Day 8: Computational Thinking

 

Empowerment: Reflective Question

How does technology support empowerment? How can we help students feel empowered and partake as creative directors?

Student empowerment, I feel, is...

1. Having choice
   
2. Making connections
3. Having doors opened and being introduced to the unknown, new possibilities
4. Knocking down barriers
• How we learn (e.g. students being able to adjust the text size, font, page colour or using voice to text - to meet their individual needs) 
• Where we learn (e.g. lockdown)
5. Taking on the role as creative directors: 
• sharing understanding and achievements
• contributing 
• taking on a supportive role: helping other students develop new skills and knowledge through a range of sharing options (e.g. Slides, Screencastify, Docs-suggestions)
• having a say 

Loosen the tight grip on the reins...

In maths, for example, I have seen the success of mixed ability groups; students supporting students. Within the learning platforms we use today, such as Google sites, Docs, Screencastify and Slides, students have many opportunities to share and support others. This is an area I want to explore and develop. The idea of not being the 'talker' at the front of the class, repeating instructions 5 times is something to look forward to... definitely a step forward! And students producing the informative instructions and 'what-to-dos' is exciting!

Scratch

I definitely can't say this came naturally to me! How Kerry kept her cool and calm amazed me. I was the struggling student... More time to explore this is on my to do list. (This Scratch doesn't seem to be quite the same I remember it to be... not sure why? There should be a dog, one less character and the two characters left doing a bit more than they are.... I'll get there.)

Tinkercad and SculptGL are other exciting new opportunities to explore!

I decided to give 'designing a whare' a go on Tinkercad...