I'm now a Google Certified Educator!

Over the first week of the Easter break, I was determined to try and get my Level 1 and Level 2 Google Certified Educator certificates.

I used the official training materials put together by Google themselves (Level 1 here and Level 2 here).

Level 1 is primarily focused on how to use the various tools, as well as some more advanced features of them I spent the morning going through the course and sat the exam in the afternoon. I can't say too much about it because of the NDA, but I found it OK. It does help that I use the tools on a daily basis and put together training materials for staff myself. I passed and got the certificate two days later!

Click the image to verify

The next day I made a start on the level 2 course. This one took a bit more time to go through as it is heavily focused towards teachers, with lots of information on pedagogies and lesson setup. Although I know a lot about this from working closely with teachers (and friends who have gone through teacher training), I wanted to take my time to make sure there was nothing I overlooked.

That said, the level 2 was very interesting. As well as learning a lot of specifics as to how Google tools could be incorporated into various teaching styles (such as blended learning and the flipped classroom), it covered a lot of advanced usage of the tools, such as making your own tours in Google Maps and using Google Forms to check learning as students watch a set YouTube video.

I sat the exam for this one in the afternoon of the second day and am glad to say that I passed and received the certificate yesterday!

Click the image to verify

The plan now is to look at becoming a Google Certified Trainer. This will help me put together training courses and schemes. Alongside that, my next objective is to start helping teachers get their Level 1 certification. I'm planning to initially start with a core of Google Champions - ideally one person from each department and then go from there!