The document discusses New Zealand's digital curriculum and the concepts of digital fluency and entitlement curriculum. It notes that the curriculum divides digital learning into computational thinking and designing digital outcomes, with an entitlement curriculum until year 10 and specialist courses until year 13. The document questions whether this division and focus on computational thinking fully addresses digital fluency and proposes integrating more creative tools and critical approaches into the entitlement curriculum.

1. The Mind Lab by Unitec | 2017
David Parsons, Herbert Thomas, Jonathan Lynch (The Mind Lab by Unitec)
Kathryn MacCallum (Eastern Institute of Technology)
Digital Fluency and the Entitlement
Curriculum:
Who are the computational thinkers?

2. The Mind Lab by Unitec | 2017The Mind Lab by Unitec | FLANZ 2018
“The new curriculum has the
potential to be the ultrafast
broadband of learning”
Nikki Kaye - from the introduction to the draft digital
curriculum, 2017

3. The Mind Lab by Unitec | 2017The Mind Lab by Unitec | FLANZ 2018
The Digital Curriculum (Hangarau Matihiko) was published
in 2017
● To what extent is the concept of digital fluency
embedded in the digital curriculum?
● What is the implied ‘entitlement curriculum’?
● What should be present in an entitlement curriculum
for digital fluency?
● What have we been doing in this area?
The Digital Curriculum

4. The Mind Lab by Unitec | 2017The Mind Lab by Unitec | FLANZ 2018
Two technology areas
● Computational thinking for digital technologies
● Designing and developing digital outcomes
Divided into
● An entitlement curriculum (to which every student
should be entitled - up to year 10)
● A specialist curriculum (for elective study - to year 13)
A Divided Digital Curriculum

5. The Mind Lab by Unitec | 2017The Mind Lab by Unitec | FLANZ 2018
Only learners who study digital technologies through to
Year 13 will be on the pathway to specialising. The
assumption is that it is these students who will be able to
“lead the next generation of innovators and trailblazers in
the digital world”. (MoE, 2017).
MoE. (2017). Digital Technologies Hangarau Matihiko: What business and industry leaders need to know. Retrieved
from https://education.govt.nz/assets/Documents/dthm/Digital-Curriculum-Business.pdf
Innovators and Trailblazers

6. The Mind Lab by Unitec | 2017The Mind Lab by Unitec | FLANZ 2018
Progress Outcomes
Entitlement
Curriculum

7. The Mind Lab by Unitec | 2017The Mind Lab by Unitec | Teaching and Learning | 2016The Mind Lab by Unitec | FLANZ 2018
Computational Thinking
Entitlement to year 10 Specialisation to year 13
● Algorithms
● Control structures
● Documentation, testing and
debugging
● Data types, binary digits
● Human-computer
interaction
● Analyse computer science
areas
● Real world applications
● Software engineering
methodology

8. The Mind Lab by Unitec | 2017The Mind Lab by Unitec | Teaching and Learning | 2016The Mind Lab by Unitec | FLANZ 2018
Digital Outcomes
Entitlement to year 10 Specialisation to year 13
● Select tools/techniques
● Iterative processes
● Select software and file types
● Create software outcomes
● Operating systems
● Storage
● Security and privacy
● Create digital outcomes to
design specifications
● Electronic environments
and embedded systems
● Iterative process to
develop digital outcomes
for end users

9. The Mind Lab by Unitec | 2017The Mind Lab by Unitec | FLANZ 2018
Digital Literacy?
Understand and use information in multiple formats from
a wide variety of sources
Bawden, D. (2008) Origins and concepts of digital literacy. Digital literacies: Concepts, policies and practices, 30, 17-32
Learners being able to express themselves and develop
their ideas through ICT both for work readiness and as
digital citizens
Department for Education. (2013). Computing programmes of study: key stages 1 and 2 National curriculum in England.
Crown copyright.
Competency in computational thinking
Park, Y. (2016). 8 digital life skills all children need – and a plan for teaching them. World Economic Forum.

10. The Mind Lab by Unitec | 2017The Mind Lab by Unitec | FLANZ 2018
Digital Fluency?
learning anywhere, anytime, with digital learning for every learner
regardless of location
MoE. (n.d.). Towards Digital Fluency. New Zealand Ministry of Education.
Self-select from a range of tools to achieve outcomes, and navigate
collaborative spaces effectively and confidently
Spencer, K. (2015). What is Digital Fluency? Core-ed.org
The social, emotional and cognitive abilities that enable individuals to
face the challenges and adapt to the demands of digital life
Park, Y. (2016). 8 digital life skills all children need – and a plan for teaching them. World Economic Forum.
Use technological tools to construct significant things
Resnick, M. (2002). Rethinking Learning in the Digital Age. In G. Kirkman (Ed.), The Global Information Technology
Report: Readiness for the Networked World (pp. 32–37). Oxford: Oxford University Press

11. The Mind Lab by Unitec | 2017The Mind Lab by Unitec | Teaching and Learning | 2016The Mind Lab by Unitec | FLANZ 2018
Journeys to Fluency
Proficiency -> literacy -> fluency.
(Spencer, 2015)
Digital citizenship
Literacy/numeracy -> 21st century skills -> digital fluency
(White, 2013)
Collaboration, critical thinking and design skills.
Competence -> usage -> transformation (Martin &
Grudziecki, 2006)
Innovation and creativity
Net-savviness <-> critical evaluative techniques <->
diversity (Miller & Bartlett, 2012)
Criticality
Transactional -> transformational (Briggs, 2011) Knowing when and why to use tools
Digital literacy -> digital fluency (MoE) Solving diverse, real world problems, critical inquiry
and creative practice.
SUMMARY
From operational competence to transformational fluency
SUMMARY
Critical, creative transformation

12. The Mind Lab by Unitec | 2017The Mind Lab by Unitec | FLANZ 2018
Critiquing the Curriculum
Why the two chosen areas?
Is digital fluency in one or both sides of the curriculum up
until year 10,
Is this division designed to fit into assessment structures?
Is ‘digital capability’ the same as digital fluency?

13. The Mind Lab by Unitec | 2017The Mind Lab by Unitec | FLANZ 2018
A simplistic implementation of the digital curriculum up to year
10 might fail to deliver some key aspects of digital fluency
We are currently developing new course provision for in-service
teachers to addressing the digital curriculum and the broader
aims of digital fluency, namely critical, creative transformation.
We are integrating areas of technology practice that assist
learners to develop these skills in the curriculum up to year 10
Integrating Digital Fluency

14. The Mind Lab by Unitec | 2017The Mind Lab by Unitec | FLANZ 2018
● Creative apps such as:
○ 3D Modelling, stop motion movie making, web design, mixed reality
● Critical approaches such as
○ Design thinking, agile and lean thinking, survey and analytical tools
for student research
Specific activities within these topics are designed to allow for
reinterpretation by teachers and students to meet the needs of
specific classes.
Transformation is only possible where students have sufficient
agency over the activities they undertake within the curriculum
Some Curriculum Ideas

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The Digital Passport
digitalpassport.co.nz

16. The Mind Lab by Unitec | 2017The Mind Lab by Unitec | FLANZ 2018
● Digital tools used to address the curriculum should be as broad as
possible and make it easy for students to create digital artefacts
● Coding by younger students is limited by time and complexity and
therefore other approaches can often be more creative
● Working in iterative, collaborative processes such as design thinking and
agile teamwork can be highly valuable learning experiences, even if the
outcome is not always a digital artefact
● Activities based on digital outcomes should be multi layered and use
different digital tools in an integrated manner, such as designing an
online survey, then gathering the data, then analysing it in various ways,
and sharing and comparing conclusions
Conclusion