Category: Group EdTech Inquiry

Not going to lie, our inquiry journey has been a bit of a start and stop adventure. Our initial plan of getting our Google Level 1 Certification – while something my group and I still all intend to pursue – was not a feasible option for this semester. After discovering how much time is required to complete the course, our advice to others is simply to be prepared to dedicate some actual time to Google. We calculated that a person could get their certification in just 7 weeks if they were to invest an hour and 45 minutes a week to the course!

Emma Cottier, one of our aforementioned seminar leaders, has achieved far beyond her Level 1 Google Innovator Certification. During her lectures the first semester, she frequently demonstrated different ways in which she uses Google as an educational resource and advocated the advantages such technology has brought to her students. With Emma’s presentations and our own independent exploration into Google Certifications, we found the following benefits…

BENEFIT #1) Fancy title to include when applying for a job

BENEFIT #2) More resources for organizing presentations/documents/worksheets

BENEFIT #3) Implement innovative technology in future classes (fun projects)

BENEFIT #4) Aware of a variety of tools that may help students better showcase their learning

Photo by Niclas Illg on Unsplash

Despite our desire to obtain our Google Certification, we obviously failed in our attempts to complete the course over the span of the semester; so instead, we explored the following Google platforms…

SCIENCE JOURNAL → Free app that allows students to document their science experiments through measurement, picture taking, and note-taking.

CODING WITH GOOGLE → When paired with Google’s free course curriculum on teaching computer science, teachers can help their students learn to code and create various instructions for actions they want to elicit from their computers.

GOOGLE JAM BOARD → Program that allows you to visually display your ideas using an interactive canvas where you can paste images, add notes, and incorporate assets from all around the web.

Photo by lalo Hernandez on Unsplash

Our Takeaways: Google offers MANY free resources that can be especially useful for educators; however, it is important that teachers use these resources in ways they see fit for their classes… Not every resource will be a perfect match for every student, but every program does have unique ways that it can be adapted!

– Lauren B, Sarah, Heather

Hello everyone! We are coming at you with one of our final EdTech Inquiry blog posts. Today’s topic is how to “unleash your creativity” with Google Jamboard. First, we will be describing and outlining the technology and then we will move on to discuss it’s pros and cons before showing a video of the technology in use. 

Google Jamboard is described as a way to “visualize your ideas in a new and collaborative way.” It is a way to “sketch your ideas whiteboard-style while benefiting from the access and connectivity of an interactive canvas.” This platform allows for images to be dropped, notes to be added, and it grants access to assets from all around the web. It is a portable 55-inch, 4k display screen that can move around an office or school with a “purpose-built portable stand and single-cable setup.” It comes with a passive stylus and eraser that do not require pairing so it cannot run out of batteries. 

Co-authoring can occur both in the same room or across the world using a physical Jamboard or even the Jamboard app. 

Pros:

• Jamboard supports up to 16 touchpoints at once on a single device – lots of kids can use it at once
• Unlike a SMARTboard, it is mobile and can move from class to class if a school can only afford one Jamboard
• Work from google docs/sheets/slides/photos can be inputted into a jam

Cons:

• Jamboard is quite costly: Jamboard starts at CAD $6,949 (includes 1 Jamboard display, 2 styluses, 1 eraser, and 1 wall mount) plus a CAD $820 annual management and support fee. However, G Suite for Education customers are eligible to purchase a Jamboard with a one-time management and support fee payment of CAD $820. There is no recurring annual fee. Email jamboard-sales@google.com or contact your reseller.
• It might be unnecessary – you could just use a whiteboard and google docs to collaborate in class

Let us know what you think about Google Jamboard and if you think it is an effective tool for collaborative, inquiry-based education. Is it a tool just for offices/business or do you think it could transfer over to education as well?

– Sarah, Lauren B, Heather

Welcome back to another exciting entry on the abilities of Google! In today’s classrooms, we are seeing the importance of technology and the amazing things that students are able to do with it. A current trend we are seeing in North American schools is the use of coding. Coding allows students to use computers and produce instructions to create endless possibilities. How does this relate to Google? Well, let us tell you!

CS First is “a free computer science curriculum that makes coding easy to teach and fun to learn”. This program supported by Google offers a variety of coding courses and programs that teach a variety of introductory coding experiences. CS First provides both free and paid coding courses that can be accessed through your school or free through your Google account. Since we are not a school, we decided to explore what was available in the free version. There are 2-options for students to choose from. The first is a variety of 1-hour stand-alone coding activities that usually revolve around a story or character development. The other option is a course option that offers 8 coding activities in one specific area of interest.  What we like about the coding options is that there are 3 different levels (Beginner, Intermediate, and Advanced) for students to choose from. This allows students to gauge their coding abilities and pick an activity that works best for them.

We attempted to complete the first activity, however, I was unable to figure out how to complete the project. Unfortunately, none of us have experience with coding and would have to dedicate more time and effort to learn how to code. I think in the future, it would be fun to incorporate coding in the classroom but we all need a bit more experience before feeling comfortable enough to teach it.

– Heather, Sarah, Lauren B.

After discussing our timeline with each other, we have decided to change the direction of our inquiry. While we feel the google certification program is a valuable asset, the amount of work necessary to complete it is unrealistic at this point in time. Last week, we looked into the first unit of the course which would have taken us a minimum of 85 minutes. The entire course suggests that it would take about 775 minutes. If you see the following images below, you will see the extensiveness of the course. To complete this course and spend time to blog about it, we do not have enough time on top of our current academic course load. 

We will now be using this inquiry as a way to learn more about the apps in the GSuite. We think this will benefit our future teaching careers while also being a realistic goal for our current student schedules. Once we become really well acquainted with the google apps, we will be able to teach our students how to use them easily and also be able to seamlessly incorporate them into our future classrooms.

The first app we will be looking at is “Science Journal.” This is a Google app that “transforms your device into a pocket-size science tool that encourages students to explore their world. As they conduct eye-opening experiments, they’ll record observations and make new, exciting discoveries.” This app can be used in younger classrooms that have tablets/iPads or in older middle school classrooms where students have their own phones.

The app allows students to document their science experiments through measurement, picture taking, and note-taking. The app is free and provides “70 hands-on science activities from education experts.” 

– Sarah, Heather, Lauren

This first unit is called “Getting Ready to Use Technology in the Classroom” and discusses how educators must have clear learning goals for their students before implementing technology into their classrooms. By deciphering what they want to get out of their lessons, teachers can more appropriately select online tools to enhance their classes.

In this unit, we learned about G-Suite and the various tools available within it – Google Docs, Sheets, Slides, Hangouts, Blogger, Drive, Maps, YouTube, Calendar, Gmail, etcetera. It explains further how there are three pillars of digital responsibility to consider while using these sorts of technology including copyright and fair use, online safety, and communication. If these guidelines are followed online instruments have the potential to “support the work you currently do”, “prepare for the future”, and “help your students behave responsibly online” (https://teachercenter.withgoogle.com/fundamentals/unit?unit=1).

This was an informative introduction to Google and all of its extended tools, but it definitely took some time to thoroughly work through the entire unit. A helpful addition to the process is a review quiz at the end that helps to ensure you understood all of the information. Despite this and the straightforward instructions throughout the units, this is going to be a larger commitment for us to complete.

– Lauren, Sarah, Heather

Hey Everyone! Welcome back to another exciting blog post!

Photo by Benjamin Dada on Unsplash

Before taking the exam to become Google Certified Educator Level 1’s, we have to go through a number of readings, videos and activities that will help us learn how to integrate Google into our future classrooms. 

There are 13 units to complete that cover engaging in professional growth and leadership, increasing efficiency and saving time, facilitating and inspiring student learning and creativity

These units are set up to record your progress as you go, and so that you can start and stop lessons at any time. This is a really great feature since it allows you to progress through the units without having to dedicate large amounts of time to complete lessons. Any spare time can easily be used to work through this fundamental training.

Another convenient feature is that you can see how many lessons each unit consists of, as well as the approximate amount of time required to complete each unit.

Throughout this next week, we will begin working through unit 1, Get Ready to Use Technology in the Classroom.  It is supposed to take about 85 minutes and has 5 lessons within it.

Thanks! Lauren, Sarah, and Heather