Tag: GTA

Bringing the Google Teacher Academy to the UK

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Did you not hear it back in April? It would have been about 7.15 in the morning on April the 15th. It would have sounded like someone whooping with delight (and yes perhaps the sound of feet doing a little jig) as I found out that Google were going ahead with a UK based edition of their Teacher Academy.

There was some serious grinning on the way to work that day.

4840751960 bc195284c3 mOn July 29th 2010 the first ever Google Teacher Academy outside of the US took place in London, it was the culmination of over 2 years of perseverance and “mild harassment” as Cristin Frodella, Senior Product Marketing Manager for Apps for Education, put it.

Ever since 2007/2008 when I began seeing US teachers sharing their ideas and experiences at teacher academies I began my mini campaign to bring it here. After all there was a huge community of teachers in UK and Europe who were busy innovating with Google tools in the classroom. I felt that it was only right that we had the same opportunity to celebrate and champion our successes.

Sadly taking the GTA outside of the US wasn’t possible back then and as I have realised more recently Cristin has had to show her own perseverance to continue to run the event for teachers in the US. Nevertheless I continued to send the emails.

Samantha Peter who works in London for the Ed Apps Marketing Team was the main target and she has been fantastic in helping me to continue to push for the event here. She helped to setup a meeting with Cristin at BETT 2010 and they were able to put a face to all of the emails. To cut a long story short Cristin later emailed me on April 15th with the good news.

On a personal level it was amazing to help bring the Teacher Academy to the UK and to be part of the planning team that did it. But I was a participant too – the GTA was new to me, and the event was special in its own right. Different than anything I have worked on or attended before.

4839718163 4d8a57b87f mWe all feel we want to make a contribution to the communities we work in and I consider this to be one of my most important.

The cohort was truly international and was also made up of a large UK contingent who never stopped innovating or making learning exciting for kids in their classes just because the Teacher Academy wasn’t coming to our shores. Some of them will no doubt be part of the next event.

The style was one of positive urgency – that we were going to use every valuable moment to learn something new. Not a second was wasted. This was clearly a very different professional development event, of which UK teachers had never likely seen before.

I am sure it will be the first of many more to come. If not then “Compose Mail” is only a click away.

Google Teacher Academy :: London, UK :: 29th July 2010

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London to NYC: Swim the Atlantic…

I am so excited to finally be writing about this! Just as the English school Summer holidays are beginning, teachers and educators in Europe will have the opportunity to share their great ideas and exceptional implementation of Google Tools in the classroom.

For almost 3 years I have been running my own mini campaign to bring the Google Teacher Academy (GTA) to these shores. I recall sending numerous tweets, emails and messages to organisers, certified teachers and attendees at US teacher academies, urging them to ask about a UK event. They asked on my behalf and I thank them for raising the flag for me so many times, and putting up with my pestering.

I took every opportunity to press the need for something in the UK as I was experiencing and reading about so much good practice that centred on the use of Google tools. And I have done for the last 3-4 years.

Unfortunately my wishes seemed to be falling on ears that were unable to help:

“We have many requests for Google Teacher Academies to be held in other countries, however we are unable…”

However my determination was reinforced with the GTA UK Google Group and the support shown for it. I was fortunate enough to meet with Google at BETT this year and took the idea of a GTA UK on another step, which has eventually led to this announcement.

Back in November 2008 I wrote about some of my frustrations, and why a GTA in the UK was (is) a good idea,

50 certified trainers in the UK and Europe taking innovative ideas with them back to their schools, districts and counties would help other teachers to begin to better understand Google tools and the potential they have. Admittedly Google tools are not the only thing available, but in my opinion used in the right way they hold a strong place in any classroom toolkit.

I cannot wait to see you all on July 29th at the Google offices in London to share your stories, innovations and ideas. Let’s make it a great one. Good luck with your applications.

Pic: London to NYC: Swim the Atlantic…

Is a Google Teacher Academy Really Such a Good Idea?

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Over a year ago I began writing about how disappointing it is that in the UK and Europe there isn’t a version of the US Google Teacher Academy (GTA).

Since then we have started a UK group, with over 120 members and much discussion has taken place. It is that discussion and debate that I want to focus here in this blog post.

Some consider Google to be a heavy handed corporation, riding rough shod over it’s competitors and assimilating those it can’t compete with.  José Picardo wrote about the way the Etherpad situation was handled and points out that:

Google makes its living by offering free services with the only aim of attracting huge amounts of users to whom Google can then show their customers’ adverts and sell their premium services.

My dad used to tell me stories of free cigarettes being given away by tobacco companies outside the school gates to pupils on the way home. Google’s strategy surrounding free web apps for education is very similar: hook’em while they’re young.

He goes on to qualify such a comparison by saying that,

the desired outcome is the same: to get young people conditioned to using a product from an early age.

Marketing Google Apps for Education is a long term strategy to bring in younger users of Google tools, to create habits in work and life so that eventually more ads can be clicked, maybe years later. That’s surely the bottom line.

So is it right that we are using Google tools at all in the classroom? I rarely get into this sort of territory but we have been using Google tools in a myriad of ways in the classroom and I think it is worth debating.

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Google logo render – Mark Knol by mark knol
Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike License

Many people have questioned whether a GTA is a good thing as we may just be perpetuating the “Googlisation of Education“, as Josie Fraser puts it. Is it right to hold a professional development event purely based on one company’s products, especially one that reaps a huge proportion of it’s revenue through adverts?

On the other hand Google has produced some of the most powerful learning tools currently available in the classroom. A GTA in the UK would be a great opportunity for teachers to learn from each other and find out about best practices.

The event should be clearly focused on learning and the ways that Google tools can enhance that. But it would also be a good opportunity to further debate the title of this blog post and the privacy issues surrounding Google in education and the ways young learners use their products.

I would focus on the ideas and the learning at such an event and not get too bogged down with whether or not it is right or wrong.  Are you going to stop using Google products in the classroom altogether based on your moral objections? I would prefer to see Google tools and services just one part of a broad and balanced approach to web products in the classroom. Perhaps the event should be similarly balanced – but then it wouldn’t be a GTA it would be just another conference and could be about thousands of web related products.

What do you think? Is a Google Teacher Academy a morally flawed concept or a long overdue professional development event for UK teachers?

Show Your Support for a Google Teacher Academy UK

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After a brief Flashmeeting the other night with some other UK teachers, I have been excited to see the level of support that has been shown for a Google Teacher Academy in the UK. 

Currently you can add your name to a growing list (73 already signed up) in this Google Group. We don’t know whether we can convince Google to back a UK version of the GTA, but I think that we will be in a better position to go to them with that question if we can show support for the idea.

Last November I wrote about the idea and it is good to revisit it, as I have experienced the ways Google tools can impact on learning in the classroom. Let’s hope that if we continue to show support for the idea that a better platform for sharing and celebrating our experiences can develop, whether that’s a Google Teacher Academy or otherwise.