In addition to four teacher certifications, Google for Education recently announced a certification for students. The G Suite certification for students is a professional certification allowing students to showcase their knowledge of G Suite products including Docs, Sheets, and Slides. Students complete training modules through Google’s Applied Digital Skills program and take a two-hour exam including both multiple-choice questions as well as a performance section.
Why:
Google for Education’s student certification allows high school students (adhering to Google’s age requirement) to demonstrate their abilities in an ever-increasing digital world. The Applied Digital Skills program is a project-based program helping students implement G Suite products in the workplace and looks great on a resume upon graduation. Taking the G Suite student certification exam is just icing on the cake.
How / Next Steps:
The student certification training and exam must be completed in a group setting led by an educator acting as facilitator. Educators use the exam prep guide to obtain an overview of tasks needed, facilitate eleven free lessons from the Applied Digital Skills program, test student knowledge in the practice lab, and when ready schedule the $37 per student exam. Google for Education offers a facilitator checklist to make scheduling the exam easy.
References
References are also hyperlinked above as applicable.
TLDR (too long didn’t read):
In addition to four teacher certifications, Google for Education recently announced a certification for students. The G Suite certification for students is a professional certification allowing students to showcase their knowledge of G Suite products including Docs, Sheets, and Slides.
Students can use Voki to create talking avatars that they can customize and easily share with a URL. Audio can be created through text-to-voice, their own voice recording, or an uploaded audio file. The free version does not even require a student account.
Upgrading to the paid version gets you more avatar choices and a closed classroom environment where teachers can post assignments and monitor student work. You can also upgrade to Voki Hangouts, which mirrors an online social network experience while giving teachers full control. Click here for more information on pricing.
Teachers can use Voki avatars to create engaging lessons that address multiple learning styles. For example, students can access instructional material with written text and a talking avatar reciting the information for more auditory learners.
Voki is a powerful presentation tool for students to creatively share their learning. The avatars are customizable, so students can practice the design process for a given task. For example, students could create an avatar for a character from Greek mythology, using their research to inform their design. Then they could write the script for the avatar to tell a story about one of their adventures.
Resources for Voki
Collection of tweets from teachers showing how they used Voki Blog featuring ideas for how to integrate Voki into your teaching Free Lessons that use Voki 5 Innovative Ways to Use Voki in the Classroom
Google for Education has a suite of products that are free for educators to use within the classroom. These products include Drive, Docs, Sheets, Slides, among others that allow teachers to transform their classroom and engage students. Google for Education currently offers four certifications for educators in a training center for educators. The four certifications include Google Certified Educators Level 1 and Level 2, Google Certified Trainer, and Google Certified Innovator. I have personally completed all four badges and grew immensely as an educator by completing each one.
As a classroom educator, Google Certified Educator Level 1 proves proficiency for using Google for Education products. Educators complete a basic training course on the teacher training center and, when ready, take an intense three-hour exam that costs $10.
Google Certified Educator Level 2 is the next step and proves an educators expertise using the Google products. This certification is for educators who use Google products in the classroom on a regular basis and often help troubleshoot problems for other educators. Educators complete an advanced training course on the teacher training center and, when ready, take an intense three-hour exam that costs $25.
Google Certified Trainer certification is for educators who are also in a technology facilitator role and lead others in trainings on using Google products. The Certified Trainer program is more difficult to obtain. The application involves completing Certified Level 1 and 2, completing a trainer course on the training center, a 90 minutes skills assessment, an application video, and complete an application answering questions from previous trainings to use as a case study. These steps may seem daunting but acceptance into the program offers entry into an inclusive group of like-minded educators that help problem-solve and generate new and inspiring ideas through an active community.
Google Certified Innovator is the final certification. This certification is for educators who desire to make a difference through a particular passion project. Educators must first obtain Google Certified Level 2 before completing the application. The Google Certified Innovator program is the most elusive of the four certifications. The application includes completing the Level 2 certification and submitting a video about a project they are passionate about changing. Acceptance into the Google Certified Innovator includes attendance at a three-day academy, inclusion in an active community of inspiring individuals, active Google Innovators as mentors for one year to help complete the passion project, and yearly energizing events to help each innovator stay connected and inspired.
How / Next Steps:
I have personally completed all four certifications including Certified Innovator with a passion project that is currently operating as a nonprofit organization empowering educators in under-resourced areas. I have also coached numerous educators to complete the Level 1 certification. Each certification is meant for educators holding specific roles. My advice is to start with Level 1 and transform your own teaching and thus your classroom.
Feel free to use this checklist to gauge your current knowledge of Google products.
Also, there are numerous online boot camps available to help you ace the exam. Check out my favorites by Kasey Bell and Eric Curts.
Be inspired by active trainers and innovators by following these hashtags on Twitter: #GoogleEI, #GoogleCT, #GoogleEDU.
TLDR (too long didn’t read):
Google for Education currently offers four certifications for educators in a training center for educators. The four certifications include Google Certified Educators level 1 and 2, Google Certified Trainer, and Google Certified Innovator. I have personally completed all four badges and grew immensely as an educator by completing each one.
Google for Education recently announced numerous updates to their GSuite products including Classroom and Forms. Google for Education announced the addition of rubrics to Google Classroom through a beta program. Following the launch of a gradebook within Classroom, Google for Education has also announced a beta program for Classroom syncing with student information systems. Google for Education also announced an update to Google Forms with locked mode and importing questions from previously created Forms.
Why:
Google classroom is a streamlined learning management system that prides itself on simplicity. Adding rubrics is a gamechanger for how teachers can utilize Classroom. With the addition of rubrics, teachers can both create rubrics and grade using rubrics through assignments in Classroom. Using rubrics allows students to understand the objectives for the assignment and allows teachers to give efficient and consistent feedback. With the capabilities of syncing with student information systems, the gradebook in Classroom will sync grades automatically to a student information system so you will not have to enter grades in multiple places.
Google Forms is a powerhouse product in the education world with capabilities of simple polls to full on final exams with individual responses being saved in a Google Sheet or shown as visual charts immediately upon submission. The update announced is that Forms will now include a locked mode on managed Chromebooks. This means that if you have Chromebooks and also use Forms you can lock students in a Form (usually used for tests, quizzes, final exams, etc.) so they are unable to navigate away from the Form. Another update is that teachers will be able to import questions from a previous Form into a new Form. No more making a copy of a Form and deleting unwanted questions!
How / Next Steps:
Sign up for the rubric beta program. Prerequisites for the beta program include using GSuite for Education (including Classroom) at your school.
Sign up for the gradebook syncing beta program. Prerequisites for the beta program include using GSuite for Education (including Classroom) at your school. If your student management system is not on the list complete the beta form and suggest they add it. This will help Google know which student information systems are used most.
View this step-by-step guide to using locked mode in Google Forms (Chromebooks only). Import questions by clicking the add questions button and choosing Import Questions.
TIP: If you are currently using GSuite for Education but do not have access to Classroom, speak to your IT director. Classroom is free to use and can be made available to teachers through the Google Admin Console at the request of whoever controls GSuite for your organization.
TLDR (too long didn’t read):
Google Classroom now has rubrics and launched a beta program so teachers can create rubrics and attach them to any assignment within Google Classroom. Google Forms now has a locked mode that will lock students inside the form (only on Chromebooks). Finally, Google Classroom announced a beta program for syncing information between Google Classroom and a few student information systems.
References:
All sourced information is hyperlinked as applicable above.
“The traditional grading language is passive and judgmental and subconsciously by using this language, we are putting the focus on the wrong things.” – Starr Sackstein
When discussing student progress, it’s important to focus on the level of mastery, rather than a fixed point, such as a grade. Making small tweaks in how we discuss student work is the first step towards larger shifts in assessment practices. Starr Sackstein shares more thoughts in her blog post Shifting the Grading Mindset Starts With Our Words.
Many of us admire Dwyane Wade as a basketball player, but there’s even more to admire about him as a man. When Budweiser discovered that Wade has been collecting players’ jerseys during his farewell season, they invited him to an arena to receive five surprise jerseys from individuals whose lives he has impacted in a meaningful way. Hat tip to Drew Polly.
Tinkercad is a free, easy-to-use app for 3D design, electronics, and coding. You can imagine, design, and make anything!
Why Tinkercad?
This virtualmakerspace gives students opportunities to engage in creative and critical thinking. They learn how to develop, problem-solve, revise, and persevere through the process of creation. Students can even use 3D printers to bring their designs to life.
Tinkercad’s electronics platform allows students to virtually place and wire components to create a virtual circuit and then see how the components would respond in real life. Students could use this as a blueprint to make a real-life circuit, or they can add-in 3D design and print it with Tinkercad’s Circuit Assemblies.
Tinkercad is about to launch a new coding platform that uses drag-and-drop code blocks. Students order the blocks to define their design and then run the code to watch their design come to life. They can use this to create a GIF or export and print their completed design.
Using a unique invitation code, teachers can invite students to Tinkercad and moderate their accounts. Tinkercad is also a great collaborative tool. Students are able to work synchronously with one another in the same file and work as a team to produce designs.
How to use Tinkercad?
How to Get Started with Tinkercad in the Classroom
Examples of Tinkercad
Click Here to explore their online gallery. Note that you can actually copy any existing design and then tinker with it yourself.
The ASSURE model aims to help teachers effectively implement technology into the classroom. It consists of six clear steps for planning instruction:
Analyze Learners
State Objectives
Select Media & Materials
Utilize Media & Materials
Require Learner Participation
Evaluate & Revise
Check out this video from Melissa Griswold for more details on each step of the model.
Why use the ASSURE Model?
The ASSURE Model helps teachers integrate technology with intention. It helps them to move beyond low-level use of technology such as “substitution” and “augmentation” to more advanced “modification” and “redefinition.” It also helps teachers cater to the specific needs of every learner by providing them with the specific technology they require to achieve their personal goals and objectives.
Resources
Instructional Technology and Media for Learning Using the ASSURE lesson plan model, this book demonstrates how to implement a complete range of technology and media formats that can be used to support and enhance teaching and learning.
Bartlett City Schools has announced plans and dates for the Techcellence Conference in March. The conference is open to all educators in our area.
The conference takes place Saturday, March 23rd from 8:00 AM to 12:00 PM at Bon Lin Middle School (3862 N. Germantown Rd, 38133).
Cost: Free
Educational Connections
Educators currently practicing in the field present innovative lessons, strategies, and ideas to peers who seek to enhance the use of technology in their classroom. There will be 45-minute sessions during which educators will present innovative lessons, strategies, and ideas.
Participate
To register as an attendant and/or presenter, visit the links below. All participants, including presenters, must register using the registration link. This is open to all educators in our area, for free!
Would you wear tech on your face? That is a bet that Intel is willing to take with its new Vaunt glasses, which aim to bring you information about the world in as direct a manner as possible–straight into your eyes. Essentially, the glasses work by using a safe laser to project information onto a holographic mirror, which then reflects directly through your eyeball and onto your retina as a kind of heads up display (HUD). This technology is called retinal projection; the information is “painted†onto the back of your retina. Because of the way this projection works, each pair of glasses must be individually fitted so that the laser is calibrated to focus on your eye. By using retinal projection, the image is clearly seen in the lower right visual field of the wearer but is invisible to an outside observer. Intel also wanted the Vaunt to be unobtrusive. If you are not looking slightly down at the display, the image completely disappears, leaving you with an unobstructed, uncluttered view of your surroundings.
These glasses are meant to be sleek and discreet. The glasses themselves just look like normal, plastic-framed eyewear; and they even work with regular glasses prescriptions. These glasses are designed to be very simple. There’s no swiping or hand motions. You simply look down if you want to read a notification or look the opposite way to dismiss. Perhaps most importantly, they’re comfortable to wear all day, weighing little more than a standard pair of glasses. Because they look like normal glasses and the HUD is invisible to bystanders, no one would necessarily know you were wearing smart glasses at all.
Far from showing you an endless roll of tweets and Instagram likes, Intel hopes that the Vaunt glasses will allow you to interact with your environment in a new, intelligent way using the Vaunt’s AI. In addition to its laser, the Vaunt also contains Bluetooth, an app processor, a projected 18 hours worth of battery, and sensors that allow it to know when you turn your head so it can guess what you’re looking at. They hope that this hardware will allow the Vaunt to do a wide variety of things, such as showing you directions to your destination after you parked your car or showing you which of two restaurants you are looking at has a better Yelp review. The possibilities are truly endless.
These glasses will soon be available through early access to independent developers who will find even more unique uses for the glasses. They will be compatible with both iPhones as well as Android devices, and they will likely be found wherever regular glasses are sold–like your local eyecare provider. Augmented reality is no longer just for video games and taking funny pictures, but could become a part of grocery shopping, walking through a new city, or cooking dinner at home. Contextually relevant, concise information is just a glance away.
Thoughts From Future Teachers
Future teachers appear to be split as to whether or not they could imagine themselves wearing smart glasses. About two-thirds were unsure, while the remaining third were split between those for and against the Vaunt glasses.
While they were not sure whether or not they themselves would feel comfortable wearing smart glasses, future teachers appeared to be more accepting of others wearing them. About two-thirds of those surveyed responded that they would be comfortable with others wearing smart glasses in social places, while the remaining third remained unsure. No respondent reported that they would be definitely uncomfortable with others wearing smart glasses.
When asked what benefits they would see from glasses of this type, future teachers responded by pointing out that it would make information more accessible and that it would allow one to appear less rude by checking notifications in social situations. Maggie pointed out, “I would have better options based on the information provided from the glasses, so decision making will be a lot easier and quicker.†Some respondents also noted improved driver safety, like Tyara, who commented, “Well, if the glasses show you notifications like an iPhone, and you were driving, I think it would cause less wrecks because you wouldn’t have to look down at your phone.â€
When asked about specific benefits that these glasses may have in the classroom, many future teachers were concerned about the glasses being more of a distraction that a helpful learning tool. Some respondents did think of some potential classroom uses, however. For example, Caroline mentioned that the glass could help with “reminders of homework or classwork due. [They could help with] Not having to ask the teacher for certain things, the glasses will just show you what to do.†Taira suggested, “The glasses could be used by a student or a professor when giving a lecture or a presentation in the way that the words are displayed in the glasses so they can keep their eyes on the class and do not have to rely on memorization.â€
Related Resources
Vaunt glasses were built to be discreet, but not all wearable tech is. This article in Digital Trends highlights some novel, revolutionary, and at times downright strange-looking, wearable tech.
While Google Glasses, a predecessor to the Vaunt, never took off as many had hoped they would, many teachers were already talking about ways to incorporate smart glasses in the classroom.
Moverio smart glasses have already been used in creative assignments for elementary school children in Japan.
