As you sew, so you shall learn (and record and share) After attending last year’s INTERFACEXpo, Karishma Kumar was inspired to find new ways to stitch digital elements into her Year 7/8 Technology programme. She came up with an activity where students photographed their progress to earn their ‘Sewing Licence’. Do you know a backstitch from an overstitch – and can you prove it? In Term 3 last year, Technology Teacher Karishma Kumar started to instruct her students about sewing, specifically different hand stitching techniques, and that’s exactly the sort of thing she needed to know from them. So, she decided to add a digital angle by setting up goals that they could ‘evidence’ towards achieving a Sewing Licence. “The idea was they would use their iPads to take photos of their work when they have achieved a certain level or outcome and share it on Seesaw,” said Karishma, who teaches at Bailey Road School in Auckland. “It was not only a great way to track what they have done but also a way to remind them of what they haven’t each time they come to class.”
“Students are taking ownership of their learning and it improved their digital skills. They’re documenting their own work and ticking off the goals when they think they have achieved this, not when the teacher decides.” Students learned to capture photos, evaluate whether the photo was ‘good’ or not, use Seesaw as a sharing platform, think about their audience and what their photo reflects, and even ‘like and comment’ on other students’ work. “They also choose how they want to share their work. Some recorded videos of themselves showing the sewing skill, some drew arrows over the picture to
Using Seesaw
It also proved to be a successful way to motivate students. “Adding digital devices raises engagement, interest and more than anything else a sense of pride in their learning as they get to share their work with their classroom but also with their wha-nau and community.
Access codes Seesaw is an online digital portfolio tool that students can use to create, manage and share their learning. More at web.seesaw.me evidence their skills, others created labels so this shows that they are really thinking about their audience.” As for the sewing skills, Karishma definitely saw improvements during the project. “The use of digital devices definitely improved their sewing proficiency. Students could choose which skill they wanted to start with. They also had access to their own workbook and could ‘tick off’ the skills they had achieved and know exactly what to do next. “If the teacher was unavailable to explain something, students knew they could
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navigate through Google Classroom, open up their lesson and watch the videos that relate to the skill they are trying to learn. For example, they were able to pick up on ‘how to sew a button’ through watching the video when they felt they were up to that part or just wanted to do that step first. If the video wasn’t helpful, they could locate something on YouTube that better serves them. It was a way for them to take responsibility for their learning and be held accountable for it.” It wasn’t all smooth sewing and there were few dropped stitches along the way. “Students scanned the QR code associated with their accounts to login to Seesaw. However, what I didn’t realise is that they could access other accounts if they had their codes. We had a few bits of work ‘disappear’ from accounts. “So, to overcome this issue, they had to ask me for the account code, login in front of me, share their work and make sure they have signed out before handing the iPad back to me. A tedious job but a necessary one to protect students’ accounts.
Support and sharing
Unfortunately, just as they were getting going, lockdown struck. But the activity more than proved its worth. “I had great student engagement and they couldn’t wait to get back to sewing!
