Just ask the kids

Who is school for?

An easy enough question on the face of it - but if your answer is - "for the students of course" then my next question is - so how do we know it is working for them? Mmmm....

It was asking ourselves these questions that led us out to one of our local schools. And so....

Two weeks ago a couple of us met with 12 students from Hutt Intermediate. We decided we needed to ask the students how they were using e-devices and digital materials to assist their learning. Great kids.

Of little surprise was the ubiquity of the cell phone and it's place as number one gadget for texting and music. Magazines and newspapers seemed to be off the diet (although this group was still reading books), largely replaced by liberal doses of on-line face-booking and to a lesser extent games.

As a result of this meeting we invited the students and their teacher and principal to Learning Media. We were keen for them to have a look at some of the resources we had created and think about how they could be enhanced digitally to support their learning. The students worked in small groups and then shared their thinking with the whole group at the end.

As a result of the students feedback it became clear that they wanted the digital enhancements to do at least 3 things:

- amplify the meaning embedded in the resource through use of video, audio, diagrams, and games

- clarify the words or phrases of the text or diagrams through audio and links to dictionaries or definitions

- support the use of the resources (or parts thereof) in other work the students were involved in (such as projects or presentations)

Now there is nothing here that would possibly stun you as incredibly new or different.But what it is is authentic. It is real. Real in that it represents the actual thoughts and voices of the students.

And so my challenge is for us to consider how, when, to what extent, and in what ways are we engaging with students to understand their perspectives and lived experiences of learning, school and the classroom. Great initiatives, such as Te Kotahitanga, have emerged from such humble beginnings.