DFI Week 7: Computational Thinking

This week was thought provoking, as well as fun. Viv from OMG Tech! provided us with a lot of food for thought as she introduced us to many of the up and coming technologies and changes in technological use we are facing in this world of rapid change.

We also spent time listening to Dorothy presenting to us about equity and access not just with digital technologies. This is such a huge issue. It is startling when looking through Dorothy's presentation the inequities we face within the same towns, cities and regions. People are surviving on such limited incomes and access to resourcing such as housing, food and digital tech has to be prioritised within families in order of importance, so making access as affordable and easy as possible is vital. Thinking that there are families in NZ who are trying to live off $19000 a year, just blows me away. As costs of the basics - food, power and a roof over head rise rapidly, our families are forced to make incredibly hard decisions over what has to go. As educators, we have to do all we can to ensure our students have equitable access to technology, so that they are prepared for the future and can have all of the experiences that make learning valuable in a connected and online world.

Viv introduced us to some simple but fun activities to encourage computational thinking. Looking at the Binary code and a simple way of introducing this to our students, as well as simple coding ideas using Scratch. For me, it is finding the time to play and plan in order to work out how I can incorporate these in to my classroom programme, especially as this becomes a feature of the curriculum.

For me, one of the most thought provoking parts of the day was discussing some of the future technologies, especially AI.While the potential for AI is astounding, it is also incredibly scary/worrying when considering how it can be used to make decisions based on the training or algorithms that have been used. When looking at driverless cars and the exercise of making programming decisions - who is behind this programming and decision making? This has the potential to have a real impact in society and not necessarily in a good way. When these tools are used by the makers of weapons what are the potential impacts that can occur? We must also remember the value of human contact - the empathy, ability to work with others and engage in a meaningful way.