Manaiakalani Toolkits - Coding and Ban the Boring

 Coding  

Ever since I learnt about scratch and coding at DFI, I have wanted to share a forgotten passion. Forgotten because I last used it in Sixth Form/Year 12 many years ago when they first introduced coding and robotics. Back then, it was just basic javascript. 

Malcolm Bignell had a wealth of knowledge of all things electronic and code-related. 

However, Malcolm let us navigate around his teaching and learning site. The activities and challenges for the high school students were amazing and easy to follow sequentially. Something I hope to inspire too, but more at an intermediate level.

I found it reassuring was even though he was showing us what Year 10 are doing, the code and systems are familiar. My students who are learning coding through Scratch and Edu-Sphero are not at a disadvantage because the coding blocks have similar headings, E.g. Event, Control, Sound, Looks...

Ban Boring

This is looking at creating slides that inspire and encourage students to interact with the learning. Once you have created a set of backgrounds, you can reuse them. This will be really helpful during lockdown times when you are trying to get students to engage in learning, as you can make the class slides more relevant. 

We looked at a range of slides and how interactive, exciting or inspiring they were. Were they overpacked and distracting? We had the opportunity to look at other sites offering slides templates and how to make the bitmoji. Now to create my bitmoji. 

Sharon, thank you for your inspiring toolkit.