Hāpara: World Class

In 2010, when we piloted the idea of every child in the class having their own netbook and their own Google account, we did not factor in how much more content these engaged and enthusiastic young people would generate! Early estimates were that they were completing three times as much work.

There were two immediate consequences:

The teachers' Google Drives were flooded with documents, and they struggled to locate their own content, let alone sort out the students'.

Too much valuable teaching time was being spent on checking up on basic functions, "Have you shared your Doc with me?" "Do you know where you saved that Doc?"  "Do you remember what you called that Doc?"

Sharing this with a new friend who lived in our part of town, over dinner and red wine at La Vista, we discovered that Jan Zawadski was not only very clever with tech but was also a design thinking genius.  Some jottings and diagrams on a paper napkin (why did we never photograph that artefact?) led to many sessions gathered around whiteboards with groups of teachers and friends of Manaiakalani. And one momentous day Jan delivered a working model of the solution to our challenge - Teacher Dashboard.

Fortunately, I did have my phone handy when Teacher Dashboard went live in Toni Nua's year 7/8 classroom. You can see the record of that moment in the video.

Fast forward a decade, and in December 2019 representatives of the Global company Hāpara, operating in 64+ countries around the world, rocked up to honour us with a recognition for the part we played in the birth and development of Hāpara Teacher Dashboard.

I am deeply honoured to be designated a "Hapara World Class Educator" along with Russell Burt and Lenva Shearing.

Making Learning Visible

This is what spins my wheels :)

eTools-as basic as breathing

The basic technology tool kit of a teacher in 2009 has exploded from something filling a small handbag in 1999, to a full set of luggage in the last decade.

In 1999 we would have taken for granted that a teacher could use pen (in several colours), pencil and paper, could operate a photocopier and telephone and we would have presumed they had a driver's licence. Since then, with the exponential growth of technologies in our schools, the list of what we take for granted that a teacher can do and use is extensive.

We have an immersive eLearning environment, and we want to let new teachers know what will be taken for granted - without being overwhelming!! Tall order. This needs to acknowledge new teachers will be a mixture of beginners and experienced teachers and have used a variety of operating systems on computers. Help us create our list of skills that are as basic as breathing for new teachers to our school in 2010. Anything you would add or subtract would be appreciated in the comments.

Here we go....

As we induct new teachers for the year beginning 2010, we are creating a list of what we would expect that teachers know how to do. Just as no judgement is offered when from time to time we encounter a teacher who doesn't drive a car, the list following is not 'success criteria'. But to function effortlessly in the 2010 environment we WILL presume the following:

All our teachers are able to:

• check an email account daily and manage it efficiently
• use a computer or laptop and trouble shoot basic functions ie on/off, connect to printer, connection to internet
  
• use the internet to search, find information and to communicate
• particpate in online environments eg blogs or forums or Nings or Trademe or Facebook etc
  
• manage music files in software eg in iTunes
• manage photo files using software
• download photos from a camera
• use a word processing document efficiently
  
• store and retrieve data from a hard drive eg your computer
  
• access Google Docs
• edit a short video clip using simple software ( was "create a movie" - changed due to feedback below *)
  

All our teachers are able to use the following independently:

• video camera
• still camera
• laptop
• cellphone

NB: None of the above is platform specific ie no-one expects new staff to be familiar with the MacOS used on our Apple computers. The skills above transfer quickly if they have already been embedded.

All our teachers will need to learn quickly (with help available) once on the job:

• administer a student blog ie upload content, manage commenting, manage student use
  
• edit online pages e.g blog or Google sites or KnowledgeNet
  
• social networking
• store and retrieve from network
• Google Apps - personally and with students
  
• how record and edit audio
• a graphics programme your level of students is using (e.g Kidpix, Hyperstudio, Pixelmator, Photoshop)
• create a basic presentation eg Keynote or Google or Prezi or Powerpoint
  
• MacOS basics
  
• saving files in a variety of file formats (e.g .mov,.dv, .jpg, .aiff, .doc etc)
• student management system
  
• printing to networked copiers
  
• use of sound field
  
• use of data projector
• use PhotoBooth
  

A list like this has to be specific to the individual school's needs. What have you created for your school?