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Weekly Tech Tips 21 February 2021

 Dear Friends,


I hope you were able to catch some of the Learning with Google event on 18 Feb. If not, don’t worry. I got you covered with the link to the archived video and a recap.


Learning with Google 2021 (1 hr 40 min)

Much of it resembles a long, but well-produced infomercial. There are several stories from around the world about how schools had to quickly go online, and how Google was there to help. The information about updates comes in at:

Google Classroom 40:51 - 57:10

Recap: 

  • New Addons (IXL, Kahoots, Nearpod, and more)

  • New Doc Scanner for photo submissions

  • Offline docs for lost or intermittent Internet connection

  • Engagement Reports

  • Improved Originality Reports

  • Save progress on Forms (Quizzes) (coming soon)

  • Auto citation (coming soon)

  • Limit doc sharing

  • Document Approvals

You can learn more about the updates and how to use them here:

 g.co/teachercenter 

Google Meet 59:40 - 1:05:13

Recap: 

In order to make Meets (Google’s video conferencing app) better and safer to use for schools, Google has added several new features. Slow off the blocks, Google has been playing catch up with Zoom. Now, with breakout rooms,  polling, emojis, background blur, and other classroom friendly features, Meet will be adding strengthened teacher and admin controls to end meetings, mute participants and automatically allow only students on the roster to join the Meet. Improved connectability even for low bandwidth devices or situations.

Products like

Class

https://www.class.com/

or Zoom's own effort to make it's platform more educationally friendly:

https://zoom.us/docs/doc/Zoom%20for%20K-12%20Education.pdf

will have to compete with Google’s built-in video conferencing app.

Chromebooks 1:07:30 - 1:16:31

Recap:

  • Built in screen recording

  • LTE Modem

  • Live Captions

  • Instant Translation

Chromebooks now outsell Macs and that trend will only continue at an increased rate.

https://www.geekwire.com/2021/chromebooks-outsold-macs-worldwide-2020-cutting-windows-market-share/

The Future of Education: Raising the Bar 1:25:04 - 1:36:46

If you only watch one section of the video I recommend this one. If you are curious about the future of education I can think of no better prognosticator than the world’s leading artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) researcher that also happens to serve 100 million students around the globe through Google Classroom. In a nutshell, the future of education is AI and ML.

AI and ML will be used to help design, create and evaluate lessons and to provide better, quicker, and more insightful student diagnostics.


The video ends with a quote that really spoke to me:


“The secret to change is to focus all your energy, not on fighting the old, but on building the new.”


 

Google for Education Teacher Certification Training starts this week. 

I have waited long enough and it’s time to just get going. If you filled out the survey last year I will be contacting you directly this week. In the meantime, the link below has all the official information. I will run the training sessions with a Google Classroom and we can discuss meeting in person once we are organized. Thank you for your patience.


Two levels of certification allow you to demonstrate your mastery of Google for Education tools.


Becoming a Google Certified Educator validates the expertise you’ve gained using Google tools in your classroom. The Level 1 certification exam tests your fundamental skills, while the Level 2 exam allows super users and technology enthusiasts to show their advanced knowledge. Take an online training course to start earning your badge today.

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