Last month, students from 15 North Shore schools attended WeLearn 2018. The event showcases what schools are doing with digital technology and students became the teachers for the day running workshops and presentations, writes Joe Lanning.

“This year there were 15 schools, 150 kids and 45 teachers that took part in WeLearn.  Students ran 20-minute workshops telling and showing other students how they use digital technologies in their schools. These were on: Edison robots, Bloxels video games, Google Expeditions, Lego We do, Scratch Jr, Stop Motion, Makey Makey, Mbot robots, Screen Screening, Stop Motion, Ozobots Tello Drones and Sphero Robots.

“The children arrived and signed in like a ‘real conference’ and had lanyards with their names on them ready for pick up at sign in table. Children were either a presenter or an attendee.

“The idea came about in our termly Digital PLG meetings. Schools got on board, sponsors came forward and planning started for the day. As teachers, we thought how empowering it would be for students to have a conference led and run by themselves- reversing the roles as they became the teachers for the day.

“It was an amazing day had by all- lots of learning and opportunities for schools to see what other schools are doing in our local communities. But most important of all that real inquiry learning was taking place and that students were the ones delivering the lessons!!

Joe Lanning is IT Manger at Campbells Bay School in Auckland.