 3 assessment based on Unit Standards Supplied by Service IQ Hospitality Domain.

Beginning the assignment....

Ethical Eats  

1.Research and present a report about ethical food choices;

Topics could include local or national issues relating to food. Please provide evidence of

your consultation with the local community to discover issues locally surrounding food

availability and ethical /sustainable practices.

Overfishing/harvesting of marine kai.

10:80 - effect on ‘hunted’ wild food sources.

Effluent runoff - effect on local waterways and potential

food havests.

Additives put in water supplies to make safe drinking water-

fluoride/chlorine.

2. Plan and prepare a meal to serve at a meal occasion. Ensure that the food that is served is ethically sourced. Present a meal to guests. Make a pop up restaurant and ‘cook up a storm’ making meal for this occasion with a theme. Prepare food and dishes utilizing local available foods. Present a plan for the management of scarce resources.

WEEK 1

15/6/2018

During the week I gave the Y13 students the assessment task and we had some discussion about topics that would be suitable for their Investigation and report. they are aware of the requirement to find a topic that has different stakeholders and opinions. All three students are interested in commercial fishing. We discuss referencing and the requirements for the researching. We also collaborate to make a planning doc that gives some guidance about checkpoints that will be in place to make sure that the students are completing. We make a google DOC and discuss the other commitments that the students have in term 2&3.

I have met with a colleague form another school and have some additional resources that I will use to assist the students to understand the idea- Ethical.

WEEK 2

22/06/18

During this week students have started a broad search for suitable references. They have recorded these as notes, and are feeling confident that they have a broad enough topic to find sufficient information. they have though of different viewpoints that are interesting and valid for them and the community. A good Start.

Week 3-4
Students have begun to plan and write a skeleton outline for their first draft. One student has had me view and suggest edits on a goggle DOC. The work is just a start point, as students have other commitments next term they are keen to get much of the background processes done. I am suggesting the alternative viewpoints and sources for information to assist. I am please that the students have a good sense of personal organisation for this process.

Week 4

Student feedback obtained at the end of term 2

Te Huia Derbyshire	6 Jul (3 days ago)
to me

This term went well. I don't think we to do anything else. I like the ethical foods and learnt alot about ethics around food choices. I liked planing a meal and can we do it around the end of the term next year. 

Kairo Kamlade	6 Jul (3 days ago)
to me

I don’t enjoy having all different year levels in the class and that we mainly did book work this term. But I know we will be doing practical next term so algood. 

I enjoyed the food that we have been cooking and that you let us choose what we want to cook now as well. 

Thanks for this term miss!! Have a good holiday. 

Phillipa Lambert	6 Jul (3 days ago)
to me

What I like about the last 2 terms: 

I really like that you try speak our reo as much as you can during class time and you have a really bright and bubbly personality which makes me want to come back to class all the time

What I'd like to do next:

What ever is upto to you because what you have set so far is good 

What needs to changed:

Nothing as we can manages ourselves most days 

Nga mihi,

Pinky