It is our 3rd time conducting an online DAFA workshop ever since the new norms have been implemented. As we were still new to this, we still faced some setback and technical difficulties at the start of the workshop. Thankfully, the students were patient and understanding as we quickly rectified the problem.
We started the session with an ice breaker activity where we got students to share their interests and hobbies onto the Padlet wall. Similar to Jurong Secondary, many students mentioned that they enjoy drawing and watching anime. It was a trend we saw among all the previous 3 schools we have taught: Youths really love watching anime and playing video games! *subtly inserting this: Our trainers felt old*
After the short introduction, we quickly dived into the media and digital literacy portion of DAFA. It is vital for students to understand what media and digital literacy is, especially when they are brought up in a technologically advanced world. They see millions of contents online everyday and they ought to know how to discern what type of content is right and wrong. It was great to see the students eagerly learning and participating actively.
Of course we can’t miss out on the digital arts portion as well! Since we were unable to head down to their school to conduct the session, the students did not have access to the iPads. However, we introduced another way of creating digital arts to them, which was to use Powerpoint. The basic shapes available in Powerpoint allow students to create equally amazing artworks. All they need is a little creativity and the knowledge of shape breakdown. Soon, we saw many cute and wonderful artworks uploaded onto the Padlet wall. They then learnt how to convert their artworks into GIFs using Powerpoint as well. It was interesting to see the different interpretations of art done by each student!
We hope that the students brought home valuable knowledge after the end of the session and continue to spread the importance of media and digital literacy!