Digital Literacy

Wakaaranga integrates digital technologies into the classroom, preparing students for a future driven by innovation and technological advancement. From coding and robotics to digital citizenship and online safety, our curriculum is designed to equip students with essential skills for the digital age. By fostering critical thinking, creativity, and collaboration through technology, we are not only enhancing traditional learning but also opening up new pathways for students to explore and succeed.

While engaging with digital technology is important, we are careful to maintain a balance between digital and non-digital learning. This approach ensures that our students develop a well-rounded set of skills, nurturing their ability to adapt and thrive in an ever-changing world.

 

BYOD

BYOD at Wakaaranga enables students to utilize their own device throughout the day, customized to their learning needs. This approach offers numerous benefits: ensuring immediate access to learning tools, fostering increased student responsibility, empowering personalized learning experiences tailored to individual preferences, and facilitating seamless integration with online platforms like Google Classroom and educational programs for subjects like Maths and Literacy. Moreover, it prepares students for future workplaces reliant on technology and collaborative, cloud-based tools, ensuring a smooth transition from intermediate through to college education.

We are a BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) school for Years 4-6.

We provide chromebooks for our Year 3 students and ipads for Years 0-2 for learning with digital technologies. All students and parents are required to sign our “Digital Citizenship Agreement” before they use devices in the classrooms – students may not use these devices until a signed contract has been received by their teacher. 

All classes teach a unit on cyber safety and Digital Citizenship.

Digital Citizenship

With the increased use of digital technologies and borderless spaces online, we need to be able to nurture and teach our young people to become discerning, responsible digital citizens able to confidently conduct themselves when connecting to people, resources and information in real-world contexts here in Aotearoa and in the wider global community.

Netsafe has defined a successful digital citizen as someone who:

  • is a confident and capable user of ICT

  • uses technologies to participate in educational, cultural, and economic activities

  • uses and develops critical thinking skills in cyberspace

  • is literate in the language, symbols, and texts of digital technologies

  • is aware of ICT challenges and can manage them effectively

  • uses ICT to relate to others in positive, meaningful ways

  • demonstrates honesty and integrity and ethical behaviour in their use of ICT

  • respects the concepts of privacy and freedom of speech in a digital world

  • contributes and actively promotes the values of digital citizenship.

FAQ’s for Digital Devices

  • Just like other classroom resources such as paper and paint, students will use technology when there is a good reason to.

    If technology is used then it may be:

    • to research an inquiry topic using Google

    • to review and comment on the work of their peers

    • Accessing educational software to support their learning

    • Accessing Google classroom and Google suit

    •  to create content (pics, text, music, movies) using creative applications

    Alternatively, students could be writing, reading, creating artwork, discussing learning and collaborating with each other, debating, experimenting using science apparatus, working with an expert visiting the class, being involved in drama, dance or physical education.

    It is important to understand that it is the purpose of learning that informs the action of learning. In other words, “What needs to be achieved?” and then “What is the best tool for the job?” Where technology presents as the best tool, it should be used.

  • All students are involved in extensive discussions to raise their awareness of safety and identity online before they are allowed to sign a digital citizenship agreement. In the course of using digital and online tools inevitably they will encounter ethical questions and challenging situations. As a part of our digital curriculum, we will be taking these opportunities to help up skill them for their future, independent digital life.

    For example:

    • What makes a good password

    • What is a digital footprint?

    • As students begin using email, they will no doubt experience misdirected emails and even the odd unintended ‘reply to all’ – always a learning experience!

    • Students will learn how to think carefully about what they are hoping to get from a search before selecting appropriately focused search terms.

    • Students will learn to assess how reliable different information from the internet is.

    • We will teach students to consider when a digital tool is best for the task and when it isn’t. Also, how much time sitting with a device is too much and when it is time to get up and move around.

    We are conscious that teaching students to understanding the digital world and how to navigate it safely and efficiently is a new literacy. Any school genuinely interested in preparing children for the reality of work and life in this century needs to activate good digital citizenship.

  • The predominant use of devices in classrooms is in creating rather than consuming. This is quite different to playing a game on a device where a child may be able to be in there ‘own world’ with the device for long periods of time.

    For example, students may work together to create a movie that involves them planning together on paper and then working on a device to record and edit it. This means classroom time using devices would usually be at least as interactive and collaborative as classroom time without devices.

    There is good research evidence in a New Zealand context that learning in an e-Learning-rich environment may make peer and collaborative learning opportunities easier, thus supporting students’ cognitive, affective and social interactions.

  • The general rule is that devices will be locked away and students will not be allowed to use computers at playtime and lunchtime. The exception to this is if a child is really engaged with some great learning which they want to finish before they take a break. To do this, they need specific approval from the teacher and the teacher will be present. 

    Devices are not to be used after school waiting for parents or after-school classes to begin.

  • The first layer of protection is the passive filtering provided by our ISP – Network for Learning. Because this is specifically for schools, it is very stringent.

    The second layer is through their Google Education Account logins - where we have specific filters set up for Educational use.

    The most significant protection comes from our longer-term strategy of teaching children to protect themselves online – both in the classroom and out of it. This includes using sites they know (such as Prototech, Read Theory etc) as a first port of call, using carefully considered search terms and showing an adult if they get any warning window or other troubling response to a search. All of this and  much more is taught through our Digital Citizenship Programme.

  • Google Apps for Education is a suite of free, secure tools that includes Gmail, Drive, Docs, Slides and Classroom.

    Each student has a secure Google repository and can work in the cloud—a digital home for their work. This digital home is private although the teacher has full access to all students work. 

    Students can find classwork located in Google Classroom both at school and at home.