Making the Switch To Google

Getting a staff on board to make a switch to a new technology can be incredibly difficult. Especially when that group is a made up of a high percentage of "seasoned" educators. Our small district had been using the Blackboard Learning Management System (LMS) for the past 5 or so years. Many of our staff had slowly been building curriculum on the LMS. Starting in the 2014-2015 I piloted the HP Chromebook 14 with a group of freshman as well as some of our other teachers piloted it with a small group of 25 seniors. With the success of our pilot and the opening of our new academic area our school decided to go essentially all in with Google Apps for Education.

How we got buy in...

The original pilot was a lot of trial and error. Our biggest mistake was not seeking out any formal professional development. We thought since we had a working knowledge of Sheets, Docs and Slides we would be good to go. It took us a while to realize the great potential in Classroom and Forms. 

Near the end of our pilot year, we realized the potential we had in changing our school and the way we delivered content. We committed to buying more Chromebooks for both campus and we were on our way. 

Our first step was creating a "Google Team." This consisted of teachers who had either incorporated GAFE apps into their classroom during the pilot or were comfortable enough to help other instructors learn the basics of the apps. The group was led by one of our tech department members who has been one of the most helpful an supportive people I have worked with in education. Having a tech member on our side when the rest were very pro Microsoft was a Godsend.

Using the "Google Team" and a generous stipend from the school we offered a 2 day teacher training day before the school year began. During our two day together we covered the basics of all things Google. From Sheets, Docs and Slides to the newer Hangouts and the almighty Classroom At the conclusion, each teacher had the basic tools needed to start their journey into all things Google. 

Along with attending our training before the school year, teachers were required to meet these basic requirements throughout the year to qualify for the stipend:

1. Utilize Google Forms as a formative assessment tool in the classroom.
2. Create a Google Site or a Google Classroom to centralize information for your students.
3. Create a Google Calendar that is shared with your students. Include assignment due dates and other
reminders that are pertinent to your class.
4. Create and facilitate opportunities for student collaboration in Google Drive.
5. Use GAFE to collaborate or share with your PLC’s and other teacher teams.
6. Explore Apps and Extensions that may be useful in your classroom, and find a way to integrate them.

With these goals in mind we were off and running with our first full year of school wide access to GAFE. Each student and staff member was given their Google account at the beginning of the year with no mandated expectation of use. At the beginning of the year, GAFE was used primarily by almost our entire academic staff. Some much more so than others but by the end of the first quarter all academic teachers had attempted to use it at least a handful of time. Second quarter is when things really took, as lab instructors, many of whom did not buy in at the beginning, began to see the ease of use and the opportunities. They saw how quick the chromebooks were to log in and how students were quickly proficient in using them. Many of them who had not come to the before school training were now interested. They began asking questions, meeting with our "Google Team" after school and on planning periods and asking for more PD. Now we had them...

Next Steps

Half way through the year, we provided a Google Workday. The concept was just an open day where staff was able to meet with a "Google Team" member and work on whatever they wanted to continue the journey to all things GAFE. Topics ranged from how to upload files into Drive to how to differentiate for students using Google Classroom. Many of our instructors, both academic and lab, were hooked. Since this training, the chromebooks we have available for any teacher or student are signed out before school even starts. Lab instructors are lining up waiting to get their hands on them. This is exactly how we wanted it to spread, organically as they saw the benefit not forced and mandated. 

Next Year

We are looking to grow the use even more. We have around 80% of our labs using the chromebooks weekly, some who incorporated technology sparingly in the past so we feel we've been pretty successful from that stand point alone. Two labs have decided to actually write the purchasing of chromebooks into their student fees so that every student, both full day or half day will have access. We're also planning more work days in the future to hopefully have 100% buy in. For the more veteran "Googlers" we are continuing to self evaluate and look at add ons and apps that can further the educational experience for our students. We will sit down sometime before the end of the school year and finalize a plan moving forward. Lots of exciting stuff to come, more blog posts as they come.

Quick advice for those looking to take the Google plunge

1. Create a team of "experts" who work well with other staff members and are passionate about ed tech
2. One of the biggest complaints I hear from educators is "I don't have the time," find time in your PD schedule to dedicate to just working. It was a big hit with our staff and we saw things take off after this day. 
3. Level your PD for staff. We provided everything from beginner sessions to advanced sessions to keep everyone engaged.
4. Get buy in from tech staff from the beginning having these guys on board from the start makes things go much smoother. 

Good luck and feel free to contact any of us for further advice...Happy Googling!