Summer Professional Development Opportunities

We all need a break after the last 14 months. We need fresh air, sunshine, and time away from the stress that has accompanied being an educator in the midst of a global crisis. At the same time, we should probably spend some time reflecting on what practices we would like to continue to implement in the classroom and/or what new skills we would like to have, moving forward. When you find yourself ready to engage in professional development  these are some opportunities to consider. 

• Matt Miller has put together an extensive Wakelet collection of free summer PD opportunities.

• Check out the two Global GEG free summer bootcamp opportunities if you have ever considered amping up your Google skills and becoming a Google Certified Educator. 

• EdWeb a free learning community with professional development opportunities for educators in all disciplines. Check out this post to read more.

• Log into Hoopla Digital using your BPL eCard and read one of these books from renowned educators: titles by Dave Burgess Consulting, Inc;  titles by ASCD; titles by International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE); and titles by Solution Tree Press. Read this post to learn how to sign up for your eCard and create a Hoopla account. 

• LinkedIn Learning (BPL) Be sure to log in through the Boston Public Portal to keep your data private!!  With courses in diversity and inclusion, creativity, skills building,  and more, there is something here for any educator who wants to learn.
(Please note that you MUST log in using the link provided by Boston Public Library using your BPL eCard in order to take advantage of learning opportunities for free.)

• KQED Media Academy for Teachers offers free hands-on professional learning opportunities focused on media literacy. The first upcoming course, Video Production for the Classroom starts June 7th. 

• Earn Badges, Certificates, and Accreditations from various EdTech companies. Rachel Coathup, a Global GEG leader and Google Certified Innovator, curated these BadgEdTech resources as part of her innovator project. 

• Not ready to engage in Educator PD yet? With a FREE BPL eCard and a Kanopy account you can check out The Great Courses and learn a new skill or explore one of your hobbies or passions! Some courses contain supplemental materials (available as a PDF download) See Course to locate supplemental resources (not available in individual videos. See Learning French as an example to view supplemental materials. 

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Photo by Nick Morrison on Unsplash

 

Monday Medley: Rebranding of GSuite for Education and Updates

Good Morning, Hopefully everyone was able to spend at least part of February vacation relaxing. You may have heard that last week there was a Learning With Google 2021 global virtual summit that took place where many updates were announced. One thing that Google announced is that GSuite for Education has been renamed Google Workspace for Education. Over the next several months Google is adding more than 50 new features to the education products we frequently use. You can expect to see some of those rollouts and changes in the next few weeks. One feature you will see soon in Google Meet is the ability for teachers to "mute all" and end the call for all to ensure that students don't remain after the teacher has left the call. in addition, teachers will be able to have co-teachers as co-moderators within Meet. A student engagement tracking feature will be coming to Google Classroom so you will have the ability to see at a glance which of your students may be falling behind in their classwork. Some enhanced security features will also be available for Google Admins and will happen behind the scenes. Do you want to keep up with what's happening in the Google world? Sign up to receive updates from the Google for Education official blog, Follow Google for Education on Twitter @GoogleForEdu and subscribe to the Google for Education YouTube Channel I hope you have a magnificent Monday! (Photo by Mitchell Luo on Unsplash)

Monday Medley: Google for Education EDU in 90 YouTube Videos

 

Hello and happy Monday! Are you short on time but want quick tips and tricks for using G Suite tools to streamline prep time for teaching and learning? (Seriously...who isn't short on time right now?!?!) 

Check out Google for Education's video series "EDU in 90" to get information on product updates, helpful resources, and quick how-to demonstrations. The videos are less than 5 minutes long and can help keep you "in the know" about updates and improvements to G Suite tools. 

In the October 2020 episode of "EDU in 90" I learned about a new (free) course in the Google Teacher Center titled Inspire Creativity Through Learner Engagement. This 4 hour long online course might help you to formulate an ed eval goal related to hybrid instruction 

Here is the course description: "Unlock unlimited creative learning opportunities, whether students are in front of you or attending remotely. Go beyond the walls of your classroom and learn how digital tools can support creativity, promote student voice, and increase student engagement. Develop new ways to deliver instruction through learning models and digital tools while infusing creativity to support learning anywhere."

Photo by Christian Wiediger on Unsplash