DFI Session 2 - Workflow

Kia ora koutou,

Today's DFI session has really highlighted for me the number of Google programs that have a LOT of extra features that I was not aware of. Google Keep, Calendar and Gmail are all apps that I have used previously/regularly but, evidently, not to their full potential.

After 'deep diving' into the ins and outs of Google Keep, I will definitely be using this on a more regular basis. I'm an old school post-it-note-stuck-to-my-laptop kind of girl but Keep will be a much more efficient way of organising my chaos. I have already created a to-do list for next week, as well as a check list of students I still need to assess in preparation for report writing, and I'm looking forward to having a play around with the voice notes function too. Unfortunately, my phone doesn't support Google services so this particular little treasure will have to remain in my professional life only. 😞

As far as the tips around Gmail go, I had noticed many of these things before but never actually explored them. Today I organised my inbox to prioritise unread emails and created labels for some important contacts within my Google account. Both actions have already streamlined my emailing system so much! (Thank you, Jeremy and Fiona 😊).

Google Calendar is another app that I have dabbled in but not extensively used. Again, my old soul prefers an old school diary where I physically write down my meetings and appointments, but I can definitely see the benefit in using Google Calendar. A feature I found particularly useful was being able to view multiple people's calendars and use this information to arrange meetings instead of emailing back and forth, trying to find a time that suits all parties. What an incredible stroke of time-saving genius! 

Dorothy joined us via Google Meet today to provide an insight into Manaiakalani's pedagogy; Learn, Create, Share. Today she focussed solely on the 'Learn' element and talked about how effective practice can be achieved. Recognising what effective practice looks like in our own schools is the first step then, amplifying and turbocharging the learning. In short, these two things are about providing students with a depth and breadth of resources, and transforming the way they learn through offering them new opportunities and experiences, which the digital day and age allows us to access and utilise in abundance.

Google Meet was another program we explored today. Due to last year's lockdowns, this is a video conferencing tool I feel quite confident in using. From creating a meet to recording and sharing screens, level 4 lockdown has prepared me well for participating in this particular DFI session (turns out lockdown wasn't all bad after all, hey 😅). Here is a recording of a Google Meet I participated in today. The purpose of this Meet was to practise how to share and record our screens (something I clearly needed practise with as you will see me struggling to remember where the 'stop recording' button is at the end 😂). Enjoy!