If ever I’ve felt like a dinosaur, today is the day. What is coding? Imagine I would have given a fairly tragic description prior to today, as we plunged into some challenging learning with Tōnui Collab. We explored the revamped Digital Technologies Curriculum, which includes examples in action such as coding Makey makey to make sounds from bottle caps, encryption, decryption, video analysis, computer simulation, program robots, using presentation software or creating QR codes... augmented or virtual reality. Strewth, it sounds like I’m using another language. Feeling rather green, to put it kindly. Coding using Cospaces? For now I will stick to my neighbour's Sega master-system I used approximately twice when I was eight... or batdown cricket. I don’t think I’ll be developing or coding the next fandangled video game to go viral, or any grand exciting animation. What I don’t know about this area of the curriculum, and the tools we used today could fill a warehouse. So the hunches of inadequacy will be popped to the side, and I’ll come back to all of this another day when my brain is fresh, and try to reduce how much I don’t know, don’t get, don’t understand.
Enjoyed Dave’s piece of visible, a key component on the Manaiakalani kaupapa. Putting more learning into a visible place, so that learners know where they’re going. The interactive whiteboards are now in the hands of the learners.
A highlight from today was a collaborative Tangram activity which saw us competing against other teams, and leaning on our computational thinking. Shannon suggested perhaps our local Menzshed may be able to make some tangrams for us to use in class. Ooh, also, coding with Briar and Cheryl. We designed the code to get the blindfolded person to the finish spot. Well done Briar on your brilliant instructions. Specific language made it possible to reach the destination with minimum debugging required. A round of Kahoot helped us to think really carefully about e-Learning, ICT capabilities and Digital Technologies.
