Digital technologies implementation support tool

Supporting schools to implement digital technologies as part of the technology learning area.

Illustration shows two tamariki filming a young girl on their devices, a drone follows alongside.

About this resource

The Digital Technologies Implementation Support Tool provides a model, process, and plan to support schools with teaching digital technologies as part of the technology learning area. It was developed for school leaders, school teams, clusters of schools, and boards of trustees to support change planning.

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Digital technologies implementation support tool

About the Tool
Levels of change
Case study
Links

The Digital Technologies Implementation Tool is designed to support schools in implementing the teaching of digital technologies as part of the technology learning area. It was gazetted for implementation in 2020.

To produce this tool, the Ministry of Education used evidence from the case study evaluation report: On Your Marks ... Get Set ... Go! A Tale of Six Schools and the Digital Technologies Curriculum Content (Education Review Office, 23 January 2020).

What do you need to know before using this tool?

In 2017, the national curriculum was revised to explicitly include digital technologies learning, gazetted for implementation in 2020. The tool may still be useful for schools that have not yet fully implemented the revised curriculum or are looking for ideas to improve their implementation.

The New Zealand Curriculum is a framework that sets out national requirements and expectations for learning.

The local curriculum is where the national expectations of learning are then shaped so that it has local context and meaning for learners.

School leadership works out how to shape and design their local curriculum by collaborating with parents, whānau, hapū, iwi, and the wider community.

School leaders have the opportunity to make technology learning cross-curricular. Explore ways of mapping the progress outcomes across your school’s local curriculum – this will help to make connections across learning and make learning more relevant to ākonga.

When identifying contexts for implementing the digital technologies curriculum areas, schools should consider te ao Māori contexts, especially those that are relevant to your local area. An example of how one school, Ohaeawai Primary, did this is included in the support tool.

For more information on the revised technology learning area, see:

Note: This new learning is not about using the e-learning planning framework (eLPF). E-learning is defined as learning and teaching that are facilitated by or supported through the appropriate use of information and communication technologies (ICTs).

Why was there a curriculum change to the technology learning area?

Learning in digital technologies is important for preparing tamariki and young people in New Zealand to thrive in a transforming digital world and for ensuring all of our young people develop the knowledge, skills, and capabilities to deal with new problems and opportunities as they arise and be safe while doing so. It also helps to grow the next generation of influencers, creators, and thinkers to design digital technologies solutions and make the world a better place.

We want to ensure that all of our tamariki and young people have the learning opportunities to gain the new specific technological skills and capabilities required for the future of work – an estimated 85 percent of jobs that will exist in 2030 haven’t been invented yet. (See The Next Era of Human-Machine Partnerships: Emerging technologies’ impact on society & work in 2030 by Dell Technologies and Institute for the Future, 2017).

More than this, we want to support children and young people in developing a strong sense of digital citizenship as people relate to one another in a way unlike before. This is why we need to focus our digital technologies learning on our own wellbeing.

Four levels of change

The Digital Technologies Implementation Support Tool identifies four levels of change:

Not yet started

Preparing for change

Underway

Getting organised for change
Unpacking the detail
Getting to know where our people are at and what other schools are doing
Polishing off our high-level plans

Ready

Making change planning visible
Ensuring all can see and understand the future direction of our school's curriculum
Continuing to get into the detail of the curriculum content and growing our own understanding
Supporting ongoing professional growth

Leading and innovating

Formally prioritising future-focused learning for all in strategic documentation and resource planning
Creating a culture of growth, collaboration, innovation, and sustainable practices
Feeling confident with an Ako style of teaching and learning

Spiral diagram showing the "is your school ready?" model

The Digital Technologies Implementation Support Tool identifies four levels of change.

Not yet started

As a school, you are still needing to consider learning beyond the ideas of e-learning, digital fluency, and teaching learners to use devices, but you’re preparing to start your learning journey.

This begins with understanding how digital technologies fit within the technology learning area including the rationale and progress outcomes for the two new technological areas:

The new curriculum content is about teaching learners how digital technologies work and then having them use that knowledge to design digital solutions that make a positive difference in our world.

The goal for learners is to make sure that by the end of year 10, students have progressed their learning to progress outcome 5 for computational thinking for digital technologies and progress outcome 3 for designing and developing digital outcomes.

The next step is appointing a person or group to lead this curriculum change at your school.

Illustration of a flame depicted in a small black circle.

Digitally fluent vs digitally capable

A digitally fluent person can decide when and why to use specific digital technologies to achieve a specific task or solve problems.

A digitally capable person can create their own digital technologies solution.

We are committing to a new and important area of contemporary and future teaching and learning.

Underway

As a leadership team, you have:

recognised the new learning in digital technologies as part of your school's strategic plans and goals
reviewed current professional development practices relevant to digital technologies
reviewed your local curriculum to find a place for learning in digital technologies and are preparing a plan on how to implement this.

For more information about what a school’s local curriculum means and help to do this, see Strengthening the local curriculum.

The next step is polishing off your high-level plans and moving on to implementation.

See Materials that come with this resource to download:

Now underway DT implementation support 2020 (.pdf)

Ready

Learning in digital technologies is visible in the school curriculum, progress outcomes are mapped against the curriculum, and staff are engaging in relevant professional learning.

Curriculum leaders have developed a teaching digital technologies curriculum content resource plan and are monitoring teaching and learning to gauge effectiveness.

See Materials that come with this resource to download:

2020 Ready DT implementation support (.pdf)

Leading and Innovating

The following is occurring in your school:

meaningful school-community collaborations in connection with developing your local curriculum and prioritising technology learning
a future-focused local curriculum designed for learners to thrive in a transforming digital world
teachers are encouraged to innovate and learn alongside their students
teachers are teaching technology learning so that it is cross-curricular

See Materials that come with this resource to download:

Leading and innovating DT implementation support 2020 (.pdf)

Ohaeawai Primary School and the Battle of Ōhaeawai

Ohaeawai Primary School in Northland is a small, 160-student rural school. One of their classes was set the challenge of discovering more about the famous Battle of Ōhaeawai and presenting their findings back to the school at the end of the term.

Learning intentions

The purpose of the learning was to explore how the same event can be seen differently by different people*. At the same time, the learners would need to start thinking about how they could best present their story.

How digital technologies fit:

step-by-step thinking process
planning for the needs of the end user when telling their story
considering the tools they have available to help them bring the story to life

* When exploring historical events, it’s important to be cognizant of the feelings and responses of any descendants who may be in the class or connected with your class community, to work sensitively, and where appropriate, to invite them to contribute their views.

Field trips

The students first visited the Museum of Waitangi to learn about the early navigators like Kupe, the early interactions between Māori and Europeans, and events following the signing of Te Tiriti o Waitangi, including the Battle of Ōhaeawai in 1845.

How digital technologies fit:

refining initial ideas with the increasing gathering of information
storing and retrieving work from cloud-based programmes

Next, students visited the Carving Studio in the Waitangi Treaty Grounds, where they heard the stories of the battle that have been told in the carvings. They also learnt more about the signing of Te Tiriti o Waitangi.

How digital technologies fit:

refining initial ideas to bring in new perspectives
storing and retrieving their work from cloud-based programmes
thinking how the two points of view fit with the overall plan

Technological practice

Back in class, the students gathered their thoughts and ideas together in a working group. They started a storyboard to help them with their narrative and to identify the tools they could use to bring their stories to life for their audiences.

How digital technologies fit:

developing a step-by-step process for telling the story sequentially
exploring digital tools available to help them tell the story; the tools they selected are all freely available online

Once their plan of attack was agreed upon, the learners began the fun part – bringing the story to life. The great thing is that the range of tools available means there are choices for where learners’ interests or passions lie.

How digital technologies fit:

developing a piece for video where learners take on the role of a news crew and presenter
creating a traditional pā using Tinkercad design software
animating a new output using models the students have made

Outcome development and evaluation

The big day arrived. After all that work, the students presented their story to their schoolmates, teachers, family, and whānau.

How digital technologies fit:

The learners had developed a presentation using Google Slides featuring their illustrations, 3D drawings, and video footage.

You might also like ...

Other stories of digital technologies curriculum content being introduced into teaching and learning: Teaching snapshots.

Watch the webinar recording, Local curriculum projects and digital technologies, for ideas on local curriculum and digital technologies.