Week 15 - DIGITAL - Inquiry Learning and Robotics

Inquiry

Inquiry has been described  as “the organised pursuit of curiosity.” (Stenhouse, 1981)

Inquiry Learning vs. Teacher Inquiry

This week, in this course we are covering inquiry learning, and in the leadership course we are covering teacher inquiry. Team Solutions (2009) make the distinction between them as follows:  

Inquiry Learning (DIGITAL)	Teacher Inquiry (LEADERSHIP)
A process where students co-construct their learning in an authentic context	Where teachers inquire into their own practice and use evidence to make decisions about ways to change that practice for the benefit of the students

Slide Set for the Before/In Class Activity

For the before class activity, you should have contributed to the shared slide deck of models used in NZ schools: http://tinyurl.com/inquirymodel

Tools That Can Help Manage Inquiry Projects

Some tools we have previously introduced that may be useful for this week's In Class inquiry:

• Unitec Library Website
• Google Scholar
• Google News search

When using the library website, do not rely just on Articles-Express to find all the resources you need, since it does not cover the whole of the library's holdings. Also search the databases, e-journals etc.

Contact Unitec IMS support if your Library login doesn’t work.

When using Google Scholar, make sure that you have linked the Unitec library to your searches (Settings -> Library Links -> search for 'Unitec'). Remember that you can also save references to articles you have found in Google Scholar ('Save' -> 'My Library') and generate APA references ('Cite'). 

Fertile Questions

Here are some ideas from Harpaz (2005) on six characteristics of 'fertile' questions that might be used in an inquiry:

• Open - there are several different or competing answers
• Undermining - makes the learner question their basic assumptions
• Rich - cannot be answered without careful and lengthy research, often able to be broken into subsidiary questions
• Connected - relevant to the learners
• Charged - has an ethical dimension
• Practical - is able to be researched given the available resources

Which careers are a safe bet?

In 2015 the BBC set up a web page entitled "Will a robot take your job?" Try typing in job titles into the search box to find out the likelihood that they could be automated within the next two decades. tinyurl.com/willarobottakeyourjob (in class)

Library Website Feedback Survey

If you have encountered any issues with using the library website, please give your feedback at tinyurl.com/TMLlibrary

Edison

To program the Edison robot you just need to go to the EdBlocks site, you can program this robot in a web browser and that address is below:
EdBlocks: www.edblocksapp.com

If you choose to program the Edison in class, this short video will give some guidance. 

mBbot

To program the mBbot you will need the latest version of mBlock - version 3.4.11 (Windows and Mac). The respective link is the same for both.
Latest version of mBlock: tinyurl.com/TMLMBot (The respective link is the same for both)

This short video will be helpful when programming the mBots in class, it looks at how to generate Arduino code in mBlock and then upload the code to the robot mBot. 

MeArm

To program the MeArm robot you will need to have installed mBlock version 3.2.2 (Windows) or version 3.3.1 (Mac). The respective links are below:
Windows: tinyurl.com/TMLmBlockMac: tinyurl.com/TMLmBlockMac

To install on Mac you may have to change your security settings to allow downloads of apps that are not in the app store.

The program downloads as a zipped archive file. Make sure that after you have downloaded it, that you extract it to another folder before attempting to run it.

Do NOT update the version after you have installed mBlock

When you create the code for your robot, you will also need to use the mBlock project file that is included in the video about programming the robotic arm. Click on the link below, then download the file to a local folder. Then you can add it into your mBlock workspace (File -> Load Project).
Robotic Arm.sb2

If you choose to programme the MeArm robot with mBlock you should watch the following videos for some guidance on the different steps. 

Step 1 - Wire up your robot arm as described in the previous class video.

Step 2 - Programme the robot while viewing and pausing the video at each step in “Programming the Robot Arm with mBlock”. 

If you run into problems - think of why, try to solve them and learn. There is also a useful troubleshooting guide. 

References

Harpaz, N. (2005). Teaching and Learning in a Community of Thinking. Journal of Curriculum and Supervision, 20(2), 136-157. Retrieved from http://yoramharpaz.com/pubs/en_learning/teaching-learning.pdf

Healey, L. (2015). A Student-Led, Flipped, Inquiry-Based Learning Classroom Doing Authentic Work. Teachthought. Retrieved from http://teachthought.com/learning/student-led-flipped-inquiry-based-learning-classroom-authentic-work/

Stenhouse, L. (1981). What counts as research? British Journal of Educational Studies, 29(2), 103-144.

Team Solutions. (2009). Thinking about Inquiry. Retrieved from http://teamsolutions.wikispaces.com/Teaching+as+Inquiry

Week 15 - LEADERSHIP - Teacher Inquiry into Student Learning

Teacher Inquiry into Student Learning

This week, in this course we are covering Teacher Inquiry into Student Learning, and in the digital and collaborative course we are covering inquiry learning. Team Solutions (2009) make the distinction between them as follows:

Inquiry Learning (DIGITAL)	Teacher Inquiry (LEADERSHIP)
A process where students co-construct their learning in an authentic context	Where teachers inquire into their own practice and use evidence to make decisions about ways to change that practice for the benefit of the student

Critical Inquiry

In the Practising Teacher Criteria (Professional Knowledge in Practice), critical inquiry is part of the criteria (Education Council (n.d.) 

Criterion 12 is "use critical inquiry and problem-solving effectively in their professional practice"

The key indicators are:

1. systematically and critically engage with evidence and professional literature to reflect on and refine practice
2. respond professionally to feedback from members of their learning community
3. critically examine their own beliefs, including cultural beliefs, and how they impact on their professional practice and the achievement of ākonga

Further details can be found on the Education Council Website. 

Teaching as Inquiry

The NZ Ministry of Education also has a series of web pages explaining what they define as Teaching as Inquiry

The Spiral of Inquiry

This is described on the MoE's TKI website as “a fresh rethink on the structure of teaching as inquiry.” (Ministry of Education, 2015). It emphasises involvement of learners, their families and communities and developing learner agency. It states that engaging in inquiry is a process of developing collective professional agency either within a school or across a cluster of schools. The approach is described in Timperley, Kaser & Halbert (2014). They emphasise agency and collaboration: "Engaging in inquiry is a process of developing collective professional agency either within a school or across a cluster of schools”, and “Nor can leaders decide what the focus of their inquiry should be. It is the collaborative inquiry process that matters”

A number of teachers use this approach rather than the Teaching as Inquiry cycle, described in more detail on the Ministry web site.

Preparing for your Research and Community Informed Practice Assignments - Suggestions for getting started

In the Research and Community Informed Practice course, you will be doing an assignment based around a Teacher Inquiry project, following on from a literature review that will ideally be on the same topic. Here are a few ideas that may help you prepare in advance, adapted from Hubbard & Power (2003).

• Keep a teaching journal for at least a week. What surprises or intrigues you?
• Brainstorm a list of 10 things that you wonder about in your classroom.
• Be specific in your concerns
• Write down your draft question, as fully as you need to
• Focus your question with stems like “What is the role of…?” “How do …?” “What procedures…?” “What happened when…?”

References

Education Council (n.d.) Practising Teacher Criteria - Professional Knowledge in Practice. Retrieved from http://educationcouncil.org.nz/content/registered-teacher-criteria-1

Hubbard, R. & Power, B. (2003). The Art of Classroom Inquiry: A Handbook for Teacher-Researchers (Revised Ed.). Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

Ministry of Education. (2015). Before You Start. Retrieved from http://nzcurriculum.tki.org.nz/Teaching-as-inquiry/Before-you-start

Team Solutions. (2009). Thinking about Inquiry. Retrieved from http://teamsolutions.wikispaces.com/Teaching+as+Inquiry

Timperley, H., Kaser, L. & Halbert, J. (2014). A framework for transforming learning in schools: Innovation and the spiral of inquiry. Centre for Strategic Education. Retrieved from http://www.educationalleaders.govt.nz/content/download/74475/611763/file/Spiral%20of%20Inquiry%20Paper%20-%20Timperley%20Kaser%20Halbert.pdf

Week 14 - DIGITAL - Design Thinking in the Classroom

(*My notes and thoughts)

Design thinking by TMLU

In this week's session we'll try out The Mind Lab by Unitec Design Thinking Process + materials, which uses our 'kite' model

• Empathise - getting alongside people, watching and working out what they need. Understanding what the customer needs
• Define - working out exactly what they need
• Ideate - work out how to solve the problem
• Prototype - you need to have a prototype for everything even procedures
• Test
• Reflect - this can occur at any stage

The kite design shows approximate length of time on each stage - the first two take lesser time than ideate/prototype/test

Change by Design

David Kelly - pioneer in design thinking - original creator of IDEO

Tim Brown, the current CEO of IDEO, has written the book about Change by Design (2009). According to him, Design Thinking is Human-centered: ‘The basic problem is that people are so ingenious at adapting to inconvenient situations that they are often not even aware that they are doing so. Our real goal is helping people to articulate the latent needs they may not even know they have’. 

Observation is important too: ´When we observe people going about their daily lives, what is it that they don’t do or don’t say?´ as well as empathy, or as Brown calls it: 'Standing in the shoes of others'. Brown talks a lot about the importance of prototyping, because: ‘Like every other kid, I was thinking with my hands…’. If you want to hear him talking about his book, we recommend you listening to this radio show.

Making ideas tangible always facilitates communication

According to Brown 'Prototypes don’t have to be expensive or time-consuming. In fact, the opposite is better: Put as little time and effort into prototypes as you can and still generate useful feedback and drive an idea forward.'

(Re)capture the Creativity of your Childhood

de Saint-Exupéry (1943) wrote a story about The Little Prince where he tried to showcase that as we age, how we see the world changes. It is the rare person who is able to hold on to the sense of wonderment, of presence, creativity, or of sheer enjoyment of life and its possibilities that is so apparent in our younger selves. As we age, we gain experience and we become better able to exercise self-control. We become more in command of our faculties, our thoughts, our desires. But somehow, we lose sight of the effortless ability to take in the world in full. The very experience that helps us become successful threatens to limit our imagination and our sense of the possible. When did experience ever limit the fantasy of a child? 

One part of the story of Little Prince also relates to customer communication, and to latent needs. At one point, the little prince is asked by a boy to draw a picture of a sheep. After several attempts that fail to meet with approval, the little prince just draws a box with holes in it:

"‘This is only his box. The sheep you asked for is inside.’ I was very surprised to see a light break over the face of my young judge: ‘That is exactly the way I wanted it!’".

Like the little prince, you don't know what your or your customers want and neither do they - until you show it to them.

Teaching Practices that encourage Design Thinking

Immersion: Have students work together in small collaborative groups to do a deep dive into the subject/topic area. Ask the students to undertake research, observation and develop questionnaires or evaluate data to gain a technical, personal and community views on a topic.

Inquiry-based Feedback: Instead of value-based feedback, inquiry based feedback coupled with observation encourages a more open-ended and in-depth approach to learning. Students are encouraged to minimise expressing their likes and dislikes, and encouraged to first spend time silently observing, and then asking questions prefixed by phrases such as "I noticed that...," "why," and "how."

Before this process begins ensure students brainstorm ways to gather information. For example:

• Research that includes eBooks, case studies, experiments, data, academic papers etc
• Observation that includes personal viewing, filming, online videos, documentaries, recorded interviews
• Questionnaires that includes personal questionnaires, online surveys, research and data including census, government agency information, non-government organisation data, OECD reports etc.

Synthesis: Have students deduce interesting gaps to explore, problems to solve or opportunities to solve, using the information they have gathered from their immersion process.

Ideas on how to gain a new perspective

• Put visuals on the wall which relate to the topic but at the fringes of the core subject.
• Ask new questions. Create a how, when, why, what, who question and define the answers.

Note: Ask "thinking" questions – don’t make suggestions. Instead of asking questions to which there is a correct answer, ask students to create the problem. For example instead of saying"Does your girl need ears?" A thinking question would be, "What kind of music does your girl like to listen to? How can she hear the music?"

Students should pose their problem by first tapping into their own wishes and goals that might have real-life results or be largely theoretical and in end in the modeling stages. Such questions such as "How can we grow vegetables without using pesticides?" And, "How can we feed the world's population in a sustainable way?" Both encourage students to think divergently.

Questions, not suggestions, allow personal ownership based on observing, on experiences and on the imagination.

Zoom out: Put the subject/topic in the centre of focus and scale out to the next logical layer. For example if the topic was endangered tigers of India, scale back and look at the life of poachers, the local communities, the black market skin/medicine customers etc. Explore each logical layer of influence as you scale back from the heart of the topic to develop a macro view of the subject.

Ideation, Prototyping and Feedback: Have your students test ideas, solve a problem and extend their understanding without focusing on the ‘right’ answer. This part of the Design Thinking process helps students to 'hold their ideas lightly' in order to review and gain feedback from other student groups and their teacher/s.

The emphasis is on thinking skills and mindsets that allow students to create early and often, adjusting the course of their learning and applying an iterative approach to outcomes that is tweaked from the input of feedback.

Note: Nurture a culture of divergent thinking. Encourage students to be choice makers. Ask students ‘what their work needs’. If a student asks for help, assist by asking the child to give several of their ideas to discuss.

Implementation or Display: As ideas and defined the Design Thinking process moves to the celebration stage where concepts are shared. In this stage have students talk to the group about the changes they applied in their approach, what they reflected on, what evidence they found to support their findings and what new knowledge they gained or shared.

Useful resources

This free 'Design Thinking for Educators' toolkit, created by IDEO, contains the process and methods of design along with the Designer’s Workbook, adapted specifically for the context of K-12 education. It offers new ways to be intentional and collaborative when designing, and empowers educators to create impactful solutions. 

IDEO has also published a free  Field Guide to Human-Centered Design reveals their process with the key mindsets that underpin how and why they think about design for the social sector, it has 57 clear-to-use design methods for new and experienced practitioners, and from-the-field case studies of human-centered design in action.

Stanford University Institute of Design has created many useful resources, such as the Design thinking for teachers The K12 Lab Wiki and Design Thinking Crash Course that helps you to run or participate in a 90 minutes long design cycle by redesigning a Gift-Giving Project. 

For you personal interest (LEADERSHIP 2), you might want to view the curriculum for the 6-week Design Kit: The Course for Human-Centered Design -coursethat will introduce you to the concepts of human-centered design and how this approach can be used to create innovative, effective, and sustainable solutions for social change.

Eco-innovators have also developed a range of educational resources for use in and outside of the classroom, these ones are though not free.

References

de Saint-Exupéry, A. (1943). The Little Prince. Retrieved from www.odaha.com/antoine-de-saint-exupery/maly-princ/...

Brown, T. (2009). Change by Design – How Design Thinking Transforms Organization and Inspires Innovation. Harper Collins, USA

Week 14 - LEADERSHIP - Diffusion of Innovations and Design Thinking for Leadership

Week 14 - LEADERSHIP - Diffusion of Innovations and Design Thinking for Leadership

(My thoughts and ideas)

Rogers’ adoption of Innovation Adoption Lifecycle

Potential adopters have been determined to have traits that affect their likelihood to adopt an innovation. Many individual personality traits have been explored for their impacts on adoption, but with little agreement. Ability and motivation, which vary between situations (unlike personality traits), have a large impact on a potential adopter's likelihood to adopt an innovation. Unsurprisingly, potential adopters who are motivated to adopt an innovation are likely to make the adjustments needed to adopt it.

Rogers outlines several strategies in order to help an innovation reach this stage, including when an innovation is adopted by a highly respected individual within a social network and creating an instinctive desire for a specific innovation. Another strategy includes injecting an innovation into a group of individuals who would readily use that technology, as well as providing positive reactions and benefits for early adopters.

Innovators, Early Adopters and Early Majority

According to Rogers (2002), whereas innovators are cosmopolites, early adopters are localites. This adopter category, more than any other, has the highest degree of opinion leadership in most systems. Potential adopters look to early adopters for advice and information about an innovation.

Robinson (2009) has summarised Rogers' ideas in of the Diffusion of Innovations and he suggests that when working with early adopters one should

• Offer strong face-to-face support for a limited number of early adopters to trial the new idea.
• Study the trials carefully to discover how to make the idea more convenient, low cost and marketable.
• Reward their egos e.g. with media coverage.
• Promote them as fashion leaders (beginning with the cultish end of the media market).
• Recruit and train some as peer educators.
• Maintain relationships with regular feedback.

Robinson describes the early majority as pragmatists, comfortable with moderately progressive ideas, but won’t act without solid proof of benefits. They are followers who are influenced by mainstream fashions and wary of fads. Majorities are cost sensitive and risk averse. They are looking for simple, proven, better ways of doing what they already do. They require guaranteed off-the-shelf performance, minimum disruption, minimum commitment of time, minimum learning, and either cost neutrality or rapid payback periods and they hate complexity.

Design Thinking in Leadership

Design Thinking argues very convincingly that we would need to provide more time for the discovery, interpretation, ideation, experimentation and evolution of ideas, both for students and for teachers. 

Instead of looking at what assets a company has to create a product, leaders who use design thinking first ask what their clients require and then identify how the organisation can fulfill those needs. Research, interviews and first-person observation identify problems that need solving, which in turn inform the products and services a company develops using creative thinking and diverse perspectives. For learning, design thinking could apply to how programs and learning tasks are developed and delivered. We shouldn't just teach design thinking to our students, but we should use it to create our projects and learning tasks.

This approach is said to help leaders by removing the taboo of creativity. According to Dr Jeffrey Sanchez-Burks, Design Thinking shrinks innovation to something that doesn’t require a massive strategic change in an organization, but can be applied every day; from how might we better communicate within a team to how might we increase our ability to identify new learning potentials and trends.

Organisational Focus on Design

Keep in mind that design thinking doesn’t solve all problems. As Kolko (2015) suggests, it helps people and organizations cut through complexity. It’s great for innovation. It works extremely well for imagining the future. An organisational focus on design offers unique opportunities for humanizing technology and for developing emotionally resonant products and services. Adopting this perspective isn’t easy. But doing so helps create a workplace where people want to be, one that responds quickly to changing business dynamics and empowers individual contributors. And because design is empathetic, it implicitly drives a more thoughtful, human approach to business.

'How Might We'? 

According to IDEO (http://www.designkit.org/) every problem is an opportunity for design. By framing your challenge as a How Might We question, you’ll set yourself up for an innovative solution.

• Start by looking at the insight statements that you’ve created. Try rephrasing them as questions by adding “How might we” at the beginning. 
• The goal is to find opportunities for design, so if your insights suggest several How Might We questions that’s great. 
• Then take a look at your How Might We question and ask yourself if it allows for a variety of solutions. If it doesn’t, broaden it. Your How Might Weshould generate a number of possible answers and will become a launchpad for your Brainstorms. 
• Finally, make sure that your How Might We’s aren’t too broad. It’s a tricky process but a good How Might We should give you both a narrow enough frame to let you know where to start your Brainstorm, but also enough breadth to give you room to explore wild ideas.

Design Thinking Mindsets

Human-centered design is as much about your head as your hands. IDEO suggests that how you think about design directly affects whether you'll arrive at innovative, impactful solutions. These 7 Mindsets explore and uncover the philosophy behind Design Kit’s approach to creative problem solving.

• Learn from Failure
• Make it
• Creative Confidence
• Empathy
• Embrace ambiguity
• Optimism
• Iterate, iterate, iterate

Design Thinking in the Context of the LEADERSHIP 2 Assessment

Why and how you could use these mindsets better as a leader? In the context of your LEADERSHIP 2 Assessment think about whether it could it be part of the change initiative? Could it help you to develop it? Or would it be part of the methodology or mindset behind your leadership? Or the processes you choose to use? You choose if it is.

How to reference a DT Mindset video?

Stakeholder Groups

Identify your main stakeholders. Analyse which ones are relevant for this change initiative. How do you consciously identify your early adopters? Who do you need to lead (in different stakeholder groups) so that they and others will follow? Mainly focus on profiling your early adopters and early majority within the main stakeholder groups and how you’ll lead them.

Dream big - Start small. Set yourself up for success! 

Four principles to Design Thinking (Plattner, Meinel & Leifer, 2010)

1. The human rule – all design activity is ultimately social in nature
2. The ambiguity rule – design thinkers must preserve ambiguity
3. The re-design rule – all design is re-design
4. The tangibility rule – making ideas tangible always facilitates communication

Lean leadership plan?

When planning for the leadership of a change initiative in your LEADERSHIP 2 assessment, focus on planning how you’ll lead the early adopters and subsequent followers. You might include aspects that consciously eliminate ‘muda’ (waste). 

References and possible resources

Fullan, M. (2001). Leading in a Culture of Change. Wiley & Sons.

Harris, A., Jones, M. & and Baba, S. (2013). Distributed leadership and digital collaborative learning: A synergistic relationship? British Journal of Educational Technology 44(6), 926-939

Kolko, J. (2015). Design thinking comes of age: The approach, once used primarily in product design, is now infusing corporate culture. Harvard Business Review, 93(9), 66. Retrieved from https://hbr.org/2015/09/design-thinking-comes-of-age

Nichols, J. (2010). Teachers as Servant Leaders. Rowman & Littlefield.

Papa, R., Mullen, C. & Creighton, T. (2012). Educational Leadership at 2050: Conjectures, Challenges, and Promises. R&L Education.

Plattner, H., Meinel, C., & Leifer, L. (Eds.). (2010). Design thinking: Understand–improve–apply. Springer Science & Business Media.

Robinson, L. (2009). A summary of Diffusion of Innovations. Changeology. Retrieved from http://www.enablingchange.com.au/Summary_Diffusion...

Robinson, V. (2011). Student-Centered Leadership. Wiley.

Rogers, E. (2002). Diffusion of preventive innovations. Addictive Behaviors, 27(6), 989-993.

Schleicher, A. (2012). Preparing Teachers and Developing School Leaders for the 21st Century: Lessons from around the World. OECD Publishing.

Whitaker, T. (2013). Leading School Change: 9 Strategies To Bring Everybody On Board. Taylor and Francis.

Innovative Learning Spaces (and Maker Movement) Flexible Station Rotation

Innovative Learning Spaces (and Maker Movement) Flexible Station Rotation

(*My notes and comments)

Maker Movement stays away from the concept of 'inventors' people feel that inventors are a special type of person - not someone like "me"

Makers is not new to technology - just a new way of thinking about something that already exists.

Maker folded into technology that folded into Inquiry

Innovative learning spaces are not about the walls

Note that the class notes this week are identical' for both the Digital and Leadership courses, so it does not matter which class notes tab you look at.

You have 3 hours to up skill in 3D Modelling, Innovative Learning Spaces and Maker Culture. You can choose to do all of the 6 stations, or do just some (suggested minimum is 3). Please spend at least 30 minutes in every station you choose. Each of the stations has a suggested zone in the room, where you should go to work on that topic.

On a new station, begin by reading all of the three steps through, and then act on them

• First, there is always something for you to start with (reading(s), viewing(s), reflection(s)…) and
• based on that we then suggest how you can produce something, and
• there is also a before you leave this station part (how to finalise, publish…)

Once you have worked through those three steps you can move to the next station of your choice!

STATION 1 - Reflect & Floorplanner (LEADERSHIP)

Goal: Re-design your learner's environment with a future focus in mind.

View: Choose at least two of these resources to view:

• Article: Campfires in Cyberspace: Primordial Metaphors for Learning in the 21st Century
• Article: The Technology, Architecture and Furniture Model
• Article: Pedagogic Framework for Use in Next Generation Learning Spaces
• Article: 8 Design Principles That Underpin the Design of Learning Spaces
• Article: Comments from a Literature Review on 'Design and evaluation of learning spaces'
• Article: Question Driven Pedagogy-Space-Technology Framework for Developing Learning Spaces
• Video: RJHS Flythrough
• Video: Greenery improves children's cognitive development
• Video: Innovative Learning Environments The Research
• Video: School With No Walls: Sweden's Revolutionary Vittra Learning Space
• Table: Next Generation Learning Behaviours and Environment to Support Them

Reflect: Base your reflections on the above:

• How could you as a leader make your main learning spaces (e.g. classroom) better from a digital and/or collaborative aspect? (Yes we managed to do this)
• How could even slight changes in your environment maybe help you to upskill as a more distributive and collaborative leader? (Yes it will)
• What changes, no matter how small, could make the biggest difference to the learning outcomes? (Sets up the learning environment and expectations)

Floorplanner: Model the changes you’d like to make, using a simple design app called Floorplanner!

Floorplanner can be accessed here: https://floorplanner.com/

If you haven't used Floorplanner before, view these videos explaining the interface and how to make a model before you start: https://floorplanner.com/help/tips

Before you leave this station: Once your model is ready, screen record it as a video or picture (print screen, screencastify or screencast-o-matic and publish that to G+ community with the hashtag #floorplanner.

STATION 2 - View & Construct (DIGITAL)

Goal: Making sure that we’ll have mBots in each location ready for a future session.

View: First, read the instruction booklet that comes inside the mBot box. It is an A5 booklet with a photo of an mBot on the front (see picture below).

You might also need extra hands, and even viewing the instructions is better with more than one pair of eyes. Remember how we used pair programming with Scratch. Linus's Law (from open source software development) states that "given enough eyeballs, all bugs are shallow". Collaborate if possible!

Construct: Construct a mBot by following the guide in the box that the mBot came in.

You will need a small screwdriver (this is found in the box).

Do not feel pressured to try to do this task quickly, or to do more steps than you are comfortable with. Remember that this is a collaborative activity. Work with others. Contribute what you can.  Remember from (Agile) pair programming that the navigator is as important as the driver!

Before you leave this station: Once you feel like you’ve done your part (about 30 mins to an hour) make sure that (if the mBots are not ready yet) there is someone there to continue the work. This means, that if you are about to leave the station empty, go and advertise that to others. We would need all of them to be ready for later in the programme!

It might be wise to leave some notes next to your mBot, that tell others how far you’ve got, or if there are issues they should be aware of.

If the mBot is complete, test it using the buttons on the top and also the remote control.

STATION 3 - Explore and Make (LEADERSHIP)

Goal: Explore The Mind Lab Kids Portal to challenge you or your learners as makers.

Explore: Visit MindLabKids and have a look around! Explore the site and the challenges that have been created (under the Challenges-tab at the top). Please don’t sign up (unless you are a 5-12-year-old).

Make: Choose a challenge to have a go at, keeping in mind that you will have to embrace the maker movement and adapt the activities to the tools/materials you have available.

You can for example ‘Build your own hovercraft’. (Use tape but not the hot glue gun, and maybe deconstruct it when you have finished giving someone else a chance to build it). The ‘Yoshimoto cubes’, 3D modelling, and making an Animated GIF or a Hologram might also be an option, depending on the available materials in your location.

Before you leave this station: either

• Record a quick video about your maker creation and share it to the G+ Community under ‘In Class Tasks’ with your #location and #mindlabkids hashtags or
• Record a video where you talk about how you could use MindLabKids with your learners, and/or what learning theories (constructivism/connectivism/social learning?), and/or does this support and how this relates to the maker movement? Share it to the G+ Community under ‘In Class Tasks’ with your #location and #mindlabkids hashtags.

Remember to up cycle and/or deconstruct your creation before leaving the station, please.

STATION 4 - Revisit & Reinforce (DIGITAL)

Goal: Revisit any of the maker tasks and reinforce your skills

Revisit: Go back over the past weeks of the course and identify any of the 'maker' tasks that we covered in practical sessions that you would like to revisit. By a 'maker' task, we mean something that results in an artefact, whether that be a video, a computer programme in Scratch, a deign in Tinkercad, an infographic or some other output. Did you start working on something that you never managed to get uploaded to Google+? Were you frustrated at not spending long enough on a creative activity? Now's your chance to complete and share it.

Reinforce: Once you have identified something that you want to revisit, reinforce your skills by creating or completing some kind of digital artefact, and be sure to share it on Google+.

Before you leave this station: When you have finished your artefact, publish it to our G+ Community and include a short description. Include the hashtag #revisit, your location hashtag and your name(s). In your comments, explain why you wanted to revisit and reinforce this particular creative task.

STATION 5 - Faces of Change & Video (LEADERSHIP)

Goal: Share your insights with the future postgrad students

Change: We are now in Week 12, so it has been 3 months since you started your Postgraduate journey. Have you embraced change?

You might remember how you felt in the first couple of weeks? Is your attitude towards using technology in your classroom the same? Has something changed? If so, what?

Take a look at this article we wrote in 2015, and consider where you are now on your journey in relation to the sections 'Transforming Teaching and Learning' (p. 38) and 'Discussion' (p. 44). Where would you currently place yourself on the e-Learning Planning Framework from the Te Toi Tupu Consortium?

Video: Make a short video to upload to The Mind Lab by Unitec's Face of Change website. In your video you should pick one theme and talk about how you have changed education in your classroom to reflect this.

The themes are:

• Collaborative
• Digital
• Diverse
• Equal
• Flexible
• Future Focused
• Individualised
• Innovative
• Personalised
• Real World
• Responsive
• Technological
• 21st Century Skills Based

Your video should be short and sweet, if you are stuck for ideas have a browse through the videos that are already on the website for some inspiration.

Before you leave this station: Upload your video to the Faces of Change Website and if you would like you can also upload this video to the G+ community with #facesofchange.

STATION 6 - Create & Deploy (DIGITAL)

Goal: Create a mobile app using a simple web-based tool and deploy it to your device

Create: Begin by looking at the two options we have suggested for creating a mobile app. One of these is MIT AppInventor, which enables you to create mobile applications that will run on an Android device using a Scratch style programming interface. The other is Appy Pie, which is a simple tool for creating web site style mobile apps that are regularly structured and are primarily informational.

Before you start, watch the Appy Pie introduction video, then watch the first of the App Inventor example videos. Then decide which of these two tools you would like to work with. If you choose to use App Inventor, you will simply be following a set of instructions to create a pre-defined mobile app. If you choose to use Appy Pie, you will be adding your own content to the app on the theme of innovative learning spaces or 3D modelling.

If you choose to use Appy Pie: Gather some materials (text/images/videos/links) on the topic of innovative learning spaces or 3D modelling, then create an app with appropriate components to present that data. Go to the Appy Pie web site to start creating your app. Please note that you will be required to log in (e.g. using Facebook or Google) and if you are using the free version it is very limited, for example, you will not be able to go back and edit it later once it has been published.

If you choose to use App Inventor: Go to the App Inventor Beginner Tutorial page. Here you will find four simple introductory applications. Each of these has an explanatory video and also a PDF document that will take you step by step through each example. Choose any or all of these to try out.

Deploy: This might be tricky, depending on the application you choose to use and type of device you have. AppInventor files can only be deployed to Android devices, so if you have an iOS device you will have to stick to using the onscreen emulator to see your app running. If you use Appy Pie, you should be able to deploy it to either Android or iOS using the links provided in the email you will be sent when you deploy your app. However even if this does not work, you will also be emailed a web link to an HTML5 version of your app which you should be able to view in your mobile browser.

Before you leave this station: Show someone else your mobile app, either on your device (if you have been able to deploy it) or using the emulator screen on your laptop. Share a screen grab of your app running on Google+ using the hashtag #mymobileapp #(location)

You might even want to look at the latest app invented by a 12 year old https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7hYGJbUySZc