EdTechTeam Cape Town Summit: iPad Masterclass

What a whirlwind of a day! I am just back from a brilliant masterclass lead by Lindsay Wesner, focusing on an excellent model of student-centered learning. My brain feels exhausted from all of the learning that I did today but I wanted to write up a quick post so that I can collect all of the great ideas I had, heard and shared.

Excited at check-in!

I Wonder Why?

The first area of focus was creating an inquiry hook, a really great question to engage students and get them to wonder why. I've heard of similar frameworks with regards to Genius Hour but I appreciated the added structure that Lindsay added. It is very difficult to come up with a good question! As I work in Junior Primary, I came up with: What makes our world so special? I planned to narrow down the scope of the answers using additional questions in order to structure the inquiry for my younger students, as my aim was to help them learn about the world, continents in particular.

Scaffolded Research

Once we had our question, we had to create a method of scaffolding research for our students. Very often if you send them out to Google unsupervised then they fall into a rabbithole of online content. Similarly to how I use Symbaloo for managing young students on the internet, you can build an interactive slideshow using something like Keynote, Google Slides or MS Powerpoint. Your slideshow can be shared with the student and can be turned into a great place for the student to research while still following your method. Here is the quick sample that I mocked up today in Google Slides. I themed our research step as a top secret spy mission, because why not?


This is an excellent way of using the concept similar to a HyperDoc to enable students to do research in a safe, focused framework.

Demonstrating Our Learning

Later in the day we were asked to be both the teacher and the student. As a teacher, we had to create instructions for our students to do a task that demonstrates the learning they have done in the research phase. As students, we had to actually complete the task. I found this stage the most challenging as I don't often have to complete the the work that I assign! It really helped me reflect and re-evaluate on my teaching practice with regards to the tasks that I set and my expectations. Working as the students can let you find loopholes and snags that you don't antipicate in your assignments. I struggled to choose an app to show my learning, but once I overcame that I had a lot of fun attempting my first ever Tellagami:

There was so much packed into today, I have only chosen a few topics to write about. I really appreciated hearing from real experiences and opinions from authentic teachers. Thanks to Lindsay for steering us and Leigh Morris for faciliating like a boss, as well as Alan and Paul from Digicape. My fellow educators were absolutely fantastic and I look forward to connecting with more people at the next two days of the EdTechTeam Summit!

Google Certified Educator Level 1

As of today, I'm officially a Google Certified Educator Level 1!

Thanks to my PLN

I discovered the Google certification through my fantastic global PLN (Professional Learning Network) colleagues on Twitter. Earlier this term I began a conscious effort, inspired by the podcaster Chris Nessi and his show House of Ed Tech to improve my professional development. I've had a Twitter account for years but only in the last few months I've started to use hashtags and follow edu-chats. Prior to this I considered Twitter a 'soapbox' platform, but some time and attention has proved that there is some great learning spaces there. I love seeing what teachers are doing and thinking all over the world, and Twitter has been the vehicle to help me digitally meet other educators who are passionate about the same things as I am.

What you need to know about Google Certified Educator Level 1

A quick Google (ha) will reveal that the test-takers are asked to sign an NDA so I can't tell you the exact details of what the exam was like. I admit that at first I under-estimated the difficulty of the test but after some time I figured out that Google are very thorough! I hugely appreciated the interactive, hands-on elements that you experience. The study material that Google provides is well-written and a great tool for professional development, I highly recommend going through it as it guides you through everything you need for the exam.

You will need a webcam as the exam relies on your live feed for proctoring. They do ask you to take a picture with it right before you start, claiming that it is for your certificate, but mine wasn't used for my certificate. I had brushed my hair and everything!

You will also need a stable internet connection. Despite having pretty good home internet for South Africa (10Mbps), the connectivity was a tad problematic. Once, after the connection dipped, the exam portal gave me the error that I was inputting answers for the wrong question! I solved this by closing the tab (despite the exam page protesting) and quickly opening it again. When the exam resumed I was in the right place with no harm done. Although this made my anxiety levels rise, it turned out to be a minor blip.

Overall, I enjoyed the process of studying for and taking the Google exam. I've had a look at the study materials for level 2 and it looks far more in-depth than level 1. Once I can get more experience using Google Apps for Education in the school setting then I think I'll be equipped to tackle level 2.

All official like.