UNIT 1: Get Ready to Use Technology in the Classroom

This first unit is comprised of four modules, offering to explain:

• How technology can benefit teaching and learning
• Why and how technology can support the work you currently do
• How you can use technology to prepare for the future
• What tools are available in the Google Apps for Education suite
• How to pick the right tool for your objective
• How you can help your students behave responsibly online.

Some questions to consider in your own practice:

• How has technology affected your life?
• Identify one way technology has saved you time and made you more efficient.
• What are other teachers doing with technology in the classroom that you’d like to try?

Some thoughts:
Benefits of a digital classroom - technology was designed to provide solutions faster than we can think of them or provide them on our own. It was still designed to operate within parameters that resemble our own mode of function, so the biggest benefit is that students and teachers have an endless ability to engage in each other, in authentic learning. The only limit is what you can imagine.

How has technology affected student learning? Students can reach out to authors directly, via email or even Skype and find out more about the writing process. They can challenge themselves to research in the moment instead of "waiting to do it at home."

Words of wisdom for getting started - you don't have to know more than your students, you only need to know enough to keep them engaged, and let them help design. It encourages problem based learning, and could even be part of games based learning, depending on the technology employed.

What is in the Google Apps for Education suite?

Google Classroom: Similar to Schoology (though unavailable when GoogleDrive and other aspects decide to freeze), students can turn in assignments, and get feedback in one place.

GoogleDrive: This cloud-based magic folder amazes me with the ease of creating, saving and sharing. I no longer need to worry about the size of my thumb drive, or if I even brought it with me.

GoogleDocs: I once wrote all of my papers accidentally over each other, renaming the file instead of copying the file. Because this magical program saves ALL keystrokes, every revision is stored. I was able to go back to each version of the document, and make a copy of the pre-existing papers. Also, when students are collaborating in a shared Doc, all keystrokes are saved, meaning as a teacher, you can see who has contributed, and who has been writing nasty things and deleting them, thinking none would be the wiser. Only downside is that there are less formatting options to make a document extra snazzy for a final presentation, but I'm sure there's an app for that...

GoogleSheets: Like Docs, it also lacks the fine-tuning that paid-for programs come fully loaded with, but the true awesomeness of this app is the way it ties in with Forms...

GoogleForms: These two go together for me. I can create a Form as an Entrance or Exit slip, with questions already set-up, have my students respond, and not have a ton of paper lying around. I can give a quiz, or a survey, and all the answers go into a spreadsheet. I can add to the spreadsheet, keep a sheet for each class/section, keep track of grades...without carrying around papers, tests and quizzes, gradebooks. Magic!

GoogleSlides: Also lackluster, but wicked easy to use. It allows the basics to take shape, can easily be collaborated on, and can be uploaded to some of the fancier programs such as eMaze.

GoogleDrawings: The only main app I have yet to try to use to it's true potential. So far, I've used it to paste images in, and then import the GoogleDrawing into a GoogleDoc. It's a little unwieldy and not very intuitive - for me. I've used MANY drawing apps/programs before so I may just be dealing with antiquated schema and I look forward to diving into it more.

Gmail: Love it! Clean, lots of space, easy to use. I only dislike the weird creeper way it reads my email to suggest links on the side.

GoogleCalendar: Haven't used it - ever. I'll get back to you on it.

GoogleHangouts: Used it once in another grad class, though I find collaborating through the comments within a GoogleDoc to be simple enough. Or even a TwitterChat. Again, I'll have to find out more about this one.

GoogleSites: Free, and easy enough to use, especially for a classroom to play with. There are other options such as Weebly and Wix, but it's not bad and keeps "it all in the family."

Additional associated programs include:

Chrome: Meh. Not my favorite. Seems to be a resource hog, though not as glitchy a history as InternetExploder. Firefox is my go to, but in a Chromebook school, I do like the integration of all passwords into one experience.

Google+: A fine social media platform, but it's hard to promote it past the FB behemoth.

YouTube: About as prevalent as Google itself; it's become synonymous with watching a video.

GoogleMaps/Earth: My go-to mapping and navigation sites. I love how current these are kept!

Blogger: Take a look at the hosting site for this blog...'nough said. It's wicked easy to use, and has enough options to make each blog feel unique. <3

GoogleGroups: Similarly to Hangouts, not really enough experience to talk on this one yet.

Respect and Protect - the foundations of DigCit, and the three Pillars of good DigCit:

• Copyright and fair use
• Online safety
• Communication

Schoolwide Policies can benefit from looking at

• Common Sense Media’s Acceptable Use Policies
• Digital Citizenship Agreements by Andrew Churches at Edorigami
• South West Grid for Learning’s policy templates. 

DigCit Curriculum:

• Common Sense Media’s K-12 Scope and Sequence provides lesson plans, activities, and assessments.
• InCtrl ties their curriculum to standards-based lessons.
• The South West Grid for Learning Digital Literacy and Citizenship is a comprehensive curriculum that gives guidance on how to integrate these topics into existing areas of the school.

Fostering a positive discourse in our classrooms:

• iKeepSafe.org has created a playlist of quick tips videos designed to help teachers prepare for these discussions.
• CyberSmart is a resource site set up by the Australian government to help students, teachers, and families be prepared to talk about topics.
• Common Sense Media’s family outreach program includes resources for holding a teen panel with guiding questions and strategies.
• Digizen.org also has resources to raise awareness and undestanding of digital citizenship for teachers, parents, and students.

For an extensive list of resources, visit the Cybrary Man’s Digital Citizenship Resources.


Think Beyond the Textbook:
Enhance your curriculum with technology - don't throw out the textbooks you have, but augment with modules from the publisher, Skype with the author, blog with other schools!

A very detailed start to what promises to be an exhaustive run through the GoogleApps for Education suite.  I'm excited for what's in store, and all the tips and tricks I will learn along the way!  Stay tuned for UNIT 2: Expand Your Access to Help and Learning...