A year of teaching on the Manaiakalani Digital Fluency Intensive

I have now facilitated the Northland Digital Fluency Intensive for two cohorts and it has been a fabulous experience.

In terms of my own facilitation I found I grew into the role as I became more familiar with the process. The comprehensive framework of Learn, Create, Share really helped me to define various parts of the day and this was important with our visiting facilitators who on occasion needed reminding of the time. Meeting the needs of all our participants was an ongoing iterative process which I took upon myself like a mother ensuring all her children were fed. I wanted everyone to go away feeling as though they had learned a lot that they could apply straight away into their teaching practice. Each day has a key focus and it was hoped that teachers would feel confident enough to try what they had learned during the week so they could feedback how it went the following week.

Each DFI brought together a wonderful rich mix of teachers with a range of abilities both in their teaching practice and technical know how. Some barely understood their Google Drive while other participants were already teaching their students coding. Equally there were those who had been teaching for 30 or 40 years and those who were in their first year of teaching. Drawing on this rich expertise within the room opened a treasure trove of knowledge and experience which made for some fabulous discussions, all of which added a bit of dynamism to the day.

Our visiting teachers from Manaiakalani were the crème de la crème and brought a unique flavour to the day. We had primary teachers from new entrants to year 8, a Deputy Principal and a couple of the Manaiakalani Facilitators who brought with them such a wealth of experience. Their anecdotes made it all the more real for teachers and the resources they so openly shared were graciously accepted.

There were certainly stressful moments but that was mostly to do with the technical infrastructure at schools and not being aware of the issues we might encounter. Venue set up, device access and firewall blocks caused a few technical hick-ups on a number of occasions but I've learnt and hopefully so has our network provider what needs to be put in place beforehand to ensure the technology side of things works 100% of the time.

Connecting Secondary Schools

Connecting secondary schools across Manaiakalani is something that I'm really interested in developing.  There is a real need for an online hub that teachers can refer to quickly to see what is happening in other schools.  Ideas that I would like to explore;

Create a website with department pages and generic resources that could encompass moderation templates, NCEA summary report set ups,

GoogleDrawing can be a lot of fun

My robot man

Digital Fluency Intensive Cohort 2 - 2108

Our second Manaiakalani Digital Fluency Intensive course is underway in Northland. The cohort of 19 teachers range from first year teachers to those who have made a lifetime profession in education.  They represent 11 schools from the Kaikohekohe Education Network Cluster and 8 schools from the newly formed cluster of schools Te Hiku, in the Far North.  

During the nine week course, teachers learn about the Manaiakalani pedagogy and kaupapa and how it can significantly impact effective teaching and learning in a digital learning environment.  Teachers will learn key skills to enable them to develop the necessary digital fluencies required for effective teaching, planning, assessment and professional learning appropriate to learning in a 21st century classroom. 

Digital Fluency Day

Yesterday we had a fabulous time experimenting with Makey Makey, here are some enthusiastic teachers engaging their creativity with maths.

Developing Creativity

This term's staff meeting is all about increasing and developing students' ability to be creative. Creativity is a natural activity all humans partake in right from birth and it's our way of learning about the world around us. Unfortunately in education at least, the later part of the 19th century teaching would suggest we've lost site of the importance of creativity. I'm reminded how inspirational Sir Ken Robinson's Ted talk back in 2007 was when he spoke of how schools have killed Creativity.

Living in the 21st century means we need more than ever to develop the ability to think creatively, critically and in new innovative ways. Never before have we had the technology to be creators of our own making to the extent we can today. Prior to YouTube, anyone who wanted to be involved in the creative arts whether it be in film animation, music had to be signed on by a company who had the technical skillset and the money to put it together. In today's world we now have the technology in our pocket through our mobile phones.   


Creativity is a vital attribute in today's economy and underpins the necessity to make sure creative thinking is included in every aspect of the curriculum.

My favourite places map

My travel experiences

In my lifetime, I have been fortunate to travel to many different countries throughout the world.  Through travelling I have learned about many different cultures, societies and the way people live.   I guess that's what I love the most is to immerse myself in a country and to live as the local people do which is why I enjoyed working overseas so much.

Below is a map that outlines the various places I've been.   The icons represent the type of work I was employed in at the time.

Being Cybersmart

The Cybersmart curriculum unique to Manaiakalani is a wonderful resource for giving students some foundational knowledge about interacting online.  The Manaiakalani team developed the programme to ensure students learn how to act smart when interacting online. The programme is designed to gives students an understanding about their digital footprint empowering them to become digital citizens who can proactively and positively contribute online.

For teachers this is an excellent resource either as stand alone lessons or by using specific elements to ensure students are thinking about their online activities.  For example, the Smart Media resources helped me guide many students on the right way to reference images and websites they used for their assignments and the Cybersmart interactives were good lesson starters to get discussions rolling.


The categories are;

• Smart Learners - Digital Dig if you can’t use your device how can you learn
• Smart Footprint - Leave a smart digital footprint
• Smart Relationships - Positive, thoughtful, helpful
• Smart Media - Learning about validation, identifying fake news
• Smart Surfing - Knowing how to find information,
• Smart Legal - Understanding what you’re signing up to, understanding permissions and settings
• Smart Money - Understanding the financial implications of the digital world
• Smart Values - Replace the suggestions with the school’s values, 
• Smart Teachers - Are familiar with the Cybersmart curriculum and role models for students
• Smart Parents - Understand the purpose of digital technologies to support learning and how to connect with their child’s learning online

Here's a link to the Manaiakalani Cybersmart site