NZ MIEexpert Hui 2018 - curriculum Ideas

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What is an MIE-E?

On a weekend in the July school holidays, all the teachers in the NZ Microsoft Innovators Educator Expert programme (MIE-E) came together for the first time ever.  MIE-E teachers are super keen on using technology as tools to advance learning and learning experiences for our students and they are some of the most creative, innovative, and critical thinking teachers I know.  This programme in NZ is part of a global MIE-E programme supported by Microsoft.  It was awesome meeting people I'd come to know on Twitter, though our Yammer thread, and during our monthly Skype calls.  This gathering was funded by the Ministry of Education via the Networks of Expertise programme.   
The whole weekend was put together by our MIE-E Fellows.  The Fellows are the gurus of the MIE-E programme in NZ.  Like all educators conferences in NZ, we had Keynote speakers plus a collection of teachers volunteer to share their knowledge in seminars and workshops.  Anyone interested in becoming an MIE-expert should check out this website https://education.microsoft.com/microsoft-innovative-educator-programs/mie-expert

Curriculum Speak

In 2018, the Ministry of Education released the new Digital Technology within the New Zealand currciulum and Hangarau Matihiko within Te Marautanga o Aotearoa.  These sit within the existing Technology and Hangarau learning areas, it is only the digital technology area that has changed.
MIE-E teachers are well skilled in helping to bring in the english Digital Technology and/or Māori medium Hangarau Matihiko currciula into schools and kura, and so there were a number of sessions to help them understand the intended curricula.
The timeline for implementing this new learning into schools and kura is as follows:
  • 2018 - Introduce the documents and support teachers and kaiako to get their heads around the new learning and build their confidence with incorporating these learning experiences into their programmes.  
  • 2019 - Continue to support teachers to gain confidence and understanding plus investigate how students might demonstrate their learning
  • 2020 - Teachers will report on student outcomes and digital technology and/or hangarau matihiko will be an intrgrated part of the learning programme Y1-10

Computational Thinking

Speaker = Becky Keene - Twitter: @BeckyKeene https://twitter.com/BeckyKeene 

Becky was the first keynote speaker.  She is a Microsoft Trainer and came out to NZ from USA to attend the hui.  Computational thinking is part of the new DT & HM curricula.  It is a way of thinking and although it can be used to programme a computer, it is also really useful for solving the complex problems of the world.  Our lives are full of ubiquitous computing...air-con, watches, pace makers, traffic lights....the list is long. This kind of computing automates stuff and does the menial tasks of the world.  She suggested the following read "Class of 2030"  https://educationblog.microsoft.com/2018/01/class-of-2030-predicting-student-skills/ I'll still be teaching in 2030...just 11.5 years from now.  How will I change between now and then to make sure I better support the social and emotional development of my students.  How can I show value for soft skills like team work and innovation when our school reporting system is about content and grades?  The article shows that there is a disparity between the perceived relationship between students and teachers.


This relationship isn't as functional if the student doesn't percieve a strong relationship.  Why do they think that?  What is it about this relationship that they see as important that isn't happening?

She also talked about the need for learning to be focused on ideas, not projects and while "passion projects" in schools went a long way to engaging students in learning, we really needed to promote the learning of, thinking with, and inventing ideas.  It is our ability to come up with ideas, new ideas, different ways of thinking about ideas that make us stand out from computers which automate processess.  This made me think about David Perkins.  He is an educational professor and talks about 'thinking with what you know'.  He believes that content and knowing stuff is important, but not the only think that is improtant.  He describes education as having 'about-itis'...we learn about fish, or about the combustion engine, or about poetry. He says the curriculum is too full of about-itis and that we need to give time to thinking with what we know.
About-itis - David Perkins


Becky outlined the 4 components of computational thinking:
  • Abstraction - what is necessary and unnecessary information?
  • Algorithms - what are the steps of the solution?
  • Decomposition - What are the component parts of the problem?
  • Pattern recognition - What patterns are occuring within this problem?
Then she got us thinking...
Activity 1 - Abstraction = what is necessary; what is unnecessary information?
I have a 2 m x 12 m hole in my fence that needs to be patched immediately so my dog doesn't get out!  I only have one cedar board, and it is 3 m x 8 m.  How can I cut the board to make it fit the hole in the fence?
The green highlighting shows what I thought was necessary and unnecessary.  I abstracted the important information I needed to solve the problem.  If you go on to solve this problem, you will be using more of the components of computational thinking.

The next activity was from a workshop Becky ran which highlighted the uses of thinking with digital ink and that some types of thinking can't be done by typing.  While this activity demonstrated this point beautifully, it also highlighted the computational thinking components of pattern recognition and algorithms.
Activity 2 - Boats
There are 8 children, and 3 adults on one side of the river.  They all need to travel to the other side of the river.  The boat will take 2 children, or one adult, but it can't take 2 adults.  How many trips will it take for everyone to get over the river?  Once I recognised the pattern it was only a matter of repeating it until everyone was over the river. This picture is a part of my solution...



Getting support for your school

There are a number of places you can get support to implement the digital technology and/or hangarau matihiko into your school or kura.  Below there are a collection of links you might find useful....















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