Digital Mondays and Google Educators at City of Glasgow College

This is some support for those interested in exploring Google Education at City of Glasgow College and beyond it does not seek to replicate the Google Education Group Scotland https://plus.google.com/u/0/communities/103577237113072846685

Why not try and add some useful and relevant information to this website ! and join the community !

Google have also supplied the unlock codes to certification for those working their way through level 1 and level 2 Google Educator Training . When you are ready to do certificate test and need an access code contact Joe Wilson.

You need access to latest version of Chrome and a functioning webcam.

You will also be required to use a webcam during the exam for the purposes of proctoring.

Please note only some college machines have the latest version of Chrome and a functioning webcam .

Get the IT team to check this out for you before attempting the exam. They may need to direct you to a machine in a classroom.

Here are some quick reflections on sitting and achieving Google Educator level 1

On Friday morning a group of us had a go at sitting this . We booked room Room C6.095

The exam will take you the 3 Hours as stipulated. There is not a system compatibility test before the exam starts. You need latest version of Chrome and a functioning webcam.

1. You need to book your own exam - this should be done day before you want to sit exam . ( we had some colleagues who had booked exam but had done it too far in advance and the exam opportunity had timed out when they logged in ) Read the guidance on testing pages carefully. It is worth having a look at this following list of frequently asked questions https://teachercenter.withgoogle.com/certification_faq

2. Make sure you have a working webcam and be prepared for some initial wee glitches as the test starts . It will work on a College machine . You can use incognito browsing and cutting and pasting , the mouse all the things you need should work. Room C6.095 does not have webcams and we had to get IT support to set up webcams on the machines. The standard College webcams worked once they were set up. We tested them using some of the other packages on the machines to make sure they were functioning , before starting the process of activating the examination. The machines in C6.095 are thin clients, the test will work too on mac with the right hardware and software.

3. The Exam starts with you being asked to set up a new password for the account you are given for the exam - take a careful note of this - just in case you have to come back into the test for any reason. I'm not sure why but I was timed out and had to log back in half way through the simulated scenarios, though it may have been part of the test ?, but I was glad I had taken a note of my user name and password.

4. As described in the information about the exam - you will work your way through a set of questions very like the chapter summary questions that come with the learning materials before working through a set of simulated scenarios . You do need to know your way around Google Apps. I've added an additional support page to this site with the support I found most useful in my preparation for the test. I am sure colleagues will add some more.

My own reflection on the assessment - you can figure your way through it . There are some Americanisms in each section but they don't obscure what the questions are looking for . You may be less familiar with some of the tools used in the simulations but if you work through support materials and do some practice it is not too challenging. You might find you are racing against the clock if you have not done things like set up a test or a survey in Google Classroom before and/or reported on and created graphs in things like Google Sheets - so do have a practice with that. These were my weak spots.

On a few occasions I forgot where I had to go to find the menu items I wanted - for me this was around setting up class calendars and sharing a Youtube Playlist in specific ways for fixed audiences - both activities I would not normally do and that ate into my exam time. I would normally just open up any YouTube channel and while I have a number of Google Calendars they too are usually open rather than for closed audiences.

Pass or fail you will still learn a lot - so don't worry you can get another go ( In 14 days time and if you are unsuccesful on second attempt you need to wait for 60 days ) . It's Google Educator 2 for me next and as I work towards this I'll share support as I find it here.

There was an added frisson as the College fire-alarm went just as I was awaiting my results . I hope that does not happen to you