ICT PD EOY Milestone Report by Helen MacGougan ICT PD Facilitator
As part of the ICT contract we took on the Google Apps package. Initially, this meant that all staff were transferred over from Microsoft Outlook to Gmail and then introduced to Google Apps and how they could be used in teaching & learning.
The February 22nd earthquake was the motivator to start using many of the google apps. Teachers and students could not physically access learning while schools and classrooms were closed for indefinite periods. When we returned to school we had many conversations with students about how we could continue learning should we have more major disruptions. Many teachers began sharing google documents and presentations with their students and insisted on student work being produced and stored on Google docs.
In 2012 we offered four types of Google Apps PD: block sessions, taster sessions, one-on-one help sessions and department sessions to give teachers choice about what and when they learned. The Apps we offered teachers were: Drive, Calendar, Docs, Presentations, Forms, Blogger, Picasa. The results have been:
Over the contract lifetime the staff has shifted from paper based teaching & learning to being able to access teaching and learning anytime, anywhere. I believe we are well-equipped should the worst disaster or disruption happen again! Additionally, I believe that we are supporting our students far better now for the transition to tertiary education and the possibility of blended online learning. Our students and teachers are competent users of Google Apps which means, beyond 2012, I feel confident we will continue to develop our usage of Google Apps through Google Sites and embedding on PapNet.