Yes, of course there are more than five things I took away from the Google Teacher Academy!
This little list is just a pupu* to start.
1. Let's jump right to the Grand Prize (yes, I sometimes do eat dessert first!). The email invitation at the end of the training to become a member of the very active Google Certified Teachers Group assures me that the awesome learning I experienced at the Google Teacher Academy will continue. I've already consulted the archives a couple of times to answer Google-related questions, and the word is that group members are quick to respond to questions. I've elected to subscribe to the daily digest, and I definitely will be tapping into this mother lode of knowledge often.
2. I discovered that the Chrome Web Store is jammed packed with useful apps and extensions to automate tasks.
A couple of free extensions mentioned by Sean Beavers and Eric Curts grabbed my attention:
Awesome Screenshot, to "capture the whole page or any portion, annotate it with rectangles, circles, arrows, lines and text, one-click upload to share."
Anesidora, still in beta, is an unofficial Pandora player that you can play right in your Chrome browser.
I'll be shopping for free web apps and extensions at the Chrome Web Store often.
3. I found out that Google Docs Integration with Edmodo (often called Facebook for Education) has been available since March. This opens up exciting collaboration and networking possibilities that I'd like to explore, for our Google Apps for Education (GAFE) school. (One of our teachers had expressed interest in trying Edmodo, before the Academy.)
Fellow GCT, New York librarian Brendan Breen, has had experience with Edmodo, and he offered to help me set up an experimental Edmodo group, using Google+ Hangouts. Thank you, Brendan!
 |
| 4 of the 5 school librarians at GTA |
4. The Data Liberation Front site is a central location for information on how to move your data in and out of Google products.
How cool is it that I found out about this site at the Academy? Love the transparency.
5. I was blown away by the in-person presentation by Kern Kelly's students of Nokomis Regional High in Central Maine. Their Tech Sherpa group has just started a live online technical support program that's available for the world every Tuesday at 3:00 EST. So inspiring!
Yes, there's more ... stay tuned!
(◕‿◕✿) @mauilibrarian2
*appetizer, in Hawaiian
