INTERFACE Magazine November 2021 by interfacemagazine

NEW ZEALAND

SUPPORTING THE USE OF TECHNOLOGY IN LEARNING

ISSUE 109 TERM 4 NOVEMBER 2021 $11

Thinking about the future Insights. Predictions. Tips. Hunches. Explore what 2022 will bring. Pages 18-23

Find Find out what’s new with the Microsoft schools’ agreement

Going Going offline helps students access learning resource

Pages 12 and 13

Pages 24-25

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Why Why is there an extra ‘M’ in STEMM? Page 38

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ONTENTSCONTENTSCONTENTSCONTENTSCONTENTSCONTE 6 INTERFACE News and Views 8 Noticeboard 10 ETV: Free access to ETV in Term 4 for every teacher, in every school 11 The Mind Lab: Personalise your teaching and learning in 2022 12 What’s new with the Microsoft schools’ agreement? Microsoft’s renewed agreement with the Ministry of Education provides schools with more than just three more years of free access to its core software. The new deal also offers enhanced security features. 14 Equal learning opportunities created with Acer devices 17 Girls just want to have fun with STEM 18 Special Feature: Thinking about the future As the end of this year comes into view, attention naturally turns to the next. The last two years have created an unusual learning experience (to say the least) for students, teachers and school administrators. What will 2022 bring? We asked some industry experts for their thoughts, predictions, insights, and hunches.

INTERFACE 109 NOVEMBER 21

24 Going offline begins students’ journey of discovery Students at Kingslea School can’t access the internet. So, when teachers wanted to use the new Mātauranga online resource, a little creative thinking was required and a solution that no one had anticipated. 26 Minecraft in the classroom • Seeking students to trial new Minecraft lessons (is this the best school test ever!) • Finally, it was time to take the plunge with Minecraft 30 File Share: Four pages of online resources 34 Gamefroot: Make your own picture slideshow about 2021 36 Competitions: Plenty of great prizes to be won! 38 Shaping a new way to learn by adding ‘M’ to STEMM With some innovative approaches to teaching and quick-thinking during the latest lockdowns, Tōnui Collab is making a difference for students and educators across the East Coast region with STEMM, its own unique take on learning science and technology. 39 INTERFACEXpo 2022: Join us for the best day of the year! Insert: Acer School Calendar 2022

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WE’RE LOOKING FORWARD TO BEING BY YOUR SIDE IN 2022 It’s been another challenging year for teachers and, once again, your dedication and hard work has been truly awesome. What lies ahead? Well, on pages 18-23 we’ve been thinking about the future and explore some of the trends and developments to look out for in 2022. Whatever is on the horizon, however, rest assured that we’ll be right there with you, supporting and inspiring your use of digital technology in your teaching. Thank you for being part of the INTERFACE family during 2021. We loved catching up with at our INTERFACEXpo events in May. And we couldn’t bring you this great publication without your

input and support, which is more important now than ever to enable us to continue to provide this great resource for you, the educators of New Zealand. Everyone at INTERFACE wishes you, your school and students, family, and friends, a happy and enjoyable holiday, and all the best for 2022! INTERFACE OFFICE CLOSED: Please note, our administration, distribution and accounts team will be on holiday from Friday 10 December to Monday 31 January.

AND THE GAMEFROOT COMPETITION WINNER IS … Congratulations to Victor Marian, a Year 9 student at Taupo nui-a-Tia College, who is the winner of our Gamefroot competition. His prize is a trip to Gamefroot’s studio in Wellington, which we’ll feature in a later issue. In his game, called Moa Run, players are a moa running away from Lake Taupo’s first eruption, having to dodge lava, smoke, and more. “Victor won because everything in his game was customised,” said judge and Gamefroot founder Dan Milward. “From the art assets he created himself, through to the type of game, everything about it was unique. Importantly, his entry included elements of storytelling about Aotearoa New Zealand’s histories, which aligned with the goals of the competition. “Victor is proof that our tamariki and ranatahi are capable of using digital tools to fulfill both the DT learning areas in the curriculum and, at the same time, apply those skills across multiple learning area. A job very well done!” Thanks to everyone who entered. There were some awesome games – keep up the great work with Gamefroot!

22 Where and when are our events in 2022? 6

INTERFACE 103 NOVEMBER 20

Find out on page 39.

WSNEWSANDVIEWSNEWSANDVIEWSNEWSANDVIEWSNEW OUR STUDENT MINECRAFT COMPETITION IS BACK! Are your students mad for Minecraft? Well, get your thinking caps on and your blocks ready to move because our student Minecraft competition is back! It will be launching in Term 1 next year and will run until the end of Term 2, so there’s plenty of time to take part. We’re currently finalising all the details. There will be a building challenge and different age groups. Going on some fantastic entries in previous years, we can’t wait to see what students can create. We’ll be updating information as we go at interfaceonline.co.nz/minecraft2022 More on teaching with Minecraft on pages 26-29.

Meet the team

EDITOR Greg Adams 027 255 1301 Greg.Adams@interfacemagazine.co.nz ADVERTISING 09 575 2454 Advertising@interfacemagazine.co.nz DISTRIBUTION MANAGER Michelle Durbin 09 575 2454 Michelle.Durbin@interfacemagazine.co.nz DESIGNER Paul Colgrave Design@interfacemagazine.co.nz FOLLOW US

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The continuing lockdown has meant we again faced major obstacles to printing and mailing out your favourite magazine. So, to make sure this issue of INTERFACE reaches you wherever you are in New Zealand, we’ve gone digital again. We hope you enjoy reading this convenient and interactive format. We’re confident we’re still bringing you the latest and best news, views and information about education technology. Let us know what you think at comment@interfacemagazine.co.nz

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SUBSCRIBE TO INTERFACE For details go to interfaceonline.co.nz/subscribe/ NEW ZEALAND INTERFACE™ (ISSN 1177-973X) is published six times a year by G MEDIA PUBLISHING LIMITED PO Box 25155, St Heliers Auckland 1740, NZ © G MEDIA PUBLISHING LIMITED 2021. Editorial opinions are not necessarily those of the publisher. We do not endorse or accept responsibility for any third party featured in this publication, unless stated otherwise.

As always, thanks to everyone who entered our competitions. Congratulations to the lucky winners.

While every effort has been made to ensure accuracy of information in this magazine, the publisher does not accept liability for inaccuracies, omissions or misinterpretations that may occur, and urges readers to always check online resources before using them in class.

Plenty of you liked the sound of the My Audio Pet Portable Speakers. There was a choice of two. They went to Jamie Sanson, Cullinane College, Whanganui (monkey design) and Sandra Whipp, Logan Park High School, Dunedin (llama).

INTERFACE Magazine is printed using certified sustainably managed materials.

The Adjustable Long Arm Floor Stand is on its way to Margarita Thompson, Glenfield Intermediate School, Auckland. And lastly, keeping their workspaces super neat with a five-pack Cable Clip Desk Tidy will be Peter de Blois, Southland Girls’ High School, Invercargill, and Chris Buchan, Saint Kentigern Girls’ School, Auckland. Check out our latest competitions on pages 36 and 37.

NEW ZEALAND

We had three Mini Photoboxes up for grabs. The winners are Melanie Bardley, Sumner School, Christchurch, Erin Alach, Opononi Area School, Kaikohe, and Claire Humphries, Newlands College, Wellington.

USE OF TECHNO

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4 NOVEMBER ISSUE 109 TERM

2021 $11

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SUPPORTING THE

Insights. Pre s 18-23 22 will bring. Page Explore what 20

Are girls interested in STEM? You bet!

We know because they told us. Page 17. INTERFACE 109 NOVEMBER 21

Find out what’s new with the ols’ Microsoft scho agreement nd 13

s Going offline help students access learning resource Pages 24-25

Why is there an extra ‘M’ in STEMM? Page 38

NOTICEBOARDNOTICEBOARDNOTICEBOARDNOTICEBOARDNO EVERY TEACHER. EVERY SCHOOL. FREE ACCESS TO ETV IN TERM 4! Last month, ETV launched ‘Remote Learning Resource Initiative’, which gives every teacher in New Zealand free access to its catalogue of online resources in Term 4. “In partnership with Screenrights, who are providing a free, temporary copyright licence for audio-visual material, ETV is providing every teacher in every school with free access to its entire catalogue until the end of the year!” said Martin Drew, ETV General Manager.

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CLASSROOM APP IS FASTEST GROWING COMPANY IN NEW ZEALAND Kami, an Auckland-based digital classroom platform that allows teachers and students to interact and collaborate with each other, has topped the 2021 Deloitte Fast 50 index, with 1,177 per cent revenue growth over the past three years. With a name meaning paper in Japanese, the company was founded in 2013 by University of Auckland students Hengjie Wang, Jordan Thoms, and Alliv Samson, who were looking for a way to digitally streamline their note-taking. The service is now used in around 180 countries, and by more than 30 million teachers and students. “You hear all of these big startup funding announcements and Kami was certainly not one of these,” said Wang. “But despite this, we have shown the world that achieving this level of growth and the impact that we have is possible from little old New Zealand.” Kami is currently available free to New Zealand schools. For more go to kamiapp.com

MICROSOFT RENEWS DEAL WITH MINISTRY Microsoft New Zealand has welcomed the three-year renewal of its schools’ agreement with the Ministry of Education, with a new focus on boosting cybersecurity and making schools even more secure. The agreement will provide all state and stateintegrated schools with free A3 licences for core Microsoft software such as Microsoft 365, Minecraft: Education Edition and Windows 10 and above. Microsoft Teams, OneNote, Forms and other applications allow teachers to build a collaborative hybrid classroom that empowers learners to work together and access resources, and for teachers to quickly assess their learning and provide individualised feedback. Find out what’s new with the agreement on pages 12 and 13

WEEBLY FOR EDUCATION TO CLOSE MICROSOFT MOVES TO WINDOWS 11 Last month, Microsoft released Windows 11, the latest version of its operating system. It’s available as a free upgrade for PCs already using Windows 10 – and is available as part of the renewed Schools’ Agreement. Among the new features are: • A new start menu and centred taskbar; • The ability to download and run Android apps; and • Microsoft Teams built in. There’s also a new Aotearoa keyboard that allows macrons to be added more easily while writing in te reo Māori by using the tilde (~) key before a vowel. The Windows 11 upgrade will be delivered to qualifying devices late 2021 into 2022. Timing varies by device. Certain features require specific hardware (see aka.ms/ windows11-spec). But there’s no rush to install. Microsoft will continue to support Windows 10 until October 2025. More at microsoft.com/en-nz/windows/windows-11

Find out more about this amazing and generous offer on pages 10 and 15. Or go to etv.nz

INTERFACE 109 NOVEMBER 21

Website building service Weebly has announced that it’s closing Weebly for Education next year. It says that all teacher accounts will automatically convert to a free standard account. However, if your students have websites as part of this, their sites and accounts will be disabled. More at bit.ly/weeblyclose

NEW ANTI-CYBERBULLYING CAMPAIGN Working with Netsafe and its YAS ambassadors, Voices of Hope, a mental health charity, has unveiled a new anticyberbullying campaign. Entitled ‘You wouldn’t say it to their face’, it highlights mental health issues stemming from online abuse and bullying. Check out the series of videos, which include lived experience interviews and a social experiment that shows the impact online harm can have on someone’s wellbeing. More at thevoicesofhope.org/you-wouldnt-say-it-to-their-face

OTICEBOARDNOTICEBOARDNOTICEBOARDNOTICEBOARDNO

Te Papa’s education programme Raranga Matihiko/ Weaving Digital Futures has been recognised as one of the top 100 global education innovations by HundrED.Org. Developed in 2018, Raranga Matihiko is a Ministry of Education-funded programme, delivering innovative digital technologies to teachers and students, in collaboration with Auckland Art Gallery and Waitangi Treaty Grounds. “It is an honour to be recognised as one of the world’s top 100 education innovations,” said Project Director Tara Fagan. “The programme’s strength comes from the people and taonga we work with, and the commitment of students and their whānau to learning. We have connected 13,000 five to 14-year-olds across the country, enriching their cultural experience and identity.” More at rarangamatihiko.com and hundred.org

LEARN ABOUT LEXPLORE New to the New Zealand market, Lexplore is an innovative programme that measures reading ability using artificial intelligence and eye tracking technology. If you’d like to learn more about it, the company is holding assessment demo and discussion zoom sessions on Tuesday 16 November (9pm), Wednesday 24 November (7pm), and Thursday 2 December (8pm). To register visit lexplore.co.nz or contact emma.prentice@lexplore.com

MORE HELP WITH CODING FROM APPLE Apple has rolled out several new teaching resources, as part of its Everyone Can Code initiative. They include a new ‘Everyone Can Code Early Learners’ activity guide and a one-hour Inclusive App Design activity to introduce students to the world of coding and app development. Download the guide at apple.co/code-early

NEW RASPBERRY PI ADD-ON CONTROLS LEGO ROBOTS In collaboration with LEGO Education, Raspberry Pi has created an add-on for controlling some LEGO robot motors and sensors. Called Build HAT (Hardware Attached on Top), it plugs into a Raspberry Pi’s 40-pin GPIO header to give four ports that can be used to control LEGO Technic motors and sensors from the Education Spike kits. (It’s also designed to work with the Mindstorms Robot Inventor kit.) In addition, there’s a new Python coding library available to go alongside the HAT add-on that can help students build prototypes using a Raspberry Pi and various LEGO components. More at raspberrypi.com/products/build-hat/ SCHOOL CA

LENDAR 20

IS NETFLIX SHOW RAISING INTEREST IN LEARNING KOREAN?

DOWNLOAD YOUR 2022 SCHOOL CALENDAR

Language learning app Duolingo is putting a surge in interest in learning Korean down to the huge popularity of Netflix show Squid Game, which is set in South Korea.

09 Looking ahead to next year, Acer has created a school calendar, with key dates and conveniently colour coded for easy use. There’s a copy inserted at the end of this magazine or download the file at interfaceonline.co.nz/acer2022calendar

“Our data shows a roughly 40 per cent growth in new learners studying Korean compared to last year, when the trend was fairly flat,” said Duolingo’s Sam Zabell. “Could this be a wave of Squid Game-inspired studying? The numbers and tweets seem to suggest that’s what’s happening.”

01 JANUARY S

4 11

TERM 2

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25/12 Christma s

26/12 Boxing Day

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[INSPIRE DAILY.] [LEARN ALWAYS .]

05 MAY

06/06 Queen's B'day

25/04 Anzac Day

SEPTEMBER

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17/04 Easter

15/04 Good Friday

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TravelMate Spin P4

Why has the Manaiakalani Programme made the Acer Chromebook its device of choice? See page 14.

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TE PAPA’S RARANGA MATIHIKO PROGRAMME IN TOP 100 GLOBAL EDUCATION INNOVATIONS

Once you get rolling with Science in Motion...

SCIENCE LESSONS ARE SIMPLE!

• Easy, fun activity plans for Years 1-10 • Build science capabilities and concepts.

For more info check out www.education.nzta.govt.nz/science

INTERFACE 109 NOVEMBER 21

Free access to ETV in Term 4 for every teacher, in every school Have you registered yet? ETV is generously giving every teacher in New Zealand free access to its catalogue of online resources in Term 4. Don’t miss your chance to check out and enjoy for the rest of the year this fantastic resource. Recognising the struggle teachers experience when searching for engaging content for their students, ETV has launched its ‘Remote Learning Resource Initiative’ – giving every teacher in the country free access to its catalogue of online resources in Term 4. “Remote learning/off campus learning/ anywhere anytime learning all refer to the accelerating trend of our students pursuing their learning and enquiry outside of the conventional classroom,” explained Martin Drew, ETV General Manager. “In partnership with Screenrights, who are providing a free, temporary copyright licence for audio-visual material, ETV is providing every teacher in every school with free access to its entire catalogue until the end of the year! “You can use the online audio-visual

catalogue to engage your students while they are learning outside (or inside) your classroom.”

types of annotation and interactive tools that pop up while the learner watches the video.”

What is ETV?

How to access ETV for free

ETV is the largest online video platform for educators in New Zealand with more than 150,000 videos searchable with rich metadata added, yours to view ondemand. It has a particular focus on New Zealand-based content, making it relevant to all curriculum areas and age groups. Build your own library of content using any digital file type. Create personal and shared workspaces, control who can see it, and connect your learning resources with colleagues, students and the community. There are also tools to create your own content.

It’s easy to take up this offer. Teachers who have not previously created a login should go to www.etv.nz. Here all you have to do is click on the ‘First Time User Registration’ button to set up your own password using your school email address and you’re good to go. There is free access to ETV’s entire catalogue until 31 December. For more information, or support, call 0800 438 388 or email martin.drew@etv.org.nz

“EVA, our Enhanced Video Annotation tool, turns any video into an enriched interactive experience with 17 different

WWF needs you to become a walrus detective Walruses are under threat from a warming climate and the WWF needs your help to count them. It’s asking people to contribute to ‘Walrus from Space’, a conservation science project, by searching satellite images and recording how many walruses they can spot. The project aims to carry out a census of Atlantic and Laptev walrus populations over five years. This will help scientists to better understand the impact of climate change on populations of this iconic species and help safeguard their future. If you’d like to know more about the project go to wwf.org.uk/learn/walrus-from-space

INTERFACE 109 NOVEMBER 21

Personalise your teaching and learning in 2022 Although we know we’re in a constant state of change, there’s something to be said for preparing ourselves to face this change head on, embracing it rather than fearing it. We know 2022 will signal a rethink of education, just like other industries, as a result of the unavoidable impact of Covid-19. So how, as educators, can we be ready for it? The answer is in what we’ve seen and done already: making it more personal. Many of us discovered during lockdowns that we need to assist students to work more independently in ways that work for them. Although it may be difficult to fully adopt this personalised learning approach in your classroom, we encourage you to look for ways to customise the learning process where you can. Consider how it can better suit each individual learner, with their own unique learning preferences, background, needs, and experiences, and reap the benefits when you see your learners engage with the curriculum in a much more meaningful way. Where can you start?

Collaborate with your team

Start off your year by discussing personalised learning ideas with other teachers during planning days. What have you done or seen that’s worked well? What hasn’t worked? What would you be willing to try with the support of colleagues. Working together you can encourage each other to review personalised learning methods and set up steps to implement this together.

Make use of technology Use technology to create personalised learning experiences, for example game-based learning like Prodigy Math Game, so students can take it at their own pace and enjoy learning, too. Technology is an incredibly flexible tool to drive personalisation, you could even start by utilising some of your students’ favourite platforms and turning them into learning experiences.

Reach out to your community Personalising the learning process for each student will take time, consider working with other teachers and the community around you to help.

Tap into local experts to help deliver 2022 topics in different ways and use this variety in delivery to understand how your students like to learn. For example, your local iwi could share their stories, or their take on sustainability and kaitiakitanga, and speakers could deliver in person or online. Enabling customised learning not only creates a greater connection between students and what they’re learning, it also teaches them skills that will go well beyond their days in school! By Britta Sisam-Jones, storyteller at The Mind Lab.

New learning options for your busy life Comprising both self-directed learning and weekly live-online class sessions, our programme schedules recognise the need to balance work and wellbeing.

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INTERFACE 109 NOVEMBER 21

What’s new with the Microsoft schools’ agreement? Microsoft New Zealand’s renewed agreement with the Ministry of Education provides schools with more than just three more years of free access to its core software. The new deal also offers enhanced security features that will boost cybersecurity and make you, your students and your school even more digitally safe and secure. As you may know, the schools’ agreement between Microsoft New Zealand and the Ministry of Education has been renewed for three years, coming into effect on 1 January, 2022, and running until 31 December, 2024. Officially titled the Microsoft Enrolment for Education Services (EES) Agreement, a key component is the continuing free access for students and staff at all state schools, state-integrated schools and kura kuapapa to Microsoft’s suite of powerful learning tools. What are known as A3 licences, this makes available at no cost some of the company’s core software, such as Microsoft 365 (including Teams, OneNote and Forms), Minecraft: Education Edition, and Windows 10 and above, that allow teachers to build a collaborative, hybrid classroom. What you may not know, however, is that there are several significant additions to the overall deal, notably a new focus on boosting cybersecurity and making schools even more safe and secure. Emma Barrett, Public Sector Director at Microsoft New Zealand, said she was delighted to be renewing Microsoft’s relationship with the MoE and empowering schools to provide safe, trusted online learning.

“This agreement paves the way for schools in the country to enjoy worldclass, enterprise-level security on every device,” she said.

devices that are utilising A3 licences,” added Barrett. “This aligns and empowers the Ministry’s strategy for safer and more secure learning environments.”

“As more schools and kura across Aotearoa embrace secure cloud platforms and new technologies, such as cloud telephony, over the next few years, that’s going to give educators even more confidence to innovate in the digital space. That’s great news for teachers, for students, and for the future of New Zealand.”

M365 A5 Licences

Intensive and advanced What this means is that schools who have already adopted cloud security and protection technologies can now apply for fully funded A5 licences that provide more intensive security management and advanced compliance on all school-owned devices, with additional analytics tools (through Power BI). The A5 licences include Microsoft Defender for Endpoint, a cloud-based solution designed to help school networks prevent, detect, investigate and respond to advanced threats. “The agreement now includes a number of M365 A5 licences and Defender for Endpoint per year for all school-owned

This offers everything in A3, but with more intensive security management, additional analytics tools (through Power BI), and advanced compliance. A5 makes security a priority with Microsoft Defender for Endpoint, a cloud-based solution that helps protect your school identities from multiple types of advanced targeted cyberattacks.

Microsoft Defender for Endpoint

This is a product feature of A5 and provides an enterprise endpoint security platform designed to help school networks prevent, detect, investigate, and respond to advanced threats. For those users that have A3, the Ministry of Education is also licensing them with Microsoft Defender for Endpoint. “Schools and kura who use Microsoft software are encouraged to take advantage of these licences, in particular to avail themselves of the enhanced security benefits available from the A5 licence option and Defender for Endpoint,” wrote Stuart Wakefield, the Ministry of Education’s Chief Digital Officer. While the renewed deal doesn’t come into effect until next year, the Defender for Endpoint security features have already been made available to eligible schools.

About Power BI

This is an analytics package for making sense of all your data sources. The collection of software services and apps helps users to easily collect, manage and process information and turn it into intelligible insights, reports and visualisations. More at powerbi.microsoft.com

INTERFACE 109 NOVEMBER 21

Free security training

Microsoft is also working with the Ministry to provide free security training and certifications to its technology partners, to help schools roll out enhanced cybersecurity faster. “Throughout our long relationship with the Ministry of Education, we’ve worked together to identify the issues that matter most to schools and teachers and provide the tools they need to deliver the best educational outcomes,” said Lydia Kronawetter, Education Industry Executive at Microsoft New Zealand. “With today’s online and blended learning models, security is a top priority. It’s vital to ensure not only that digital education is useful and engaging, but that schools’ data is protected, and teaching continues to happen in a safe and secure environment.” Dedicated online sessions are planned to update school IT administrators and leaders, as well as sessions for school IT service providers and integrators. These sessions will focus on the details of the new agreement, with an opportunity to ask questions and find out what support is provided. “The Ministry will be sharing more information on this series of ongoing webinars over the coming weeks,” said Kronawetter. “We will be offering free virtual training events to empower school IT managers, with a focus on our security solutions included in A5 licences. These boot camps will be aligned to Microsoft certifications, with examination vouchers provided on completion.”

If you’d like to know more, further details about the agreement can be found from the Ministry of Education at education. govt.nz/school/digital-technology/ software/microsoft/ or from Microsoft at microsoft.com/en-nz/anz/ schoolsagreement/

What software is included in the agreement? Schools are licensed to use the Microsoft 365 A3 suite which includes: Windows 10 operating system, Microsoft Office 365, Microsoft Enterprise Mobility & Security and rights to the Microsoft server software. A range of new cloud-delivered services and tools are available under the agreement, including Office 365 Pro Plus, the Enterprise Mobility & Security suite and Minecraft Education Edition. It also includes expanded Student Use Benefits (SUB) on more products.

• Minecraft Education Edition is an open-world game that promotes computational thinking, creativity, collaboration and problem solving in an immersive environment. With education specific features such as teacher classroom controls, coding connection and hundreds of curriculum lessons, schools can easily integrate game-based learning into their classrooms. Minecraft Education Edition currently runs on Windows 10 and MacOS;

• Office 365 provides a cloud-hosted suite of Office Productivity software. It allows choice for students’ and teachers’ devices to run Office in the cloud, on the desktop/device or in a hybrid mode where content is synchronised between the user’s device and cloud;

• M365 A5 Licences which includes all services in A3 plus more advanced security management, additional analytics tools (through Power BI) and advanced compliance. A5 makes security a priority with Microsoft Defender, a cloud-based solution that helps protect school identities, devices and apps from multiple types of advanced targeted cyberattacks; and

• Office 365 Pro Plus includes the latest versions of Access, Excel, Skype for Business, OneNote, Outlook, PowerPoint, Publisher, and Word. Users install the client software onto their own devices and can run up to five copies on their computer (Mac/PC) and five on their mobile device (Android/iPhone); • Enterprise Mobility & Security enables schools to support mobile computing and BYOD. It provides tools to manage mobile and desktop devices, applications, security, identity and access rights., including Intune Mobile Device Management (MDM), Azure Active Directory Premium 1, Azure Rights Management and Advanced Threat Analytics;

• Microsoft Defender for Endpoint is usually a product feature of A5 and provides an enterprise endpoint security platform designed to help school networks prevent, detect, investigate, and respond to advanced threats. For those users that have A3, the Ministry of Education is also licensing them with Microsoft Defender for Endpoint. Updated versions of all Microsoft’s key on-premise software are available. Contact nzschools@datacom.co.nz for more details, information about licensing and how to get started.

Alternatively, if you’re interested in Microsoft products, contact Lydia Kronawetter at kronawetterl@microsoft.com

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Equal learning opportunities created with Acer devices The Manaiakalani Programme was born out of an education collective with the desire to improve learning outcomes for children at a socio-economic disadvantage. To achieve this goal, it’s worked closely with Acer and its device of choice is the Acer Chromebook.

INTERFACEONLINE.CO.NZ

With its roots in Tãmaki, a suburb of Auckland that’s among the lowest socio-economic areas in the country, the Manaiakalani community is a group of schools that’s dedicated to providing students with full digital citizenship and helping them realise their potential using high-quality, digital learning devices. Started a decade ago with the establishment of the Manaiakalani Education Trust (MET), the programme has since extended to 12 other regions and more than 100 schools. At its heart is a community of learning that relies on the collaboration between educators, students and their families, and the partnering with technology providers like Acer, to achieve improvements in education outcomes. “Manaiakalani whãnau are given the opportunity to invest in the education of their tamariki by leasing to own their child’s learning device,” said Russell Burt, Principal at Point England School, one of the programme’s founding schools. “Typically, they’re purchasing a three-year warranted and insured device that has a quality-insured bag at the rate of approximately $4 per week.”

Preferred device

The current learning device of choice at Point England School – a primary school with 600 students – is the durable Acer Chromebook. Burt cites three reasons why the Acer Chromebook is now the device of choice for the MET and many more schools that have looked to replicate the Manaiakalani Programme’s model of success: • Quality of performance for learning; • Affordability; and • Ease of management and maintenance. “The platform offers an easy set-up process for schools to administer and maintain,” said Cam Anderson, Country Manager of Acer Computer New Zealand. “The device is a robust, reliable and affordable product that is proven in the New Zealand education marketplace.”

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ACER IN ACTION: POINT ENGLAND SCHOOL STUDENTS USING THEIR CHROMEBOOKS

Partnering to improve lives A large part of Anderson’s role is building long-lasting relationships with partners that align with Acer’s values and commitment to the education sector. “Ensuring that all students, no matter what ethnicity, school or decile they may represent have equal digital learning opportunities is the driving force behind Acer’s commitment to the Manaiakalani Programme and MET.” Significantly, Anderson notes that matching the right devices to suit the Manaiakalani schools’ needs has been critical to the programme’s overarching success. “The right product is essential to the success of the MET’s digital learning initiatives, and the Acer devices chosen throughout the years have met and exceeded the daily demands of students of all learning ages.” Acer has created a bespoke support and service model for MET that is suited to their ongoing growth. “With a large device fleet, backend service and support is also just as important – if not more important – than the stand-alone device.” This support has brought significant value to the greater Manaiakalani community.

“Manaiakalani enjoys a warm relationship and partnership with Acer,” added Burt. “Acer is able to add considerable value to our learners and community partners through conditions of sale, after-sales service, problem solving at a system level and provision of quality devices at an affordable price.”

A growing success

Acer is at the forefront of developing technology that can enhance the learning experience. “We are extremely proud to have helped grow this programme from the initial cluster of 13 schools, to now over 100,” added Anderson. “The research, measurements and student success rates that MET collate, prove that this is a system that works, and truly improves the learning outcomes of New Zealand’s most challenged students.” For a technology consultation on your future needs contact Acer at education.aca@acer.com

CREATING EQU LEARNING OPPAL ORT

THE MANAIAKAL

UNITIES

ANI CASE STUDY

Watch a video about how the Manaiakalani Programme is using Acer Chromebooks. You can also download the full case study at interfaceonline.co.nz/metacer

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Free access to ETV’s entire catalogue is available for every teacher until 31 December. Use ETV’s online audio visual catalogue to engage your students while they are learning outside (or inside) your classroom. Register for your access now by visiting www.etv.org.nz Click on the First Time User Registration button and set up your own password using your school email address.

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Girls just want to have fun with STEM ‘Is it a challenge engaging girls with science and technology?’, we asked in the last issue. Say what? Students at Whangarei Intermediate were so surprised by this suggestion, they contacted us to say how popular STEM was with girls at their school, as they explain. Fridays at Whangarei Intermediate School are enrichment days and, of the 60 students who participate in STEM enrichment classes, 45 of them are girls.

OOBLECKERS: MAUREEN AND EMMA ROCKET GIRL: BROOKLYN

Given the popularity of these classes, when we read in the last INTERFACE Magazine that girls needed encouragement into STEM, we were surprised to say the least. Firstly, you need to understand that WIS is a full digital immersion school. Every student has a Chromebook and there’s a Digital Technology specialist class (Coding and Robotics) that everyone in attends throughout the year. The STEM classes, however, are all about making, creating and experimenting, basically from scratch. We have made bottle rockets, mousetrap cars, Oobleck, marble runs, model tree houses and paddle boats, and have experimented with hydraulics, melting chocolate and burning potato chips, amongst other things. “We build and experiment with stuff and learn new skills,” explained our classmate Cameron.

Getting messy

It can get quite messy at times, and yes, girls like making a mess – Oobleck is mainly responsible here – and ‘playing’ with fire (we have methylated spirits and Bunsen burners, and follow Lab Safety Rules). Luckily, we also have understanding cleaners! We have learned physics while building rockets but, as Lily stated, “we experiment not just with science and technology but with our creativity as well.” And it is with this that STEM becomes STEAM. Through STEAM, we have learnt to build relationships by working together, listening to each other’s ideas and collaborating with new people. We have learnt to experiment with new ideas and think outside the box. We are not afraid to get things wrong. We always are excited to come to STEAM with our teacher, Mr Kelly, because he lets us experiment for the first 15 minutes of STEAM, allowing us to build on our new ideas before we start the group project. He encourages us to try new things and helps us with our crazy imaginations and ideas. “We are developing problem solving skills because when problems occur, we need to solve them to go ahead,” said Aleena.

Develop skills

Another reason STEAM is so enjoyable is “because you get to do different things that you normally wouldn’t do,” Shelby explained. This includes different tools, which, surprisingly, some of us have never used. We have learnt to use tools responsibly including craft knifes, Bunsen burners, hot glue guns, syringes for hydraulics, pressure pumps, and LEGO. We believe that the WIS STEAM programme will help develop skills that will help us in our future studies and possibly guide us towards a previously unthought of career. As Lauren pointed out, “we use real-world skills that could aid us in our future careers whilst having fun.” Ruby commented: “You get to experiment and develop new strengths and it opens up a lot more opportunities I hadn’t thought of.” We and our friends all agree that we get more involved in our learning.

BUILDERS: LITESHA, OLIVIA AND ACACIA

“Because it is interesting and something that’s fun it helps us remember knowledge learned better,” added Maureen. The last words should be left for Brooklyn, who started all of this by contacting INTERFACE. “I am so passionate about STEAM because we have the freedom to do what we are curious about and experiment with new things and try out our theories on new things. With all the things we learn in STEAM we might become scientists!” Article by Brooklyn, Ngaia, Eleanor, and Macey, who are students in the WIS STEAM Programme at Whangarei Intermediate School.

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Thinking about the future As the end of this year comes into view, attention naturally turns to the next. The last two years have created an unusual learning experience (to say the least) for students, teachers and school administrators. What will 2022 bring? We asked some industry experts for their thoughts, predictions, insights, and hunches.

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2022 is not about masks or vaccination policies, it is about people As far as learning goes, 2021 was a major education moment. However, most of the knowledge we have come to understand this year can be attributed to experiences outside the classroom, writes Frances Valintine. I entered this year filled with the hope that New Zealand would see some normalisation of learning rhythms after the disruption of 2020. Instead, we are heading towards the end of the year with increased uncertainty, hesitancy and concern around vaccinations, lockdowns and the recommencement of face-to-face learning. If this year has taught us one thing, it is that education is a very different place today, and will be into the future, as teaching and learning adjusts to the impact of 20 months punctuated by interruptions and uncertainty. This is not a ‘sweep it under the carpet’, tough it out moment for students, teachers and education leaders. We need to acknowledge we don’t know the answers, or even the questions as we are asked to dig deep to find resilience we didn’t even know we had.

Different conditions

In Auckland, our conversations are fundamentally different from the ones we have with our colleagues and family in the regions beyond the city where life has hues of familiarity and episodes of seemingly normal activity, albeit with some masks and social distancing. Regardless of the lockdown turmoil, I feel fortunate I am not leading an education institute while also home-schooling children. My children have mostly flown the nest, but all are studying under very different conditions. One of my sons is studying audio engineering, which is proving to be challenging away from the technology in his institute. His normal part-time work is on hold while lockdowns prevail, so he now is a virtual camera director of global eSports games that he controls from a desktop in his dining room. Another is in his final year studying commerce and information technology at university. We spoke yesterday about the trials and tribulations of working on group projects with fellow students he hardly

knows and, in some cases, has never met. My daughter studying in Wellington is about to move out of her first-year student accommodation and into her first flat with friends she has made during the year. Her year has had minimal disruption, beyond the normal adjustments of living away from home and moving to a new city. Finally, my other son, who is at high school, would do anything to be back in the classroom, amongst his friends and the normality of routines and schedules. Online learning takes energy that is now hard to find.

Nothing normal

Spring may be in full swing, signalling the start of the final quarter of the year and the excitement that the school year is almost done. But not this year. Right now, students are muddling their way through their chosen curriculum, while prepping for exams without the usual teacher support and revision processes. The emotional impact of long-term isolation is taxing and self-motivation is waning just as the schedule of end of year exams begins to loom. There is nothing about this year that is normal. In years to come, we will see knowledge gaps and a long tail of emotional impact as our children look back to this time with a sense of loss. The loss of experiences such as school balls, sporting events, and social gatherings. They will also have missed key education milestones or personal goals for reasons well beyond their control or influence.

More resilient

But for our children to come through this year stronger, more resilient and more capable than ever will require us to put them at the centre of our decision making. We cannot add the considerations of our nation’s students as mere afterthoughts as we make plans for their future.

I have lived 50 years without the impact of any major global crisis. I have built reserves based upon life and experience, tragedies and trauma that comes with living a full and varied life.

Our schools and institutes are important communities and places of development for our children. We owe it to them to step back and really think about how we support them to go forward with strength. 2022 is not about masks or vaccination policies, it is about people. We can’t catch-up or pretend we haven’t just gone through one of the most challenging periods of the modern world. Our students need us to make great decisions, so that when they finally walk back into the classroom they are welcomed as long-lost family members reuniting after a long period apart.

We are all carrying the burden of rapid change and disruption in our lives. None of this has been easy.

Frances Valintine CNZM is CEO and founder of The Mind Lab and Tech Futures Lab.

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Continuing to be driven by student expectation and engagement By the team at ActiveVision NZ As we move forward into 2022, we predict the opportunities for distance/ remote/hybrid learning will become more readily available. New technology will provide new opportunities for better, more engaging teaching opportunities and, because of this, the expectations from students for a more fulfilling learning experience will continue. While pedagogy drives what and how equipment is used, today’s screen technology has many in-built features and functions that can make lessons more dynamic, engaging, and efficient. • Mirroring Multiple Devices: Today, at a minimum, your screen technology should offer the ability to mirror four devices at one time. • Two-Way Touch: Cables and wires have always been another thing to manage. However, technology is now at a point that again, as a minimum, teachers should be fully untethered and able to work freely in their space, providing more efficiency and freedom in the class without having to manage (and in some cases find) the required cables.

static as a TV/whiteboard/projector, it’s easy to see how the level of engagement can quickly drop off. How would you feel when you’re able to use your computer at home but only a pen and paper at work?

• Hybrid Teaching: Being able to run a hybrid class is far simpler than a lot of people think. It just requires a small change in thinking. Chances are you will already have everything you need to achieve this and all that required is an understanding on how to set things up to support the hybrid environment.

The prevalence of interactive technology in classrooms will continue to develop in the months and years ahead. Students will keep asking questions and teachers will continue to teach, and we will continue to support them both in getting everything possible from the technology they have available.

There’s also no reason to use this configuration just during Covid. You can incorporate students at home into your ‘live’ class if for any reason they may not be able to attend class. • Touch Screens for Teaching: Touch technology in the class continues to grow. When students spend their life online with all their touch devices, gaming machines and social media, being confronted with something as

Don’t forget to download your Acer School Calendar 2022

Looking ahead to next year, Acer has created a school calendar, with key dates throughout the terms, and conveniently colour coded for quick and easy use. There’s a copy inserted at the end of this magazine. Alternatively, you can download the file at your leisure at interfaceonline.co.nz/acer2022calendar

SCHOOL C

01 JANUARY S

7 14

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F 1

3 10

14 21 28

15/04 Good Friday

08 AUGUST 7 14

25/04 Anzac Day

4 11

5 12

1 4

3 10

24/06 Matariki

19 26

20 27

21 28

22 29

TERM 2

TERM 3

TERM 4

06 JUNE

3 10

24/10 Labour Day

20 27

21 28

22 29

TravelMate Spin P4

26/12 Boxing Day

12 DECEMBER

1 6 13

5 12

25/12 Christma s

11 NOVEMBER

TravelMate Spin B3 TERM 1

2 9

1 8

05/10 Teachers' Day

[INSPIRE DAI LY.] [LEARN ALW AYS.]

05 MAY

10 OCTOBER

18 25

06/06 Queen's B'day

09 SEPTEMBER S

2022

04 APRIL

17/04 Easter

1 8

06/02 Waitangi Day

01/01 New Year's Day

ALENDAR

03 MARCH

Find out more about how Acer can help your school and students at education.aca@acer.com

Why has the Manaiakalani Programme made the Acer Chromebook its device of choice? See page 14.

17 24 31

07 JULY

02 FEBRUARY

9 16

Our solutions will enable schools to deliver immersive learning and to improve student engagement, performance and learning experiences. For more go to activevision.co.nz

Learning is not a place, but an activity By Steve Smith, Education Program Manager at Google NZ Over the last 18 months, Kiwis have turned to technology more than ever to help them learn and teach from anywhere. Throughout it all, the education community has inspired us with their creativity and resilience, always remaining focused on their learners. Looking ahead, given the role technology is playing in education, there’s a new frontier of challenges to solve and innovation to be had. Learning is not a place, but an activity. This has never been more true than in the current changing learning environment, and there are two areas that should be a focus for 2022 and beyond: • We should re-think how we teach. Supporting and upskilling our education wha-nau is really important. We should increase the interaction between teachers and students with real-time, digital feedback and measurement

tools, and develop the culture around tech use in pedagogy; and • Bridging the gap in the education system is critical. This year we were proud to expand our partnership with the Ministry of Education to extend our Google Workspace for Education tools to even more schools. We want to continue to work even more closely with the Ministry next year to provide more students with a personalised learning environment.

Assistive technologies

We have the opportunity to apply the latest in Google’s assistive technologies, powered by artificial intelligence and machine learning, to make new things possible and raise the bar on what it means to be assistive. This might be providing virtual assistants that help you build lesson plans and mark student work, to making smart recommendations

and differentiated lessons tailored to the individual needs of specific students. And of course, doing all this in a way that respects the trust that is placed in us to protect the privacy of teachers and students. Every day, our tools help people learn new things, from the epic to the everyday. The Google for Education team works to fuel curiosity and help people build knowledge by connecting students and teachers to great learning experiences through products that have been adapted or purpose-built for the classroom. There are so many tools in the Google for Education kete that we are excited to share with the kura of Aotearoa.

Embracing hybrid learning more than ever By Ronel Schodt, Education Manager at Kai’s Clan This has been an unprecedented year, not just here but around the world. Schools have been empty. Classes have been conducted online and through remote learning. With so much confusion in education, combined with the stress and difficulty teachers are going through, how can we still teach the digital curriculum when there’s so much disruption? Regular feedback from students shows that they want hands-on learning. If time at school is limited, it’s important to maintain their focus and engagement. In order to do this, we need to embrace hybrid learning more than ever. The great thing is that Kai’s Clan was born to do just that. It’s already a coding and robotics platform that can be done remotely. Teachers can set it up for the classroom or the home, where students can then code their robots remotely. We believe that education isn’t just confined to the walls of classrooms. What if parents can purchase an affordable robot for their kids, that they can use to

master new skills both at home and in the classroom, seamlessly, without having to spend extra time learning a new platform.

New robotics platform

Enter Kainundrum. This is a new hybrid robotics and coding platform made in New Zealand and designed for the digital curriculum. It introduces computational thinking and develops cognitive skills and problem solving in a fun and engaging way, where virtual play matches the physical in single or multiplayer games. Yet, it’s more than just a video game; it’s a way to channel gaming into the real world.

or you can add the single robot and magnetic tiles to go screen-free. As part of Kai’s family, KaiBot can be leveraged with Kai’s Clan as the ultimate STEAM resource for children. KaiBot is quick, cute and will help kids learn to code through gaming! Among the many game modes, KaiBot will explore mazes, compete in races, capture the flag, and solve escape room puzzles. KaiBot will be launching soon. If you’d like to know more about it contact ronel@kaisclan.ai

Going hand-inhand with Kainundrum is KaiBot, a robot that blends reality and video gaming through coding. You can code a free online game

Three events coming in May next year.

22 More on page 39.

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It’s about getting the fundamentals right By Gretchen Badenhorst, Education Services Manager at ETV I don’t think there will be a rush to adopt any cutting-edge trends in the year ahead, things like Virtual Reality (VR), wearables and Internet of things. For the Ministry’s objective of ensuring every learner gains sound foundation skills, the development and equipping of Maker Spaces may be important. Video could be a very important tool in learning how to use equipment. Another term of Covid lockdown would have left teachers in Auckland tired and in survival mode. So, I think slowly, slowly, gently, gently will be the approach over the next few years. The focus will be on refreshing the curriculum and NCEA to better reflect the Ministry’s published goals and priorities, things like deduplication of subject learning objectives and having high aspirations for every learner. The priorities are fairly low-tech and relational – it’s about getting the fundamentals right.

What seems to dovetail nicely with the objectives and priorities are Universal Design for Learning, which also links to supporting literacy, such as providing multiple means of access to text, Culturally Responsive teaching and supporting students optimising Cognitive Load and Metacognitive strategies.

Accessible resources

Universal Design for Learning is about providing learning resources accessible for all students. This does not mean pretending that one form of access suits everyone (like captioning all videos) but providing alternatives beyond reading large chunks of text, because there are very few students that works for. ETV can play an important role in supporting Universal Design for Learning by, for example, providing alternative versions of a video containing captions or an audio description or sign-language. There’s also sign-posting key information, adding images and other visualisations.

All of these make learning materials more accessible and show the power of video to reach and engage students. Video can be used to pre-load a framework for complex learning. Here a tool like EVA (Enhanced Video Annotation) allows for supporting germane cognitive load through the addition of interactions, including tables to explain terminology, images labelled in-situ, highlighting the main ideas as headings added to the appropriate part of the video, and adding tasks with immediate feedback to support metacognitive strategies.

Funded licensing

Lastly, one development we’d like to see is a centrally managed and funded copyright licensing for all schools. This is what happens in Australia and the UK, and if the Ministry is really serious about its objective of ‘Removing Barriers for all’, it’s long past time that this happens in New Zealand.

The rising demand for blended learning in a post-pandemic classroom By Abby Ngan, Canon Education Solutions Navigating in and out of lockdowns is a confusing time, and even more so for our students. Distance learning is putting a lot of pressure on educators to keep teaching at the same standard without being physically present to interact. Parents are worried that their children are getting behind with their learning, as the constant change of being in and out of the classroom can be disruptive to their progress.

New normal

This is the new normal we all must adapt to. Educators are reporting almost a third of the classroom could be absent on any given day. With a combination of sickness, the current situation of the pandemic and a growing preference to learn from home, it is predicted that an increased demand for blended learning will arise in the near future. Blended learning is an approach that leverages both digital tools and face-toface instruction to offer a more personalised learning experience for each

INTERFACE 109 NOVEMBER 21

student. Students are typically given greater control over the time, place, and/or pace of learning, and often participate in new instructional approaches. Teachers may be required to simultaneously deliver their lessons to students both in the classroom and at home. A smooth transition can be made possible with the help of the latest e-learning technology. Canon offers these solutions. • Pan Tilt Zoom (PTZ) cameras These can be incorporated into classrooms, so teachers don’t have to deliver two separate lessons. • Print management software Provides teachers with the ability to upload scanned files directly to Google Drive, Microsoft Teams or whichever platform the school uses; making it easier and more efficient for teachers to manage and store files.

• Intuitive webbased software Lumio by SMART is an intuitive, web-based software that help teachers create engaging lessons that students can interact with in class, remotely or on their own time, all on their own devices. Teachers can import the lessons they already use, combine existing resources and enhance them with customisable components including games and collaborative workspaces. Being aware of some adjustments that can be made to streamline teaching aids and processes will not only help teachers deliver more engaging lessons for all their students but also give the same level of teaching, no matter their learning environment.

Lenovo Education Smart, innovative solutions for improved learning outcomes

Our mission... to inspire and empower the future of learning. We do this in three ways: By empowering and supporting IT leaders with solutions built specifically to address the unique needs and challenges of K-12 education. By inspiring teachers with safe, easy-to use technology wherever learning happens. By accelerating the future of learning with innovative, forward-looking technology that prepares students for higher education and for life. Key Issues uncovered in 2020

Like every segment of society, education changed dramatically and quickly in 2020. K-12 education leaders responded. In some areas, there was an acceleration in distance and hybrid learning initiatives already in place. Others quickly defined processes using the tools and technology at hand. It was a heavy lift for everyone — students and their families, teachers, and administrators.

Equitable learning The digital divide proved to be wider than many expected. Some 30% of all public K-12 students do not have adequate internet access or devices for online lessons. In many regions, school systems and whole communities do not have reliable connectivity.

These leaders deployed devices that would be used outside school networks and by people with varying degrees of technical experience and ability — two substantial hurdles. Addressing these hurdles called for a mobilization of personal computers, videoconferencing equipment, and other devices, putting an unprecedented burden on school technology leaders.

Student engagement While some students thrive in an online learning environment, others find it harder to focus amid new distractions and different learning formats. As disruption subsides, the next normal is likely to include at least some online learning. As education continues to evolve, innovative solutions will play a key role in creating classrooms where teachers and students thrive, wherever those classrooms might be.

Classroom management As classrooms change, Lenovo is there with solutions that make teachers more productive and inspire learners in an evolving education landscape. We offer a full suite of versatile monitoring, communication, and device management tools, running on teacher devices to support and direct learning, wherever it takes place, whatever the platform.

Student safety As the role of the internet in the classroom and at home grows and schools shift to cloud-based technologies, security threats multiply Lenovo solutions help safeguard the learning experience, giving teachers and administrators peace of mind. Cybersecurity Safety of students, devices, and data remains near the top of the IT priority list. Ransomware attacks have increased significantly. And student safety is a big concern on multiple fronts: cybercrime, cyberbullying, privacy violations, and access to dangerous internet content.

CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT Support synchronous learning sessions and offer students a collaborative, distractionfree learning environment Support synchronous and asynchronous lessons with video conferencing and collaboration tools. Connects students and teachers to teach and learn from anywhere.

At Lenovo, we work with our partners to deliver classroom management systems with a range of features, keeping remote and in-class learners engaged and on task. These cloud-based applications are easy for technology leaders to deploy, integrate, manage, and scale. The LanSchool by Lenovo suite of solutions enables 1:1 learning experiences and powerful collaboration in connected classrooms. The cloud-based classroom management solution helps educators deeply engage with students. It’s compatible with all operating systems and mixed-device environments. And it’s flexible and scalable.

CYBERSECURITY & STUDENT SAFETY Track, control, protect and reclaim distributed devices. Significantly shrink the time it takes to detect, contain, and eradicate a cybersecurity threat. Use device and software license usage data to determine ROI and make future data-driven decisions. Use return on investment data to ensure apps and tools are efficient & cost-effective.

Going offline begins students’ journey of discovery Students at Kingslea School can’t access the internet. So, when teachers wanted to use the new Ma-tauranga online learning platform, some creative thinking was required. Enter Sir Ian Taylor and his team, who came to the rescue with a way to use their resource that no one had anticipated … an offline version. ‘Digital divide’. It’s an expression that you’ll be familiar with, meaning the gap between those who have ready access to computers and the internet, and those who do not. Located across seven sites throughout the country, Kingslea is not like any other school in New Zealand. Here teachers and students face a digital divide with a difference, it’s deliberate. “We’re a special, composite, decile one, state school delivering education to children and young people who come to us for Care and Protection and/or Youth Justice related issues,” explained Deputy Principal Jackie Freeman. “This means they are very restricted in what they can access online.” And that’s a challenge for the school’s teachers who want to use online resources. “Some of our teachers had seen Ma-tauranga and it seemed such a shame that we couldn’t access it.”

Making it happen

ImpactED’s Arnika Macphail works with Kingslea School at Te Puna Wai o Tuhinapo in Christchurch. While discussing with Jackie and Assistant Principal Gordie Palmer ways to access rich learning materials they identified Ma-tauranga as a great way to make digital technologies learning come alive for students. And she had an idea. “I know Ian and his Taylormade Media team were wanting to engage a-konga in their resource and make it as equitable as possible, so I reached out to them to see if there was anything they could do. “They were so obliging and wanted to get involved straight away.” Not long after, Jackie received an email from Tess Whelan, Project Manager for Ma-tauranga at Taylormade Media. “She said they wanted to make the resource available to the school and

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MATAURANGA MAKERS: SUCCESSFULLY WORKING WITH THE OFFLINE SITE.

would be happy to work with us to make it happen.”

seven campuses, within 24 hours!” recalled Jackie.

Powerful connections

“This is just an amazing learning resource. We all came here through the power of navigation and it will open up so many possibilities for our students. Many are Ma-ori and Pasifika, and there are going to be some powerful connections with this platform. A lot don’t know about their wha-nau history. This is going to be a great starting point and a chance for them to learn.”

The wheels were now in motion. Tess brought in her web developer, Terry Perkins, who was soon working on the problem. “Essentially, I asked Terry if it was possible to create an offline version and the next thing I knew, while we were all working from home in lockdown, he’d done it!” said Tess. “Then it was just a matter of collaborating with the school’s service provider SmartNet to figure out how to load it into the school’s servers. “We ended up creating a full offline version. We had to strip out some of the links but, essentially, it navigates the same way as the website. It’s all working well. The school’s very pleased.” In fact, despite this all happening at the start of the latest lockdown, it took next to no time at all. “It really was a case of our IT guy getting together with their IT guy … and it was up and running across the school, all

Keep it simple Although the decision – and the process – to take Ma-tauranga offline was relatively straightforward, it just wasn’t something that had previously been considered. “The original idea was to keep it simple,” said Sir Ian Taylor. “But by that we meant we’d designed it so that all anyone needed to use it was an internet connection and a screen. We’d not thought about the constraint of not having a connection. “I’m really impressed with everyone involved. When I spoke to Terry, he was pleased as punch that this had been made to work. The exciting thing is that it

SIR IAN AND NOENOE BARCLAY-KERR TALKING ABOUT MATAURANGA AT INTERFACEXPO IN MAY.

opens so many opportunities for other people who need it delivered like this.” Tess agreed and invited other schools to contact her if they were interested in exploring an offline version of the Ma-tauranga site. “We always intended for it to be available to anyone and everyone. It’s neat to have people that look at the problem and find a way to make it work. What’s been created is relatively timeless and won’t need any changes. “Now that we’ve done it once, we’d be happy to supply to other schools.”

Life changing

The work of the Taylormade Media team and the successful outcome has impressed many. “I’m excited to see kaiako at Kingslea School embracing a resource such as Ma-tauranga and bringing it to life,” said Coralanne Child, Director of Education Canterbury and Chatham Islands. “Sir Ian’s gift of Ma-tauranga to schools, in order to tell the untold stories of migration and then sharing that mahi with kaiako, is an amazing resource.” But, then again, was the end result ever really in doubt? “I wasn’t surprised that it all came together, as I know they are so dedicated to being awesome and a-konga having access,” added Arnika. “However, I was extremely grateful that they made the time for this to happen so quickly, and for a small number of a-konga. The mahi they do is certainly about each individual having access, rather than it having to be a numbers game of how many it impacts.

More on the Ma-tauranga Online Learning Platform

Free to all schools, Ma-tauranga seeks to help students learn about the Polynesian migration across the Pacific 1000s of years ago and inspire them to recognise the STEM intellect of these early voyagers. The team behind the project include film producer Anna Marbrook, waka voyager Noenoe Barclay-Kerr, IT businessman Dennis Chapman, and Sir Ian Taylor. “The stories are designed to inspire further discussions around STEM and Ma-tauranga,” said Ian. “My ancestors were part of the greatest human adventure story of all time, and I’d never heard it before. Polynesian navigators on state-of-theart waka crossed the Pacific Ocean guided only by their kinship with the natural world. These extraordinary engineers, scientists, and mathematicians created the paving stones upon which we stand today.” Each story page has its own ‘Things To Do’ section with activities and additional content. There are also related ‘Teacher Resource’ that include extension exercises, instructions for simple experiments and PDF templates, and videos. “Have fun with these learning resources,” added Ian, “and good luck incorporating them into your own stories in the classroom.” You and your students can jump aboard the journeys at maatauranga.co.nz

“The benefit of everyone within Kingslea having access could potentially be life changing, and they could see that potential. It also meant the kaiako from Kingslea could engage and provide learning opportunities around the stories, which they would have never had access to be able to do. They were super grateful for this, as digital technology resourcing can be quite restricting for them, although they do an amazing job with what they have.” If you’d like to find out more about the offline version of Ma-tauranga contact tess@taylormade.co.nz

CHECK OUT WHAT STUDENTS AT KAIKORAI PRIMARY SCHOOL IN DUNEDIN WERE INSPIRED TO CREATE BY THE ‘LAND OF VOYAGERS’ STORY.

Is this the best class project ever?

Find out how students became Minecraft testers. Pages 26-27 INTERFACE 109

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Seeking students to trial new Minecraft lessons (is this the best school test ever!) The SPCA was developing a new learning resource and needed someone to test it out. A chance meeting at last year’s INTERFACEXpo, led them to Jo Mottram and a request she could hardly refuse: “Can you and your students help us test some new learning experiences based on Minecraft Education Edition?” As Wilj Dekkers explains. This term, students at Elmwood Normal School have been given the opportunity to help the SPCA with a very special project. Jo Mottram’s Year 5 and 6 Ruru Toru class has been asked to help develop a series of Minecraft Education Edition resources that are aligned to both existing SPCA units of learning, and the Digital Technology update to the Technology curriculum. When complete, the lessons and resources will be shared via the SPCA’s Teachers’ Portal. “After a student entered our recent SPCA Safe and Happy at Home Catio Design Competition with an incredible design created in Minecraft, it inspired us to explore how we could potentially incorporate Minecraft program into otherareas of our education programme,” said Nicole Peddie. SPCA’s National Education Manager.

Exciting venture

“As luck would have it, we connected with impactED at the INTERFACEXpo event earlier this year and this exciting venture blossomed from there. Already having many excellent units plans and lessons freely available to New Zealand schools, the SPCA is working in

If you were wondering … A catio is an outdoor cat enclosure, also known as a cat patio. It is an area where your cat can have access to the outdoors, without being able to roam off your property. The ‘Catio Design Competition’ challenged students to come up with a design that would keep a cat happy and safe at home.

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TESTING TIME: STUDENTS HARD AT WORK WITH THE NEW MINECRAFT RESOURCES.

partnership with Microsoft to integrate Minecraft Education Edition into several technology-focused learning experiences. The revised lessons will allow a-konga to demonstrate their creativity in new ways as they learn about animal care and welfare. “This collaborative partnership is providing a new and unique platform for SPCA to engage and educate an audience of teachers and learners that may not have otherwise engaged with animal welfare and humane education before. “Our education programme strives to nurture respect, kindness, compassion, and concern for people, animals and the environment. So, we are really excited about being able to provide students with future-focused education opportunities that not just support them academically, but socially and emotionally as well.”

During the term, myself and a small number of SPCA teachers will work with the tamariki to develop the resources. As a Microsoft Global Training Partner, impactED’s mahi has been funded by Microsoft. This collaborative process will see Jo’s class play an important part in both the development and testing of the new learning experiences.

Ideas and challenges Both adults and tamariki will work in tandem, developing innovative ideas and build challenges that are not only engaging, but more importantly, the experience of using Minecraft will enhance the learning outcomes of the lessons. “I am really excited to be a part of this collaborative activity,” said Jo. “The SPCA provides a variety of lessons that are aligned to the New Zealand Curriculum.

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The children are learning about animal welfare and care through these lessons and then using Minecraft in an authentic context to create artefacts that will solve problems.

three years,” continued Jo. “I am definitely not a Minecraft expert but I don’t need to be.

teamwork, and critical thinking, which are all important traits of the Key Competencies.

“Children are amazing problem solvers and enjoy sharing their knowledge with others. The students in my classroom know that other children are their first port of call when they require help.

“The children know that it is just one of many tools they can use for learning,” added Jo. “We often discuss how it is helping develop the Key Competencies – Managing self, Participating and contributing, Relating to others, Thinking, Using language, texts and symbols – that are embedded into the teaching and learning happening when they are at school.

“I love walking around the classroom and seeing what the children are creating, listening to them problem solve, delegate jobs and explain to me how things work.”

Cat puzzle feeder Provide feedback

Having worked through a trial lesson and tested a new Minecraft build challenge, Jo’s class provided feedback that has already been acted on, improving the timing and structure of the lesson. “I have been using Minecraft as a tool for learning in my classroom for the past

MINECRAFTM

The initial trial experience asked the class to work in small groups to design a cat puzzle feeder that would be stimulating and allow cats to make use of their natural hunting instincts. The class commented that Minecraft was a useful tool to use to build their prototypes in 3D and that their ideas were not limited by having to use box and tube shapes. It showed that working in small groups with Minecraft fosters communication, “Everyone in Ruru Toru is grateful to play such a key role in this project. It is exciting to know that the lessons they help develop now will one day be used in classrooms across the country.” Wilj Dekkers is a senior education consultant at impactED in Christchurch.

From lesson plans to reading activities, check out a range of resources at the SPCA Teachers’ Portal. teachers.spcaeducation.org.nz

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Finally, it was time to take the plunge with Minecraft “Minecraft Education Edition. Anybody interested in doing some professional learning?” This is how Room 24’s Minecraft journey started at the back end of Term 4 last year. An email had come round from Thomas, one of our APs, stating that there was an opportunity to undertake some professional learning using Minecraft Education Edition. You know, one of these emails that we all get 100 times a year offering free PL that you have to do in your own time. Now, as all teachers know, Term 4 is usually a super busy term, everybody is tired and the plate is normally full. And Minecraft? Really! There was also a healthy dose of scepticism as to how an online building game would be relevant to the classroom environment.

Talking incessantly

However, in the back of my mind there was the thought that maybe this was an opportunity to be taken. Unless you’ve been living under a rock, in a dark cave on a very remote island, you will surely have heard children talking incessantly about Minecraft. It’s immensely popular game that’s easily accessible, free to use and simple to learn. Maybe then, this was an opportunity to help engage the learners in my classroom with a different tool that they will clearly be interested in. Time to take the plunge! The first step I took as the class teacher was to undertake the free online modules that are offered for educators. This allowed me to learn the basics of

HEALTH: THE BRAIN

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Minecraft, although, I’m pretty sure I could have learnt most of this by just having a play myself. After a couple of hours doing the online modules, I felt confident that I could at least start to look like I knew what I was doing in front of the class and wouldn’t look like a noob. (That’s the person you don’t want to be in gaming. Basically, the person who makes all the classic errors.) After that, it was time to roll out the game to the class.

Teething problems

As a school, we’re lucky that our Year 5 and 6 students are 1:1 with Chromebooks, so we didn’t have any issues with sharing devices or having enough for the children to use. We did have a few teething problems to start with as our new ‘intuitive’ firewall kept trying to block the game or wouldn’t allow the children to log in. Working with Alan, our tech guy, he helped us to set up Microsoft licences (free) for all students, which linked to their Google accounts (we are a Google school). This helped us to solve the firewall problems. I would suggest that you have a go-to person within the school who can help you with this. Then we entered the sphere of making sure we had updated versions of the game. This was easy to solve, although a few kids had run out of memory on their Chromebooks. A simple powerwash freed up the space we needed (Shift + ctrl + alt + r). At the time, we were looking at an inquiry unit all about exploration and space. One of the activities the class had to undertake was to design a rocket that they then had to build physically. This seemed like a good point to have a gentle start, for both me and the children.

READY TO LAUNCH: ROCKET 1

They were given the task to design their rocket in Minecraft. If there was anybody who had not used Minecraft before, they had to undertake the simple tutorials contained within the game to enable them to get up to speed quickly. Bear in mind though that 85 per cent of the class had stated that they had used Minecraft before, meaning only a handful needed additional support.

Taking off

In my mind, as the teacher, I had an idea of what direction students would go in. I was so wrong! Several of my students asked if they could collaborate with one another in the same world. Sure didn’t know you could do this! “Can we design the inside of the rocket?” they asked. Totally! I thought that they would only have time to do the outside. After a couple of days of refining and editing, and making sure that they had met the design requirements, they then showed off their rockets by taking screenshots and publishing them on to Seesaw. As you can see, their work was impressive, detailed and they went to great lengths to make them look authentic by adding flames and smoke as if the rockets were taking off.

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After our first attempt, the class continued to develop their new skills, especially around the use of tools. These tools, which you can equip the whole class within Minecraft, are really useful for taking notes, pictures and adding information throughout your world. We were also lucky enough to have a couple of sessions with Brad from Cyclone, who helped teach and upskill the whole class (including myself) on things that we could create and tools that we could use to make our experience as useful as it could be as well as authentic.

MINECRAFTM

INSIDE: DIGESTIVE SYSTEM 2

Although chasing after the sheep is fun, it doesn’t help us with our learning! To help practice our skills and put our learning to good effect, I designed some activities for the children through this term’s inquiry all about the Olympics and the human body. Their first task was to show their knowledge and understanding of a body system using Minecraft. They had to also teach others about this body system.

Different direction

As before, the children took this in interesting and different directions. We had Minecart rides around the digestive system and models of what a healthy lung looked like compared to one that had an infection. We also had a tour of the different chambers of the heart. Again, rich in depth learning where students were engaged throughout the whole process. They still had to do their research, talk to each other and engage with their learning. Minecraft allowed them to do far more though, such as make 3D models, which would normally not have been achievable in class. A win for all? As a class teacher, I’m really excited now

READY TO LAUNCH: ROCKET 2

in the direction that can be taken in the world of Minecraft. The idea is to now plan for specific experiences and allow the children to use the program as another tool to help with their learning. I see many possibilities for it to be used in literacy and numeracy, as well as inquiry, and this is something that we shall be exploring for the remainder of the school year. It’s great to have an authentic tool that engages the children by not only tapping into their interests but also giving them more freedom to explore how a task can be completed. For me as an educator, I’m going to be looking to link up with some like-minded people, who can share their experiences and ideas, so that I can grow my authentic use of Minecraft in the classroom. These are exciting times for Room 24 and, although we are only at the start of our journey, I see endless possibilities ahead.

OPEN WIDE: DIGESTIVE SYSTEM 1

Richard Loten teaches at Oratia District School in Auckland.

READY TO LAUNCH: ROCKET 3

More about Minecraft Education Edition

This is a game-based learning platform that promotes creativity, collaboration and problem-solving in an immersive digital environment. Thanks to the schools’ agreement between Microsoft and the Ministry it’s available for free to use. Plus, with 100s of standards-aligned lessons, classroom-friendly features, tutorials and challenges, teachers can access everything they need to get started with no experience required. Learn more and get started at education.minecraft.net

Our student Minecraft competition is back in Term 1 next year! Find out more on page 7.

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ILESHAREFILESHAREFILESHAREFILESHAREFILESHAREFILESH CLIMATE CHANGE

AROUND THE WORLD

STEM

Climate Action Tracker (climateactiontracker.org) tracks global government climate action and measures it against the agreed aims of the Paris Agreement. It evaluates targets and policies, as well as aggregating country action to the global level, to determine likely temperature increases.

Enjoy an interactive journey celebrating the beauty of Earth with Above the Clouds (earth. plus360degrees.com). The adventure is set to NASA images and text written by Carl Sagan in his book ‘Pale Blue Dot’. While watching, move your mouse to explore different views.

City Technology (citytechnology.org) has a range of resources for learning about energy, force and motion. From ‘Fantastic Elastic’ to ‘MechAnimations’, each project features a video showing how to design, make and troubleshoot an item, downloadable lesson plans, and a list of materials needed.

Humans have been burning fossil fuels for hundreds of years. However, what percentage has been used up while you’ve been alive? Find out at Your Personal Carbon History (parametric.press/ issue-02/carbon-history/). Also learn about measuring carbon dioxide and its changing levels.

Google Arts & Culture has recently launched Asian Pacific American Cultures (artsandculture.google.com/ project/aapi-cultures). This new hub is dedicated to the history and arts of these communities – including stories and artefacts – and how their contributions have shaped the US.

Working with Discovery Education, STEM Careers Coalition (stemcareerscoalition.org) offers advice and information to encourage and inspire students in maths and science subjects. There are job profiles, classroom activities, news, and suggestions for afterschool sessions for exploring career pathways.

From Stanford University, Climate Change Education (earth.stanford.edu/ climate-change-ed) is a project to develop a curriculum for middle and high school science classrooms that addresses the fundamental issues of climate change. Resources include lesson guides, articles, maps, videos, and related links.

How many times can Greenland fit inside Africa? It’s 14 but you wouldn’t know it from most world maps. Why every world map is wrong (bit.ly/ mapiswrong) explains how it’s impossible to make a flat map of a spherical world and how even the simplest changes in map design can influence our perceptions of size.

Siemens STEM Day (siemensstemday. com) offers a library of free, standardsaligned, STEM-related activities – about 175 at last count. Choose by grade level and STEM topic or career path. There are educator resources and ‘5-minute refreshers’ on several subjects to kickstart and support lessons.

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MUSIC

EDUCATIONAL GAMES

HISTORY

For a selection of 1000s of royalty free music and audio tracks check out Pixabay (pixabay.com/music/). The collection includes instrumental recordings across a wide range of styles. Filter by mood, duration and genre, or search by keyword. Download the MP3 file.

Harmony Square (harmonysquare. game/en) is a game about fake news, whose aim is to expose the tactics and techniques that are used to manipulate and mislead people. Over the course of four short levels, the player’s job is to upset the square’s peace and quiet by creating internal divisions and disharmony.

1914-1918-Online (1914-1918-online.net) is a collaborative project that’s creating an online encyclopaedia of the First World War. Involving more than 1,000 authors, editors, and partners from over 50 countries, it offers a ‘multiperspective, open-access knowledge base’ to help study and understand the Great War.

Dig CC Mixter (dig.ccmixter.org) is divided into three categories – Instrumental Music for Film & Video, Free Music for Commercial Projects, and Music for Video Games. Search by genre, instrument, and style. Content is licensed under Creative Commons. So, you need to credit accordingly.

Why are the monsters disappearing? In Monsters vs Fractions (monstersvsfractions.com), your job is to solve the maths mystery. Players slice, swipe, and tap to learn about equal shares, fractional notation, and terms such as ‘halves, thirds, fourths’, etc. Choose from different activities and track students’ progress in the Teacher Mode.

Interested in the history of our neighbour across the Tasman Sea? Australian History Mysteries (australianhistorymysteries.info) is a collection of case studies, videos and interactive activities designed to engage students with aspects of the country’s history, landscape and heritage.

From Bensound, Royalty Free Music (bensound.com/royalty-free-music) offers tracks in eight categories – acoustic/folk, cinematic, corporate/pop, electronica, urban/groove, jazz, rock, and world/others. Each comes with a description and duration, with play, download and licensing options.

Practise and improve your typing skills with TypeScholar (typescholar.netlify. app). Using Wikipedia as its source for content, simply choose and enter a keyword. The site selects a related passage that you have to type. Compete to get your best time, speed and accuracy results.

Each day, RealClearHistory (realclearhistory.com) publishes an update on notable historical events that took place on that date, along with other history-related commentaries and analyses. Search past dates or check out other content, including current news, history tidbits, biographies and memoirs, documents, and the map room.

WHAT IS THIS?

Wherever you see this symbol it means there’s a video to watch on our website relating to the resource interfaceonline.co.nz INTERFACE 109 NOVEMBER 21

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TOOLS TO TRY FOR 2022 Simplify your online research and notetaking with Spade (spade.tools). It allows users to directly annotate – with a pen, highlighter or textbox – automatically cite, and ‘webscrape’ (extract information from) webpages. Save and share notes and references with friends and colleagues.

Make posters, flyers, infographics, images, and all sorts of visual content with Easil (about.easil.com). There are pre-designed templates or create your own using the drag and drop editing tools. Under ‘Learn’ there are heaps of tutorials, articles, help and advice to get you going.

Want to know what your class (or audience) thinks? Questionwave (questionwave.com) lets you take questions as you’re presenting. Simply set up and share a link. With this, people can post questions that you can see and provide answers for, either as you present or afterwards.

Bloxels Edu (edu.bloxelsbuilder.com) is simple and fun way to create computer games. Using eight simple blocks with specific properties – terrain, liquid, collectible, hazard, action, power-up, enemy, and story – students design characters, stories, animations, backgrounds, and game play. There are instructional video tutorials and lesson plans.

IdeaBoardz (ideaboardz.com) is an online sticky note-style board where you can make notes, post lists, record thoughts, reflect on ideas, set tasks, brainstorm activities, and the like. It can be for your own use or share the url link for others to see and collaborate with you on boards.

Need a cool logo? Flaming Text (flamingtext.com) lets you to create your own logo from pre-made designs. These come in various categories, including 3D, movie, fire, nature, sport, horror, and texture. Customise the font, background, and colours, and ‘generate’. You need to sign up to download.

Never worry about remembering your lines again with the Veed Teleprompter (veed.io/teleprompter) – part of the Veed suite of tools (see page 37 to win 6 months’ premium access!). Record your video and click ‘Teleprompter’ in the bottom right corner and type up the text for your recording. Change text speed and size as needed.

Create online forms and publish them with Jotform (jotform.com). From registration, evaluation and consent forms, to, feedback, polls and RSVPs, choose from templates or design your own by simply dragging and dropping questions and fields to build the form you need. Save and share.

Want to record what happens on your screen? RecordCast (recordcast.com) is an impressive tool that combines screencasting and video editing. Record in three different modes – webcam only, screen only, or both. Once done, use the integrated editor to crop, add text, music, change background colours, and more.

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MINDMAPS AND FLOWCHARTS

MAKING MUSIC

CODING

Whimsical (whimsical.com) describes itself as a ‘unified workspace for thinking and collaboration’. What this means is that it can be used to create mind maps, flowcharts, Venn diagrams, sticky notes, wire frames, and more. Start a file and use the editor to add elements (text, boxes, arrows, colours, etc.). Invite others to edit or comment. Publish as a webpage or save as an image or PDF.

Google Arts and Culture has unveiled a new exhibition, Music, Makers and Machines: A Brief History of Electronic Music. It’s worth a look in itself but as part of this is electronic music maker AR-Synth (artsexperiments. withgoogle.com/ar-synth/). Pick a synthesizer and place on the grid to create electronic rhythms.

Blackbird (blackbirdcode.com) is an online platform that fits between blocks-based options, like Scratch, and writing code in an IDE. It offers a series of interactive and progressive lessons using JavaScript, with students working on a customisable game. Once done, they move to a ‘workshop’ area. A teacher dashboard lets you view their progress.

Organise ideas and manage tasks with Transno (transno.com). This is an easy-to-use tool that lets you write outlines and notes that can then be turned into mind maps and flow charts. It takes your documents, asks you to pick your structure and theme, and converts it. Use online or download the app (iOS and Android).

Strofe (strofe.com) uses AI to help you create musical tunes. Start by choosing a mood for your track – Spooky, Sad, Chill, Happy or Spirited. Then select the genre, such as pop, reggae, retro or orchestral, and hit ‘Create Music’. The site will come up with a composition that you can edit. Lastly, mix and master, and you’re done.

Create your own mobile apps without having to actually write code with Thunkable (thunkable.com). Using the drag-and-drop design canvas, arrange command blocks together to make your program. There are a host of written and video tutorials to get you started for free. If you like it, there are educational packages available to purchase.

Forky (forky.io) is a simple tool for making colourful bubble and line diagrams. Essentially, it connects text boxes (there’s no support for images). Just start typing to create an initial entry. Hit the tab key and a new box appears. Move around the page to start new boxes with different links. Share a file to collaborate with others.

From Chrome Music Lab (which has heaps of music-related stuff to explore), Song Maker (musiclab.chromeexperiments. com/Song-Maker) is a simple, fun way to make and share songs. Just mark notes on the grid, using your finger, keyboard or voice, choose the instruments and tempo, and play/save.

Browser-based Snap! (snap.berkeley. edu) is a visual, drag-and-drop programming language that teaches the basic elements and sequences of programming. Design and build programs by putting graphical commands in order in the scripts pane – like jigsaw blocks, they ‘snap’ into place. Preview the program anytime to see how it runs.

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PLEASE REMEMBER TO CHECK THE APPROPRIATENESS OF ANY ONLINE RESOURCES BEFORE USING THEM IN CLASS.

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In association with

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Flexible and Flexible and Powerfuland Education Flexible Powerful Education Powerful Solutions Education for Your Solutions for Your Solutions for Your Hybrid Learning Google Ecosystem Google Ecosystem Classroom As a Google for Education Partner, youacan trust for thatEducation Promethean solutions are As Google Partner, purposefully to worksolutions with and are you can trust designed that Promethean enhance yourdesigned Google technology purposefully to work withinvestment. and enhance your Google technology investment.

Learning Beyond the Classroom The ActivPanel interactive display empowers secure, multi-device screen sharing across Learning smartphones, chromebooks, An collaboration Intuitivevia and Integrated Experience tablets and laptops. This frees the teachers to move anywhere in the Built for collaboration, the intuitive ActivPanel interactive display is An classroom Intuitive and Integrated Learning Experience and create small or large group interactions. packed with interactivity, productivity, and engagement tools, and is is Built for collaboration, the intuitive ActivPanel interactive display basedpacked on extensive usercontent research to deliveraccess the that matters Teachers caninteractivity, build anywhere, it at the ActivPanel, then with productivity, andease-of-use engagement tools, andto is teachers and students, as well as the security and manageability trusted take content from the ActivPanel and share it in any virtual classroom. based on extensive user research to deliver the ease-of-use that matters by to IT professionals and administrators. teachers and students, as well as the security and manageability trusted by IT professionals and administrators.

Seamless Connection to the Google Play Store

The Promethean Chromebox is the perfect solution for extending a Chrome OS

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and collaboration with certified seamless access to apps including G Suite for Promethean’s award-winning suiteand of teaching and Lesson The Promethean Chromebox is the perfect solution for extending a Chrome OS Delivery Software drives student engagement and brings Education and Google Classroom. Any connected Google account apps and ecosystem Ittechnology provides virtually limitless opportunities for learning lessons toare lifetoautomatically inthe anyActivPanel. classroom settings downloaded toenvironment. the Chromebox, teachers can easily and collaboration with certified and seamless access to apps including G Suite for collaborate with students on any device, anywhere. Education and Google Classroom. Any connected Google account apps and settings are automatically downloaded to the Chromebox, teachers can easily collaborate with students on any device, anywhere.

ActiveVision supplies schools with interactive teaching tools and software ActiveVision suppliestoschools interactive teaching tools and software solutions enablewith immersive learning experiences. solutionsUs toToday enable learning Contact toimmersive discuss options forexperiences. your school. ActiveVision supplies schools with interactive teaching tools and software Contactto Usenable Todayimmersive to discuss options your school. solutions learningfor experiences.

'B 0800 368 474 I @www.activevision.co.nz I @www.activevision.co.nz 368to474 Contact'B Us 0800 Today discuss options for your school. 'B 0800 368 474 I @www.activevision.co.nz

IN@INTERFACEONLINE.CO.NZ WIN@INTERFACEONLINE.CO.NZ We have some fantastic prizes up for grabs this issue. MOBILE PHONE TELESCOPE Have you ever wanted to look a little bit closer at something and your smartphone camera’s zoom just isn’t up to the job? Never miss out on any details again with a Mobile Phone Telescope. Get up close with this clip-on, telescopic lens, with tripod. It offers 22x focal length and will help you view distant objects more clearly. It’s simple to use and will ensure you can focus on getting the best shots.

1to!

WIN

We have one Mobile Phone Telescope to give away. If you’d like to add this to your classroom equipment list, go to our website and enter your details. Entries close Wednesday 19 January, 2022. *Please note: Prize does not include smartphone.

1tNo! FINGERPRINT PADLOCK

Need to lock a desk or locker, bag or door? Forget finding keys and remembering passwords thanks to a nifty Fingerprint Padlock. Simply set up the mechanism by scanning your finger – it can store up to 10 scans, so colleagues, classrooms or groups can share and have access. Made from zinc alloy, it’s splash proof, lightweight and portable, measuring 2.7 x 5.7 x 13cm. The rechargeable battery lasts six months (and will remain locked if it runs out of power – you simply need to recharge to open). Do you want to let your finger be the key to your security? Enter online and it could be yours. Entries close Wednesday 19 January, 2022.

Free access to ETV for all teachers in Term 4! More on pages 10 and 15.

INTERFACE 103 NOVEMBER 20

Z WIN@INTERFACEONLINE.CO.NZ WIN@INTERFACEONLINE.CO

To enter any of the competitions just go to our website.

1tINo !

VEED 6-MONTH PREMIUM (PRO) SUBSCRIPTION

Online video editor VEED (veed.io) is a great way to create stunning videos. It’s browser based, so there’s no software to download and you don’t need any prior video editing experience. Whether you’re reviewing footage, captioning, or adding visual and sound effects, the suite of editing tools lets you complete tasks in just a few clicks. (Read more about VEED on page 33.) The basic package is free to use. One lucky reader, however, can enjoy the full VEED experience. We have a 6-month Premium (Pro) Subscription to giveaway, which includes extras like videos up to two hours in length, 100GB storage, 4K export quality, chat, and branding options. Simply enter your details online. Entries close Wednesday 19 January, 2022.

LED PORTABLE USB FLEXO RING LAMP You can use it for reading. Or illuminating your face in a video. Or background light. Or … well, the choice really is yours with a versatile LED Portable USB Flexo Ring Lamp. To turn on, simply plug it into a USB port. The flexible arm lets you swivel and position in any direction and illuminate whatever you want with the 12 powerful, in-built LED lights. Plus, measuring just 31.5 x 9cm (LW), it’s compact and portable.

2to

WIN!

We have two up for grabs. Choose your colour, pink or blue, and enter your details to be in the draw to win. Entries close Wednesday 19 January, 2022.

Why choose the Acer Chromebook? Find out on page 14.

INTERFACE 103 NOVEMBER 20

Shaping a new way to learn by adding ‘M’ to STEMM With some innovative approaches to teaching and quick-thinking during the latest lockdowns, To-nui Collab is making a difference for students and educators across the East Coast region with STEMM, its own unique take on learning science and technology.

INTERFACEONLINE.CO.NZ

Welcome to To-nui Collab, a specialist bilingual education lab in Gisborne that’s dedicated to creating engaging learning opportunities and supporting the impactful adoption of digital technologies. Originally set up as part of The Mind Lab, the centre became To-nui Collab, in 2019. Supported by Trust Taira-whiti and the Spark Foundation, it offers science and technology workshops for school-aged students across Taira-whiti. It’s also contracted to the Ministry of Education to provide PLD for schools seeking digital technologies support. “Our core philosophy celebrates learning through hands-on creative exploration, learning through fast fails, and empowering tamariki to lead their own educational journeys,” said Shanon O’Connor, Founder and Director. “Our team has experience and expertise across the education and tech sectors and is committed to creating engaging learning experiences. We also strive to empower educators across our community – in the classroom, out on the waka, on the marae, in the taiao – to collaborate and to enhance opportunities for our rangatahi.”

Realise potential

Shanon and her team recognise and celebrate the value of ma-tauranga alongside the traditional STEMM disciplines, adding an additional ‘M’ to the acronym, STEMM – making it Science, Technology, Engineering, Maths and Ma-tauranga Ma-ori. “We’re passionate about supporting rangatahi Ma-ori to realise their potential to be science and technology future problem solvers and innovators. We work to amplify the Ma-tauranga Ma-ori, Ma-tauranga-a--iwi and Ma-tauranga-a--haputhat we have inherited from our ti-puna in all STEM learning experiences.” Normally, during the school term, students visit the lab for a half-day or

full-day workshop to construct robots, create digital animations, develop computer games, get immersed in VR, or code micro:bits. After school and holiday activities are also available. In August, however, when the Level 4 lockdown was imposed, that all changed.

FOCUS: WORKING ON A PROJECT

“Our insights from working with schools was that many students are negatively affected by the digital divide. They do not have dedicated devices for learning at home and this requires educators to be creative with how they engage with students online.”

Try out at home

So, the team set about posting challenges on their social media channels for kids to try out at home, with items that many could find around the home, such as paper plane challenges, catapult construction and marble runs. For those with access to digital devices, workshops went online. “Over the three weeks that the East Coast region was under Level 4 and Level 3 restrictions, we facilitated twice daily game development workshops in English and reo Ma-ori,” explained Shanon. “Every morning or afternoon, 15 to 20 students joined a Zoom meeting and worked alongside each other to develop retro arcade style games using MakeCode Arcade. “We use local pu-ra-kau (ancient legends and stories) to shape many of the learning experiences and these online workshops were no different. For one project, participants were introduced to the pu-ra-kau of waka travelling from Hawaiki to Aotearoa and developed games around this, including designing and animating Paoa, captain of the Horouta waka. They programmed games for players to steer Kiwa on his waka, dodge rocks and collect taonga along the journey.” One thing that surprised Shanon was when students from across the country started to join the online workshops.

There were also many who had not yet had the opportunity to attend any workshops in person. “It was great to meet them and build relationships in an online space,” she added. Now back in Level 2, the lab has received plenty of positive feedback for its efforts from parents. “One commented ‘the teachers were so calm, patient and passionate. Our son was buzzing after each workshop and has been asking for more ever since’. Another emailed to say ‘I thought the kaiako were very knowledgeable, patient and supportive during the lesson. We loved the clever interweaving of a local legends as a basis to the game concept’. “Learning in an online environment is challenging and it was an honour for our team to form relationships during the lockdown, and support students to build confidence and new skills.” For more information go to tonuicollab.com

Wanted: Your e-adventures in the classroom. Got a story to tell about teaching with tech? Just drop us a line at comment@interfacemagazine.co.nz INTERFACE 109 NOVEMBER 21

22 Join us for the best day of the year! Where and when? • Lincoln Event Centre, Lincoln, Friday 20 May • Great Lake Centre, Taupo, Tuesday 24 May • The Trusts Arena, Henderson, Auckland, Thursday 26 May Who should attend? If you make or influence the decisions about your school’s digital technology, this is the event for you. What’s included? The day is packed with presentations, workshops, an exhibition, and networking opportunities for you to learn about the latest trends and developments in e-learning. PLUS, enjoy morning tea and lunch on us, and be in to win some awesome prizes at the end of the day. How much does it cost? Nothing. These events are free for educators from New Zealand schools. When can you sign up? Delegate registrations will open early next year. Find out more at interfacexpo.nz

INTERFACE 109 NOVEMBER 21

Hybrid learning is not a new strategy, but recent circumstances have forced education technology to evolve quickly to support new learning challenges. Bridging the education gap can be made easier with eﬀective Visual Learning Solutions.

education.aca@acer.com

From virtual classrooms and digital whiteboarding to live streaming and interactive collaboration tools, ViewSonic's wide range of display solutions and educational software is uniquely designed to connect educators and learners anywhere. Our ﬂexible and personalised education ecosystem brings teachers and students closer, making distance and hybrid learning more engaging and active.

Hybrid Learning with ViewSonic For Teachers • Quality, Flexible Visual Display Solutions • Access to Educational Tools from Anywhere • Better Connection with Students • Curated Original Content and Lesson Planning Tools • Robust Network of Support Resources

For Students • Create their own personalised learning spaces • Scale personalised environments to meet their changing learning goals. • Provide a range of feedback and communication options

Our Partners

ActiveVision supplies Schools Interactive Teaching Tools and Software Solutions to enable immersive learning experiences - Contact Us Today for a Free Demo.

0800 368 474

www.activevision.co.nz

Intel® Core™ Processors

SCHOOL CALENDAR

2022 [INSPIRE DAILY. LEARN ALWAYS.]

SCHOOL CAL 01 JANUARY S

02 FEBRUARY S

03 MARCH

01/01 New Year's Day

07 JULY S

06/02 Waitangi Day

15/04 Good Friday

08 AUGUST T

17/04 Easter

25/04 Anzac Day

09 SEPTEMBER

TravelMate Spin B3

TERM 1

TERM 2

LENDAR 2022 04 APRIL S

[INSPIRE DAILY.] [LEARN ALWAYS.]

05 MAY

06 JUNE

06/06 Queen's B'day

24/06 Matariki

10 OCTOBER S

24/10 Labour Day

11 NOVEMBER

05/10 Teachers' Day

25/12 Christmas

26/12 Boxing Day

12 DECEMBER

TERM 3

TERM 4

TravelMate Spin P4

Download your School Calendar 2022 at interfaceonline.co.nz/acer2022calendar/

INTERFACE Magazine November 2021

Articles inside

Shaping a new way to learn by adding ‘M’ to

Gamefroot: Make your own picture slideshow about 2021

The Mind Lab: Personalise your teaching and learning in 2022

What’s new with the Microsoft schools’

Minecraft in the classroom

File Share: Four pages of online resources

ETV: Free access to ETV in Term 4 for every teacher, in every school

Going offline begins students’ journey of

Girls just want to have fun with STEM

INTERFACE News and Views