GEG Communities
Newsletter
Issue No. 67 | Date: May 27, 2021
Local Success Stories from GEG
Please submit your articles here bit.ly/GEGarticle . We love to hear your stories.
In this edition we are so pleased to see photos of some of you together with parts of the world opening up and starting to have a little more personal contact again. But we remember that parts of the world are still being devastated by Covid-19 and many educators are currently 100% online. However far your journey has come through the pandemic, we want you to know that we are thinking of you all, celebrate your successes and congratulate you all on being so awesome!
Help us to help you promote your events and good work by tagging @GEGProgram on all tweets you make about events or feedback you get from members. We love to join in your celebrations and share your good work.
Keep Googling, keep smiling, keep safe.
Earth Edu content
Two Voyager stories on Google Earth were launched last and this week, by leading Japanese national newspapers:
Tokyo’s Heat Island Effect (goo.gle/TokyoHeatIsland) by Nikkei
Inclusive Tokyo (goo.gle/InclusiveTokyo) by Asahi Shimbun
Nikkei
Tokyo has experienced a 3 ℃ increase in the last 100 years. This story explains what a heat island is and what kind of measurements to address it have been taken.
Asahi Shimbun
Following the guide, Josh, who is a founder of Accessible Japan, people can explore tourist spots in Tokyo with an eye on how accessible they are for people with disabilities.
Take a look at what Google Earth Tweeted about these eventsNikkei https://twitter.com/googleearth/status/1397584615011930118
Asahi https://twitter.com/googleearth/status/1394701641249665024
Training on "Hybrid Learning Models" with Google Workspace
Over 700 teachers from Portugal joined us live, from our physical training space, in the city of Maia with aim of joining collaborative distance learning efforts, in a community that has never been more present. We approached the concept of Hybrid Models, the typologies and different combinations, as well as their potential for learning.
Google Workspace collaborative tools were demonstrated in a hybrid format: collaborative between classroom and online, with Jamboard, Slides, Forms, Docs and an interaction with devices 1: 1 and Promethean Interactive Panels with ChromeBox that unites us in the Cloud. We highlighted flipped learning, within the Hybrid Model, as one of the interesting ways to involve students in autonomous learning, we build planes together so that we can use them to “fly” in education.
In 4 sessions, there were many teachers who actively collaborated in this dynamization of the GEG SUPERTABi Portugal team - the Google SUPERTABi Educators Group, in Portugal and from the pedagogical innovation training space. As for the GEG SUPERTABi Portugal training team, what unites us is the belief in a quality and effective Education, but all this can and should be done in a playful and fun way.
GEG Kenya & American Space Nairobi:Virtual edWebinars
GEG Kenya, has seen a tremendous growth with new GEGs forming: GEG Nairobi, GEG Mombasa, GEG Nakuru, GEG Kiambu and GEG Laikipia respectively. The GEGs are led by a passionate, energetic, enthusiastic and inspiring team of Instructional Technology Trainers: Bernadette Kiarie, Rosemary Onyancha, Michael Njogu, Grace Irungu, Samuel Mwangi, Clarice Bwanga and Fred Sagwe.
When the pandemic forced the Kenyan government to close schools there was an urgent need, seen all over the world, to continuously support the GEG Kenya community: students, teachers and parents through remote and distance learning modes and initiatives. To help, GEG Kenya members, leaders and other education coalition partners in Kenya collectively organised bi-weekly edWebinars to help mitigate on the effects of the pandemic.
GegKenya is now on a journey to empower 100K+ members to improve their digital skills with support of American Spaces and The Moi University-Nairobi Campus as part of the #USAMarafiki initiatives.
These are some of the activities hey have been involved in:
GEG Kenya in collaboration with GEG Jeddah (Saudi Arabia) organised Hour of Code - Google CS First
Video on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lh7J5ufHdP8&t=2123s
GEGNakuru co-leader Clarice Ajwang was featured on the Google Africa video showing her great work empowering kids with 21st century skills using Google CS First platform. Video on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZMxCtLrHSoQ&t=15s
GEG Kenya leader Fred Sagwe combined and collaborated with GEG Pune and GEG Ahmedabad from India on empowering teachers on STEAM using Google Jamboard Video on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n2w_mlTSOU0&t=3s
This is just a sample of the work they have been involved in and I am looking forward to seeing more of the progress they make this year.
Empowering Parents and Guardians
With the current set up of education around the world, it is not only school administrators, educators, and students who are affected and forced to adjust to the changing needs of the time. In the Philippines, most grandparents are in charge of assisting the children with schooling as parents need to go to work. One of the challenges that the Magis Deo community faced last year was to support them all to transition to distance learning. Aside from getting access to devices and the internet, learning and using the many online learning platforms and applications required by the schools was also a big struggle for the community. The Magis Deo Community continued to find ways to do more for God, especially to respond to those in need. Anyone can visit the site for to learn Google Workspace for Education: www.edtechandbeyond.com
The community partnered with Google Educators Group – Ortigas, to address their cry for help and prayers were answered. Together with the Outreach Ministry, GEG Ortigas put together learning sessions that focus on specific needs of families such as understanding Google applications, creating engaging virtual learning environments and ensuring security and safety online for children. May 15, 2020 was the 2nd session in the series. Attendees learned the basics of Google Drive, Google Docs, and Google Forms. During the 1st session on March 27, 2021, Tech Toolkit for Families and Guardians, Google Meet, and Google Chrome basics were demonstrated. A website was created with topics, steps to perform a task, video clips, and exercise materials.
More than addressing the needs of the students and parents, other members of Magis Deo also benefited from the Google Workspace learning sessions as many discovered how the applications can help run online business or market fund-raising activities on social media. To date, more than 40 families have benefited from the Google learning sessions launched this year. The community is thankful to Google and GEG Ortigas for helping the community.
GEG Italia Asks, Google Answers
Filomena Pizzulli, Leader of GEG Italia and one of the EMEA GEG Mentors, organised a fabulous event called: GEG Italia Asks, Google Answers.
In this event we asked the GEG community to submit questions and four Googlers, Anna Artemyeva, Asia Lindsay, Gonzalo Romero and Marco Berardinelli all answered, in italiano! It was a true EMEA team collaboration!
You can watch it here.
GEG On Air #35 and #36
Gamification using Jamboard was a highly demanded subject by educators in Brazil. For this reason, GEG On Air #35 and #36 were dedicated to it! Many fantastic ideas to engage students using Jamboard were shared, including logical exercises, virtual trips, crosswords, word search and tic-tac-toe. Special thanks to GEG Leaders and Google Innovators that shared their ideas to inspire other teachers: Ana Laura, Julio Passos, Tássio Gonçalves, Wilian Kamada, Roberta Taffarelo, Marcele Aline, Alice Turibio, Vanessa Bohn, Alanna Landim, and Bia Aguiar.
La FP que Viene
Gonzalo Romero (Head of Education, Spain) spoke at a large-scale GEG España event, La FP que Viene, which was focused on professional development. It also featured Jorge Arévalo, the Deputy Minister of Professional Development for the Basque Country.
GEG Leadership
Leading your GEGs
Spotlight on a GEG leader : Tiffany LoSasso
This month’s spotlight is all about Tiffany LoSasso Co Leader of @GEGColorado. By day she is a Digital Teacher Librarian at Mandalay Middle School (a part of Jeffco Public Schools) in Westminster, Colorado.
What is your role in the GEG leadership team?
My role is Co Leader of our GEG and the captains are Kelly Berhost, Becky Shorey, Amber Trout, Laura Israelsen, Jake Heath, Stephanie Callaway, Daniel Sharpe.
How did you initially get involved in your local GEG?
I became a Google Trainer and found out that GEG Colorado had recently been launched by Amber. I got heavily involved and led a session. When Amber got a new position with Pear Deck, she asked me if I would be willing to lead and here we are!
What do you feel you have personally gained from your involvement?.
I’m a details oriented person and, while the details are still super important, I’ve also learned to let things roll. For our first members meeting, I made 3 guiding questions and let the participants run things. We didn’t even get to all the questions, but we still gained so much from that time! So I guess it’s helped me be (a little) more willing to go with the flow!
Tell me something that you learnt in the last month.
Just one?? Honestly, there’s too much. I’ve fallen down the rabbit hole of Twitter and TikTok tips. It is crazy how much information you can get in just a few characters or seconds! I love all the quick tech tips I can use with students or things that make grading and other tedious tasks much quicker! (The paint roller in Google Slides was a game changer.)
Before you go, do you have any advice for anyone thinking of becoming a GEG a leader?
Make sure you have a strong leadership team. Leading a successful GEG takes a lot of work and one person cannot do it all alone (while also doing their job and having a life!). Have set goals and checklists so people know what to do and how to move forward.
Where to find GEG Colorado:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/GEGcolorado
Website: https://sites.google.com/view/gegcolorado
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC07ecwhpwq3pW_QIwhFrUcw
GEG Events
Bring your community together to collaborate
New Podcast Highlights Kansas Educators
Google Certified Trainer Travis True and Google Certified Trainer and Innovator Carol Nelson have a new podcast called "Untitled Podcast." The unexpected title is a play on the default title given to new Google creations of untitled. The podcast itself was created to spotlight and celebrate the amazing things Kansas educators and leaders are doing in their school and districts. Each episode you will hear a new educator's personal journey in education, their passions, favorite tech tool, and more. Included with each episode are show notes that have all the resources mentioned in the show and how to connect with the featured guest. Travis and Carol’s goal is to share as many stories with the world about the amazing teachers and educators in Kansas.
You can learn more about and listen to the "Untitled Podcast" online at www.untitledpc.net. Additionally, you can find the podcast on Anchor.fm, Untitled Podcast YouTube Channel, GEG Kansas Facebook, GEG Kansas Twitter, and MACE-KS Twitter accounts. Untitled Podcast is part of the GEG Kansas and MACE-KS networks.
Do you know a Kansas educator that we should feature? Let Travis and Carol know by using this Form https://forms.gle/qJJPJqSH2YBuP2xA6 and help them spotlight great educators in Kansas.
Contest Launch
Every culture and tradition has celebrations that mark important events. In the applied digital skills lesson, students will plan a celebration for Juneteenth, the commemoration of the emancipation of enslaved people in the U.S., in Google Drawings.
In honor of Juneteenth, help your students build digital skills while commemorating this important holiday. For more fun, enter our Juneteenth Flyer Contest for a chance to win Google Swag, a virtual visit from a Googler, and a chance to be featured in our blog!
Enter your classes’ poster for a chance to win some awesome prizes! Learn more: goo.gle/3eLJ25W #GrowWithGoogle
GEG Learn
Individual professional development opportunities
Jump Start
Hi, awesome change-makers!
GEG Jeonbuk would like to share our upcoming Google ED event to be held in Jeonju, Jeonbuk chapter, Korea. It will be a beginner's course and will be conducted four times starting this Saturday. One of our captains created dope posters to grab your attention. We are so proud of having him as a captain. You are able to catch the main point of the program by checking out the posters. Who can miss all the main icons of Google Workspace?
Undoubtedly, we count on you, giving us huge support Thank you!
UK & Ireland Free Webinars
Join the UK & Ireland Google for Education team for a series of free webinars, to help schools and educators get the most out of Google Workspace for Education and Chromebooks. These sessions are running until the end of the year and more will be added to the booking forms at he end of the academic year. There are all sessions from beginners, subject specific, authentic teacher voice and Admin console.
Members can book for as many sessions as they choose, but if you do book we ask that you make very effort to attend. You can book and watch the recorded sessions here.
Check when your Google Meet codes expire for smooth meeting experiences
