Big Learning

EWC2...known for their visual art and green thumbs too...

Edgewater 2 @ Sommerville Special School may have the smallest Teacher Dashboard of the Manaiakalani schools but there is nothing small about how students have been accessing their GAFE accounts to "learn, create, share". Each student has their own blog and teacher +Lionel Tapara has also created a class blog which he utilises to organise and share access to further learning for students and their families. 

A recent conversation with Lionel, reflecting on the impact of the digital learning environment, highlighted some considerations as we plan next steps:

• both students and parents/caregivers have recognised the increased opportunities for sharing learning conversations with their children both online and kanohi ki te kanohi
• as a satellite class the blogs have also enabled school leaders to regularly connect and respond to learning (Team Leaders support satellite classes on multiple school sites across Auckland)
• students have demonstrated increased confidence specifically in response to IEP goals which include progressing through a sequence of instructions with multiple steps. For example in a digital learning environment this can include in excess of 20+ steps to create and share learning using Google Drive or other web based apps, followed by posting to a blog. Consider the steps students followed to create their Learning Tours in Google Maps.
• the digital learning environment has scaffolded an existing programme of learning that is already highly motivating for students. Specifically it has increased opportunities for students to make links to prior learning.  This can make a significant difference to students' motivation and disposition when approaching new learning.

Sommerville Special School