For some reason that escapes me at this moment, my school district has decided that all educators (and tech resource) must pass the Google for Educators Level 1 exam. I loathe these kinds of tests. I adore the information I get. For example, I made a Google Calendar, put in my ANWA blog time slot, and today when I opened up my gmail, there was a notification to go do it. Hmmm, I guess I did that right.
Google has some amazingly simple stuff out there. And I am hoping the Level 1 THREE hour exam will concentrate on the simple stuff...I can hope right?! There is Drive. Most of us that have gmail are familiar with Drive, but there is so much more. And what astounds me is how the stuff just populates into each other. Like my putting a calendar item and wala getting an email notification. And if I wanted to sync up I could even get that sent to my iphone. But I prefer to keep my school stuff separate from my home stuff.
Like most people of my generation, I tend to worry about putting stuff in the cloud. I mean it sounds wonderful. Upload your files, your photos, share them with whoever you want, and they are always there just waiting for you to connect. And since our district is moving to Chromebooks this school year, we are all going to get Google Educator educated.
There are other really amazing things for educators (and writers) to work on. For example, if I were still writing fiction with a co author, we could put our document on Drive, share only with each other, and allow "can edit" or "can comment" and tussle things out online at each person's personal schedule. As a teacher, I can see what my students are doing on say an essay and give them real time feedback before the final turn in date. I can provide a calendar for the public to view that shows the times I am busy (and therefore unavailable) for contacting. Or I can create a birthday calendar that sends me notifications for that. And will populate from my fellow gmail contacts automatically. The others I have to enter.
I clearly enjoy learning the different geeky things to know. I even like to play around with the more advanced stuff. BUT I have terrible test anxiety. And I am not looking forward to this at all. Let's all hope I pass. Our deadline is before school starts which is about four weeks away for students, and two weeks away for teachers. It's only $10. So go and find all about it without taking a test and enjoy what Google can do.
Good luck with your test! I have testing anxiety too. No fun. And the cloud (shudder). Maybe I should worry a little less about hackers and Big Brother, and more time on actually getting organized. Ha! Like that's going to happen.
ReplyDeleteWhoa. They test you on Google??? I would definitely have test anxiety, mostly because technology hates me. Sometimes computers freak out if I stand too close. LOL. The other day, my husband and I signed up for memberships at a local gym (under construction so super bargain)..but the guys computer went all whonky when I sat down in front of it. The guy kept saying, "This is so weird. I've never seen it do this before." I said, "I must be sitting too close. Hang on..." I stood up and walked a few feet away. He tried again..."Oh wow. That worked. whaaaat? You have a super power?" LOL
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