David Rogers

I’m very excited to be involved in the Google Teacher Academy that will take place in London on the 27-18th of October.  Mainly because the NoTosh team are behind a redesign of the programme.  I’m excited because I know that I’ll be working with a great bunch of people: the people who have, and are yet to, apply.  Details of what is involved can be found here , and the application form here . Now, I know that many of you may be put off by the fact that it’s Google.  I’d still urge you to consider applying. Although there is a bound to be a but of corporate stuff, it’s essentially a bunch of very passionate educators getting together to talk about learning. In fact, the experience would be greatly enhanced by those that put teaching and learning first and see the potential that technology has to improve student outcomes. There are many huge challenges faced in schools every single day, and there isn’t a technological solution to them all.  However, though ...

This is the second post about the Google Teacher Academy that was held in London last week. The first can be found here . Another highlight of the Google Teacher Academy was being shown that I had no idea about search! The first session, led by Lisa Thumann explored a number of search features. Two of the features would be very useful in Geography (and other) classrooms. First, a screen cast. I should add that I purposefully didn't use these tools until this morning, and shot in one take. This was to evaluate how intuitive the tools is - something that is very important in our Geography department if the tool is to be shared with staff and students. I have used a geographical example, and a topic that I am working on for a forthcoming project. These tools help to expand the search beyond the first six or seven results that are commonly used by most young people (and myself if I'm honest!). The tools could also allow searchers to explore the information in more detail. I ...

Henry is down for his nap, so it's time to get some first thoughts down. There is a lot to think about! I want to preface this post by reminding readers that I believe that everyone should be using the best tools to support learning in their local context. This may mean Google, Microsoft, Apple or Bic ;-) Indeed, this image was used during the day and reminds us that we have to constantly dip into our learning toolbox - that even includes getting outside once in a while! This post goes on to describe how we can attempt to evaluate and prioritise the learning that took place. Although the day was inspiring, engaging, motivating and enjoyable (and many other things) and Google tools can be very powerful in supporting learning. However, as a responsible educator I find that I do have to remind myself of the limitations. These limitations should be communicated to young people. For example, Google Squared draws upon Wikipedia and the News draws upon selected media sources. I'm...