Why copy and paste from a Google Doc to Blogger?

There are advantages to using a Google Doc to prepare text for a blog post.

Crafting or composing a text in a Google Doc creates a saved copy for both the learner and teacher.

This copy is a record of what has been written and provides access to the Version History of the document.

Viewing a document's history provides valuable information about how the learner has edited their writing and supports reflecting on and editing text.

Scaffolds can be included in the document for learners e.g. voice typing, writing prompts

Commenting in Google Docs can also be harnessed for feedback and feedforward to support the learner as they write.

If there are any internet issues when publishing in blogger a copy is saved in Google Drive.

Don't forget to Paste and Match Style. Once the text has been pasted into the Blogger post editor, use the Blogger editing tools to format text.

Tuhi Mai Tuhi Atu Weekly Tips 

Viewing Student Blog Activity in Hāpara Dashboard

Using Hāpara’s Teacher Dashboard to view learners' blog posts and monitor comments from Blogger, enables teachers, as blog administrators, to access and view all blog posts and comments in one place.

This article from Hāpara includes screenshots and brief explanations of what you are able to view, including useful features teachers can harness to support Cybersmart learning e.g.

• Published posts and drafts with dates. Display Dashboard on the big screen to draw learners attention to when they last published a post. Our goal is to share three posts a week.
• Draft posts display with a green pencil next to the last update. Remind learners that posts should be published regularly and set expectations for draft posts to be published.
• Posts without titles.  Support learners to edit posts and include a title. 
• Blog titles create a unique URL for the specific blog post. Include keywords that explain what the post is about
• Keep titles short and concise, this will be more readable for users and won’t get cut off in feeds.
• Anonymous comments highlighted in red as an alert. Sometimes parents will post as anonymous if they don’t have a Google account. 

We highlighted Monitoring Blog Comments in a previous tip. As admin of learners’ blogs teachers should be receiving email notifications when comments are posted on your learners’ blogs. If not please subscribe to blog notifications for all learners’ blogs. 

Tuhi Mai Tuhi Atu Weekly Tips 

Viewing Student Blog Activity in Hapara Dashboard

Tohatoha - Connected Learners Share

A valued element of sharing - kanohi ki te kanohi

It was all about the impact of sharing at our Manaiakalani Kāhui Ako, Connected Learners Share Staff meeting this week. 

The purpose of this hui was for our people to:

• understand the impact of Share/Tohatoha for our learners and their wellbeing and achievement
• connect with the valued elements of sharing, in the world we live in

"It is a basic human instinct to want to share. Sharing connects us to others both emotionally and practically" (Connected Learners Share)

As a Kahui Ako we acknowledge the valued elements of sharing identified by our educators. We also know sharing positively, makes a positive difference for our young people, their wellbeing and achievement. 

Summer Learning Journey Milestone Report 

Additionally by recognising and embracing the increased options we have to share in today's world our young people are empowered to harness the digital to connect and share in ways that elevate the positive. 

Content and feedback from participants for our Connected Learners Share staff meeting:

• Keynote (Dorothy Burt)
• Breakout Session: The valued elements of sharing  
• Connected Learners Share  1:World 

Speed Dating

Google Drive and Blogger

Even if you have been blogging for a while please take a few minutes to browse through the Tuhi Mai Tuhi Atu blogger tips to date.

Are you confident that both you and your learners, who have individual blogs, are familiar with these processes and recommendations?

A common problem we see on some learners' blogs is  text in a published blog post overlapping into the sidebar of the blog. 

This happens when content is copied and pasted from a Google Doc to the blog.

Support your learners to use Ctrl - Shift - V when pasting or if the post has been published clear formatting to rectify.  Recommend having a student cast to your screen and demonstrate this process for others to follow. 

Some learners may need to scroll back through their blog and check published posts. If they notice a post that needs to have the formatting cleared, I recommend clicking the small pencil at the end of their post to edit.

Tuhi Mai Tuhi Atu Weekly Tips 

By crafting in Google Docs first, both the learner and teacher, have a record of what has been written. Not only is the content saved but also access to view the Version History is available in Docs.

The value of this is teachers are able to view the document history plus leave feedback/feedforward to support  learners via comments in Google Docs, as they are crafting their writing.

Also if there any issues with blogger publishing content will not be lost as it is saved in Google Drive.

Inserting hyperlinks in a blog comment can be helpful

When writing a blog comment consider sharing a recommended online resource or example from another blog that may be helpful. This could include a specific post on your blog where you have shared something similar. 

This is a powerful strategy for engaging with your audience and communicating a sense of connection.

Model how to do this with your learners on either a class blog or an individual blog to help them identify when inserting a hyperlink, might be helpful e.g. can I add more information or make a connection by sharing a link to something similar.

Rather than copying and pasting the URL, which is not clickable,  use html to turn text in a blog comment into a hyperlink.

Share the html code below on your learning site so it is easily accessible by your learners

<a href="insert URL here">Insert display text here</a>

• Copy and paste the html code into the comment field and replace the highlighted text.
• Copy and paste the URL you want to share and insert the text that will display when your comment is published
• When the comment is published the display text will be a hyperlink

Tuhi Mai Tuhi Atu Weekly Tips 

Manaiakalani Being Cybersmart - Smart Relationships

... and suddenly it was Term 3


We enjoy welcoming new teams from Manaiakalani Outreach who have joined Tuhi Mai Tuhi Atu this term.
Often at this time of the year we have learners in 1:1 classes who have recently had individual blogs rolled out. If this is your learners, please take some time to ensure your blog list gadget is updated with links to your learners’ blogs so visitors to your class blog are able to locate your learners' individual blogs. Adding a Blog List Gadget to your Blog
Also email teacher/s in your Tuhi Mai Tuhi Atu Team to let them know, so learners can start to connect via their individual blogs as well as the class blog.

If you are new to Tuhi Mai Tuhi Atu please check out the recommendations for Preparing Your Blog. Hopefully you have been inspired by some of the sample posts classes have created and shared to introduce themselves to their Tuhi Mai Tuhi Atu Team.

Last term Te Whare Waipaoa @ Riverdale School and Room 5 @ Tamaki Primary School used Google Hangouts to introduce themselves. 

Te Whare Waipoa @ Riverdale School

They have shared their Digital Pōwhiri experience on their blogs and would be very happy to answer questions if you are considering harnessing Google Hangouts to  connect with your Tuhi Mai Tuhi Atu team... leave them a comment!

If you have participated in the Digital Fluency Intensive in your region, this is an awesome opportunity to apply what you learnt about Google Hangouts. If you are new to Google Hangouts, your facilitator also will be able to assist.

The Manaiakalani Education Programme's theme for Term 3, Connected Learners Share, is at the heart of Cybersmart Learning: Smart Relationships. 

Participating and contributing to Tuhi Mai Tui Atu supports our young people to make smart decisions about how they share online and experience positive, healthy, online interactions. 

If you have actively participated and contributed to Tuhi Mai Tui Atu in the past two terms, teaching and learning will already have empowered your learners to to connect with an authentic audience and begin to learn how to maintain positive and supportive online relationships. 

If you are new to Tuhi Mai Tui Atu the programme is designed to empower both you and your learners to be Cybersmart through leaving quality blog comments and engaging in online behaviour and thinking that elevates positive actions.

Tuhi Mai Tuhi Atu Weekly Tips

A4

Empowering our young people to:

• confidently navigate and harness their device and learning applications 
• make the most of this opportunity to learn lots of new things and to share these with others (Manaiakalani Kawa of Care)

...can be significantly impacted by their ability to access learning anytime, anyplace, anywhere and from anyone.

One of the  reasons Manaiakalani has chosen to use GSuite and Chromebooks is that learners are still able to view and edit files offline, including: Google Docs, Google Sheets and Google Slides.

In support of  the Manaiakalani kaupapa,  Connected, Ubiquitous, Empowered and Visible it is critical that all our learners can confidently access and manage their learning both offline and online.

Save and open Google Docs, Sheets & Slides offline

Empower Learners to take responsibility for their Digital Footprint

Creating a blog profile is an opportunity for learners to connect with and understand that every time they share online it is contributing to creating their digital footprint. They need to make smart decisions about what personal information they share when creating their blog profile.

Learners with a new Blog

• Have learners connected with the Kawa of Care and elements of the  Responsible Use Agreement? e.g. Exploring Blogs, Exploring Online Profiles,
• Have learners created a blog profile?
• Have learners prepared to share The First Post?
• Identify multiple opportunities for learners to post existing DLOs from their Drive, with your support, to build confidence with the components of a blog post and the process of posting.

Lydia @ Tamaki Primary School

Learners with exisiting blogs

• Have learners updated their profile for 2019?

• Would it be helpful for learners to Explore examples of online profiles and consider different formats for creating a profile e.g. webpage, screencast, short video

• Use the featured post gadget in the blog layout to display a link to their blog profile. For example

• Profile post labels: If learners have profiles from previous year include the same labels. This creates a single link to all profiles to compare and contrast e.g. empower learners to understand they are responsible for their digital footprint.

For more blogging tips: Tuhi Mai Tui Atu

Celebrating Being Us

Heart warming to see our young people responding to the theme for #PinkShirtDayNZ on Friday... "Celebrating Being Us". Lots of awesome connections with our Manaiaklani Cybersmart kaupapa.  All about elevating the positive and empowering our learners to connect with what they can do to share aroha, kindness and kaitiakitanga... The Love You Give.

Ruma Kea @ Kokatahi School using cybersmart language positive, thoughtful and helpful to design their own pink shirts. Ngā Whai @ Taipa Area School created kindness chains for their classmates and student leaders at Pt England "Love the Difference", celebrating our uniqueness.

He aha te mea nui o te ao. He tāngata, he tāngata, he tāngata

Empower your chrome-bookers, to amplify and turbo charge their learning.

Screencastify for Chromebooks
Lots of options for learners to record sound and action when creating and sharing Digital Learning Objects + a versatile tool for peer and self reflection.

If you are new to using Screencastify see the Cybersmart site for setup plus recommendations and support for the following...

• Scaffold learners to be confident with workflow and plan for opportunities to Create to Learn
• Screencastify 2D Digital Learning Objects e.g. Creating Learning Stories
• Practise and self assess reading and oral language e.g. Build Reading Mileage 
• Share screencasts on blogs + peer feedback via blog commenting
• Record demonstrations and explanations, with narration e.g. Create a screencast
• Collaborate to create e.g. record a conversation, interview

For more blogging tips: Tuhi Mai Tui Atu