About two hundred (200) faculty members participated in the 3-day Level 1 Google Educator Certification training held online on June 28, 29, and July 1, 2021. The training intended to upskill faculty members to effectively integrate G-Suite for Education tools in their online classes.
On the first day, the participants had a pre-test and were oriented on the use of Google Drive, Google Docs, Google Classroom, and Google Chrome. On the second day, 5 participants were each assigned to demonstrate a task discussed during the first day. Other Google features namely Google Calendar, Google Slides, Google Forms, Google Sites, Youtube, Google Sheets, Google Groups, Google Drawings, Google Keep, and Google Meet were also discussed on the second day. During the training, Mr. John Darryll S. Mercado, the learning service provider and certified Google Educator, would demonstrate tasks and afterwards allow the participants to do tasks on their own.
Ms. Merly Sioco, one of the participants, in an interview, shared that the lecturer was very patient in accommodating questions from the participants, and their request for further demonstrations. “His discussions were very comprehensive and he was not intimidating that was why participants felt very free to ask for further explanation and demonstration,” Ms. Sioco added.
When asked which part of the training/lecture she liked best, Ms. Sioco mentioned that she got most excited with Google Calendar.
“I have been using Google Classroom, Forms, and Docs, but during the training, I discovered that there are many features of Google Calendar which I was not aware of. I learned that with Google Calendar, we can create a calendar for family matters and another for school matters. Also, we can use the same for reminders. You see, I didn’t know how useful Google Calendar is until the training. Now, I have started scheduling tasks in the calendar.”
Dr. Paulo Jan Samson, another participant in the training, explains that the overall application of the Google Suite is practical in today’s online teaching and learning.
The participants took the assessment on the 3rd day, and results will be announced after 2 weeks.
DMMMSU spent 1M pesos from its GAA-Fund to support this training which was designed by Dr. Aloysius J. Aurelio, Chair Person for both Ph.D. in Science Education and MA in Science Education at the College of Graduate Studies-MLUC.
Because of the positive feedback about the training, many faculty members are requesting that they be trained on the same.
Google workspace for education ‘fosters collaboration for more impactful instruction, empowers educators and amplifies their productivity, creates a secure foundation for digital learning, and meets rigorous compliance and accessibility standards.’