Google Apps In Ed & Training Staff

We are launching Google Apps in Ed this Sept. If any one has any training materials or presentations they used with their staff and are willing to share it would be greatly appreciated. What were some of the challenges? How often did you do training initially. Any info would be welcome.

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Permalink Reply by Maegan Heindel on May 14, 2012 at 10:57am

Beverly and others,

I currently work at an academic library that serves the School of Education. We have developed a series of training materials this spring that we used in multiple public schools and had good feedback. Most of them are meant for 30-45 minute trainings. You are free to use them as long as you give attribution to MERIT Library. Hope these are helpful!

Maegan

Attachments:

Google Maps in the Classroom.docx, 2.5 MB

Permalink Reply by Maegan Heindel on May 14, 2012 at 10:59am

Here's a Google Forms training. I had to upload them separately because of the file size limit.

Attachments:

googleforms.doc, 2.5 MB

Permalink Reply by Whitney Allen on May 16, 2012 at 12:34pm

Maegan,

This is wonderful!! Thank you!! I'm interested in starting a Google community of learners. Any and all assistance, suggestions, tips, would be much appreciated!!

Permalink Reply by Maegan Heindel on May 14, 2012 at 11:05am

Here's one on YouTube for Educators.

Attachments:

YouTube Sennett.docx, 2.9 MB

Permalink Reply by Maegan Heindel on May 14, 2012 at 11:06am

One more--an Advanced Gmail training. I will stop back and post the Google Docs training, but currently the file is too big to upload.

Attachments:

Advanced Gmail.pdf, 1.1 MB

Permalink Reply by Beverly Meyer on May 14, 2012 at 11:36am

Thank you!!!!!

Permalink Reply by J Hartzog on May 25, 2012 at 7:39am

Beverly,

We rolled out Google Apps the summer of 2010. I did quite a bit of training for our district users in the 2010-2011 school year. I was very concerned that I would be inundated with questions and complaints of disgruntled educators but what I found was something totally opposite. Of all the training I have done over the years, I must say that launching Google Apps has been 'THE' most exciting and fun.

Here are some of the things I offered to our administration and staff.

1- In 2010, we sent home a letter to all parents in the high school and middle school announcing the use of Google Apps. (We have since rolled out Google Apps to our elementary schools.)

2 - With the help of another school district I wrote a basic Google Apps manual. I only did this once as Google Apps continues to change so keeping up with such a project would be a full time project for me. I can share my manual but it has not been updated since 2010. Thus, much of the information covered is outdated.

3- I set up voluntary summer training sessions. Sessions were 1-2 hours in length (see sample document - A Day with Google) and covered all the items we were using at that time. (I did this during the summer of 2010 and 2011.)

4- I made individual appointments with teachers and their classes. Generally I spent 2 days in each classroom preparing the students and the teacher with how Google Apps worked. (One day I discussed appropriate use; the second day we practiced with some of the components of Google Apps.) In most cases, after meeting with the teacher, I asked each teacher to give me an idea of how they would use Google Apps in their classroom. I asked them to start small...then move to bigger projects. Some had no idea so I suggested a small project to get them started. I was amazed at the different ways our teachers wanted to use Google Apps. It was very refreshing to see our staff excited about this 'new' tool!

5 - Since we rolled out Google Apps over the summer, I set up Friday sessions (similar to my A Day with Google document) with our administrators and their assistants. The sessions were offered on a volunteer basis and were ability grouped to meet the user's needs. These sessions were so informative and fun! Just as with the teaching staff, it was so exciting to assist individuals with their Google Apps questions and projects.

6- I offered on-demand training as needed. Sort of a "Did you know you could do this..." session as personal questions arose.

7- I let my users know that I was not the expert. There were times when I would say..."I will get back to you". Often, the user would find out the answer to his/her question(s) and share. Isn't that what collaboration should be?

8- YouTube has some great Google Apps videos. When I was strapped for time I would direct individuals to a video if one existed.

Challenges: I work on the training end so I cannot speak for the technical end of Google Apps. I do know we had a few issues but our technology staff just kept finding solutions.

One last bit of information regarding training - Prior to rolling out Google Apps to the district, the Technology Department 'played' with Google Apps for approximately 3 months. I ran Friday afternoon meetings (about once a month) with the entire technology staff so that we could attempt to find any issues and discuss any issues before the technology staff encountered questions upon roll-out. I needed to know that my technology staff had a comfort level with Google Apps before sending them out to assist district employees. This was a great way to end the week - educational and fun too!

Jayne

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