What did I learn from the GAFE Summit South 2015?

This is the second GAFE Summit I have attended at Burnside High School - another good summit.

This year I was not as floored by all the new information hitting my brain cells.

Suan Yeo started us off and he made us aware of the fact that the "first exposure for kids is a ‘smart’ device - mobile or tablet" so today's digital developers need to bare this in mind.

We should be asking today’s kids . . .

“What problem do you want to solve?” [when you grow up] vs “What do you want to be?” [when you grow up]

“Thinking is not driven by answers but by questions?” Steve Wheeler

What is important? The answer or the journey of getting to the answer. Are teachers, are asking the right questions? Googleable question vs non-googleable question??

Using the "NOUNS" can help us teach the "VERBS".

Our New Zealand Curriculum remains well respected by other countries as we continue to teach to the "VERBS". We must remember that good teachers are hard to replace. Computers always follow rules and even though computers can be taught, the ability to read humans is something that a computer still has difficulty doing. Being connected with your learner and being able to break the rules is what defines us as being great teachers vs a computer.

A few other useful tips I learnt were:

Virtual Reality experience using Google Cardboard or . . .

We could create our own virtual experience by capturing video using a Ricoh Theta camera which can record video 360 degrees. Simply by moving the device up, down or side to side, you can view what is happening around the main subject that is being videoed.

Blogger Junior is a great way for Primary School aged students to contribute to a class blog with ease