Tag: GTAUK

Google Teacher Academy UK 2012: My Reflections and the Future

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Earlier this week the Google Teacher Academy ran for a second UK outing at the new London offices on St Giles High Street. It was a privilege once again to have the opportunity to help plan, organise and be part of the 2 days.

50 educators from around the world came together for some rapid professional learning and discussion and the chance to work alongside Google employees to help make change happen in their communities. These are a handful of my reflections about the 2 days and what the future may hold for the event.

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Google Engineers

One of the most unique features of the teacher academy is the access to and contribution by Google product managers and employees to the learning. During our 2 day event we had the chance to spend some time in the company of YouTube, Google Docs and Google+ product managers who joined us for hangouts. The Google Docs team were there in force and shared with us some incredible new features to this ever changing tool. Jeff Harris the product lead for Google Docs document, presentation, and drawing editors did some great demos and talked about the future developments of the tool. It is always exciting to have access to this type of group and have them share their expertise with us.

Google+ Potential

One thing that the GTA did for me was to put the potential of G+ back on the table, not because of any great demo or future road-map session, it was more to do with a group using it loads. There was lots of sharing to just the GTAUK group and so the circles came into their own, I think I will probably spend a bit more time figuring out how best to use it alongside Twitter.

Whoop!

I do enjoy a dose of “whooping” (I suspect you are pleased I didn’t add “cough” to that phrase) to raise the enthusiasm in the room. Don’t get me wrong I am not so keen on the use of the ‘whoop” in cinemas where it doesn’t have much place, but at the GTA the enthusiasm for the learning opportunities we can offer our classes was great. And when you unpick it, that is all it is, an enthusiastic public gesture of our delight for a potential future learning opportunity for our students. Jo Badge describes it as the GTA “philosophy” and in many ways it is important as it kept the energy up – you wonder what the event would be like without the wearing of our emotions on our sleeves. Huzzah!

Reflections from GTAUK participants

Reflections on google teacher academy UK 2012 #gtauk « DrBadgr by Jo Badge.

Learnbuzz reflections on the GTA from Steph Ladbrooke.

Google Teacher Academy: Reflection | Anseo.net from Simon Lewis.

Carry on Learning: GTAUK posts from Sheli Blackburn

The Future of the GTA in the UK

It has been about 5 or 6 years since I began to email Cristin Frodella from Google about bringing the GTA to the UK and it has been great to now see the second event conclude. However this leaves me somewhat pensive about the event over here, the model of organisation and how much more could be done. The bottom line is that I want more of this type of opportunity for UK teachers, not just a few places over the course of 2 years but more like 3 big, full blown academy events every year.

It doesn’t seem that much to ask for UK teachers, who are, in my opinion, one of the most innovative and inspiring communities of teachers in the world. This is what I am pushing for and will do what I can to help make it happen.

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 Maps Session at #GTAUK

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During the Google Teacher Academy UK I ran a 30 minute session on Google Maps. It was a bit of a whirlwind of a training session but hopefully allowed the participants the chance to briefly play with Maps and also to think about how we could use Maps in a different way.
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Here are some of the highlights:

Overview

10 minutes

  • San Francisco map from 1915 – mapping has come a long way. 95 years of progress.
  • Classroom ideas – Google Streetview, seeing Tom teaching PE, exploring Whitby Harbour and Abbey during work on Dracula with Year 6.
  • Classroom ideas – James and the Giant Peach, using the map to tell a story.

10 minutes

  • Activity time – add a placemark and continue the story in the Story Map

10 minutes

  • Practical thoughts about classroom use
  • Mashup Magic – some examples of the API use

Presentation

Google Maps GTAUK Page

One of the strongest elements of the Google Teacher Academy is the huge resource that has been accumulated on the GTAUK wiki. Each presenter has had a page that they have populated with a vast amount of links and all sorts of resources for people to explore further. Here are a few of mine and be sure to explore the rest on my Google Maps page.

Mashup Magic:

Google Maps in Other Languages:

Google Maps beyond Earth:

Activity: Story Maps

On the wiki I have outlined two different activities for the participants to look at but with little time to explain them we used the Story Map idea. I gave a simple story starter in a placemark on Westminster Bridge in London:

It was exactly where they said it would be. The Thames swirled below me from a passing barge as I lifted it too my chest.

The bridge seemed quieter than usual, and yet I could feel eyes watching. Which way now? I needed to get moving. I had already spent too long.

I turned and pressed on.

The participants would then choose from a number of story paths I had drawn on the map using the line tool, adding placemarks and continuing the story. It was a simple idea that showed the collaborative potential of maps that is often overlooked. You can see our efforts below.


View GTAUK – Story Map in a larger map

Mashups

One of the last things that I showed was the amazing Kinomap that allows users the ability to map a video route such as a bike ride or a run. I showed a cyclist doing a tour of the Googleplex – well worth a look. (It also has a mobile app you can download)

An amusing diversion

If I could do it again?

There are a couple of features of Google Maps I wanted to emphasise and demonstrate more clearly, time was a little tight and I probably didn’t do them justice.

Distance Measurement Tool – can be added from the Labs link at the top and appears in your maps “Created by Others”. It is really useful as a comparison of units of measurement. It even has Smoots, which the GTAUK planning team spent a bit of time talking about the day before the event.

URL Shortener – the links provided for Maps is always really long. Again from Labs there is the URL Shortener. But the trade off is that you lose the option to grab the embed code.

Place Pages – recently added to the mobile version of Maps, it is really handy to have a single page of information about landmarks and search results. From a search result placemark look for the More Info link – it is a single web page summary about that place pulling in photos and information from other sources. Useful for classes when they are doing any type of research.

Collaborate – each map gives you options to collaborate with others. From the top of your map find the Collaborate button on the left, opposite the Edit button.

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I hope that those of you who were with me in the sessions enjoyed them and took away something you could use in the classroom – and for those who weren’t, that there is something in this blog post or in the wiki to instigate some ideas. Please let me know.

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?