If you have been on the Moon for the past two days, you might have missed this. Google is offering a Google Teachers Academy for Administrators in San Antonio. After looking at the announcement, I couldn’t help thinking that its basically the same program offered for teachers. Even the title of the program might suggest that…
Personally, I think programs like this are generally beneficial, but not as beneficial as everyone thinks. I’ve written about his before, especially in regards to my distaste for the badges that participants display on their blog. I think most do not consider the implicit support for a commercial entity that results from the use of the badge, especially within the context of being a public employee (in most cases).
I also think that this represents a great opportunity for Google and a great opportunity for administrators. But, if it’s just the GTA re-purposed, I think it might miss its mark. Why do a teacher academy for administrators? I guess it could imply that everyone is a teacher, or it could simply mean the organizers did a bad job of crafting a title.
It’s a different audience with a different need. And if they don’t know the tools by now, which is a reality, they shouldn’t apply. That’s directed at administrators, not at Google.
The time has come for a different kind of experience, moving beyond tools. Tools could certainly be included in the context of the day, but it needs to be more.
Before I give you my perspectives, here are my biases from which I operate:
- I’m a 12 month administrator and have been for 10 years. I taught for 15.
- I work in a school. I face the challenges that that brings on a daily basis.
- I’m a Google Certified Teacher by default-I presented at the Chicago conference. I have not engaged in the Google online community-I do enough of that already, and my engagement online with others must be larger than just Google-focused.
- I believe that the Google Academy is a good thing for most teachers, although it could stand a heavy dose of pedagogy.
- My school district has signed up for Google Apps for education, and it is a component of a much larger vision of how learning can occur in digital environments. Google tools, and what they bring, are incredibly important to us.
- I think that in 2009, Google represents the true spirit of innovation. I’m amazed at what they produce.
So, if I were designing an administrator academy, these would be my underlying questions that I would hope the day would answer for attending professionals. Embedded in this is the understanding that some tools would be explained, and that the experience from the day could be expanded through online community participation.
Here they are:
- Will the academy help administrators understand why teachers in their schools could benefit from being part of the GTA program?
- Will the academy help administrators understand why they should adopt Google Apps for Education in their schools? Will the academy demonstrate to administrators, clearly, the affordances that the use of such a system brings, and demonstrate how they know?
- Will the academy help administrators understand the necessary policies that need to be developed to effectively scaffold the use of Google tools in schools?
- Will the academy help administrators understand how they can meet mandated legal requirements (such as email archiving) when using various Google tools?
- Will the academy address strategies for the systemic application of Google technology to support increased student achievement?
- Will the academy address initiatives such as Response to Intervention and how Google technology can be used to address the student support required by such programs?
- Will the academy address the negotiation of the uses of learning environments featuring Google tools and how that can be balanced against high stakes testing regimes and NCLB?
- Given the focus on the role of Google tools, and that they should be used by teachers to help students learn, will the academy address, or offer suggestions and strategies, on how schools might address the technology gaps that exist in under-served populations in schools (defined here as those without home technology) so that access is equitable?
- Is the academy taught by fellow administrators or is it taught by the same teachers that instruct at GTA? If teachers, do they have the requisite systemic experience to understand the larger context of schools that administrators operate within?
- Do the presenters, if administrators, have school-based examples to share, in the context of what Google offers, of what works, and can they explain how they know it works?
So, those are my questions. And while I understand that a lot of administrators aren’t there yet in their understanding of…tools…well, I might suggest that there is a different place where that can occur. In my opinion, the day should be learning more than tools, and realizing that we can connect to each other digitally.
Administrators have different needs than teachers. They just do. That’s not bad, it just is. Technologies that are offered by companies like Google, and that are used by teachers, require some rethinking of how we operate. That’s good. Google could help admins understand that, with a day dedicated to just that.
I’d be glad to offer my assistance in planning or helping to adjust the program, or explaining this in more detail to Google planners.
Please let me know what you think.