Session 9 - Digital Fluency Intensive

Today was the big day...

GOOGLE EXAM DAY!

I must say nerves were running high after getting sorted and signed in - more because of the time pressure than anything.  Unfortunately Cathy's theory of answering multi choice questions with Bs didn't work out as there weren't any haha!  I found that if you read the questions carefully so that you were answering or doing every part that they were asking you, it was pretty self explanatory.  I found the parts about Docs, Slides and Sites relatively easy to do.  I got very frustrated with Sam Nash as his calendar would not come up when I wanted to schedule an appointment to see him!  I came back to this question at the end and just had to guess when he would be free in the dying seconds of the exam!  Sheets I found fine apart from forgetting how to make a chart go onto it's own page.  I should have remembered the 3 dots!  Waiting for results...

Phew, cue big sigh of relief!  We had a Meet with 3 DFIers in Auckland - tried to give them info and tips about the exam but I'm not sure how well they could hear us.  If in doubt - Google it!  

I have loved this DFI - lots of new learning for me, lots of useful ideas to use in my classroom.  I have also loved our group, it's been great being on this journey with you all!  We've had lots of laughs too.

Thanks to Maria and Cheryl for leading this DFI and thanks to Dorothy, Gerhard, Dave, Stef, Matt and Kent for your input as well.

DFI - Over and Out!

Raquel Parsons, Level 1 Google Educator, signing off!

Session 8 - Digital Fluency Intensive

We had Matt join us from Point England School this week to take us through Media - Youtube, Google Drawing and Google Sites.  First we caught up with Dorothy in a Google Meet to hear about empowerment.  I must say some of the images she shared were a real eyeopener for me.

We checked out Youtube with Matt, created an account and learned how to make our own playlist, which will be great for when I want to share videos with my learners.  We then had a Google Hangout with Kent, also from Point England School.  This was a closer look into live streaming through Youtube.  I'm not sure I'm at this point and don't know if it is something that my school would be interested in, but I like that the learning here is rewindable and I'm sure I could ask for help in this area if it was of interest in the future.

I am really loving Google Draw, mainly because of my button obsession haha!  I REALLY want to complete my digital drawing - but it is tricky getting those lines right, so I've had to put it aside for now and aim to get it finished when I have a bit of time.  Loved all of the different ideas that Google Draw could be used for, so have popped it in below as a reminder to revisit.

Lastly was another look at Google Slides and it's potential for all sorts of creations!  We had to chose to create something so I went with a pick-a-path story.  While I haven't quite finished it yet, it has been really fun.  Check out what I've done so far below...




We've signed up for our Google Exam next week which I'm slightly freaked out about, but more sad actually that it will be our last week.  I've enjoyed this DFI so much and especially working with such an amazing and supportive group of teachers - I'm going to miss you guys!

Session 7 - Digital Fluency Intensive

It was lovely to have Stef down from Auckland with us today.  We caught up with Dorothy via Google Meet to look at being 'Connected'.  Blogger is the class blogging platform used by Manaiakalani to build powerful connections across our clusters. Tui Mai Tuhi Atu empowers our young people to learn to be Cybersmart through leaving quality blog comments and engaging in online behaviour and thinking that elevates positive actions.  We are involved in Tuhi Mai Tuhi Atu and we comment on Room 8's blog from Glen Innes School in Auckland.  

It was great to have a play with Google Forms and have the opportunity to create one.  It highlighted things to think about too when creating one for your own class.  For instance when I made my quiz, the answers were case sensitive, so if they used a capital letter and I didn't, it was marked incorrect.  I think for the age of the learners I have, I would use multi-choice!

Google My Maps was fun too.  The answers to questions on Google Forms on holiday destinations went to a Google Sheet, which we then used to make our Map.  Check mine out below.

I definitely think we could have used this when we looked at Discover Our World and Beyond last term - especially when we looked the distance and time from our house to Ormond School.


We do our planning on Google Sheets which I shared with everyone, but it was great to pick up some extra tips and tricks - some that I had forgotten and some that were new!  It was great to use data from blogs to create graphs.

Thanks for another great day!