Editor's note: Schools across Illinois are seeing great success with Google for Education. To highlight some of their achievements, we’re featuring Chicago Public Schools, Community Consolidated School District 59 and Waukegan Public Schools. To learn more about Google solutions for Education, join us for a webinar on January 28th at 3pm ET / 12pm PT.
There isn’t a playbook on how to introduce new technologies and online tools in the classroom, but we know that admins and teachers often learn the most from talking to each other. We recently spoke with instructional technology administrators and superintendents in Illinois who use Google for Education tools. Here, they share their recommendations for everything from rolling out hundreds of devices to introducing a new solution to thousands of students and teachers:
1. Get teachers involved
Whether teachers help evaluate technology solutions or introduce new tools, getting their buy-in can reduce the strain and resources required from IT. Community Consolidated School District 59 (CCSD 59) wanted to increase literacy, collaboration, critical thinking and creativity, but didn’t yet have the right solution in place. The district formed a technology committee of staff from every school to lead its “Innovative Learning Implementation Timeline” and decide how to use technology to amplify learning. When teachers are involved, they can make sure technology and policies are designed to make planning lessons, providing feedback and collaborating more powerful and effective for all learners. Technology adoption will spread like wildfire once they see how it benefits both students and staff.
The educational technology team at Waukegan Public Schools took a similar approach. After the schools introduced Google Apps for Education and Chromebooks, “Lighthouse Lead Learners” were identified at each building to help with professional learning at the building and district levels. “Since the instructional technology staff can’t be at every school all the time, this group of teachers is instrumental to making sure teachers and students get the support they need,” says Mary Mlinar-Stephens, Director of Educational Technology Innovation at Waukegan Public Schools.
2. Let students choose
Students are more excited to learn when they get to choose how they learn. When CCSD 59 introduced new devices, they gave students the opportunity to use Chromebooks and Android tablets, since each device has different strengths. “We saw the potential of creating a 2:1 program, where students could choose the tools they need, depending on the learning experience,” says Benjamin Grey, Assistant Superintendent for Innovative Learning and Communication at CCSD 59. Watch this video to see how CCSD 59 is using technology to amplify student’s ability to learn.
Schools don’t need to offer students two devices to put this idea into action. Provide students different ways to learn, for example, by letting them choose between a video, slideshow or article. Says Anne Truger, Director of Educational Technology Innovation at Waukegan Public Schools, “Students are paving their own learning path and are choosing the resources that help them learn best.”
3. Look at the district’s culture
Introducing new tools poses an opportunity for schools to look at organizational culture. Ask admins, board members and teachers what they think the district stands for, and use technology to address those cultural goals. With Google Apps for Education, Chicago Public Schools (case study) created a more collaborative environment across the organization. “By leveraging Google for Education tools, we created a culture of collaboration, open communication and transparency,” says Margaret Hahn, Director of Technology Change Management at Chicago Public Schools.
Jennie Magiera, a Google Certified Innovator, formerly a CPS teacher and now the CIO of a neighboring Illinois district, embodies a spirit of sharing and collaboration. In her Education on Air keynote, she discusses tangible steps to empower students to help transform classroom culture. Jennie and many other CPS educators participate in trainings at peer schools and speak at conferences like Education on Air to share their expertise.
4. Provide technology professional development for teachers
Technology opens new doors for teachers to be innovative and cater lesson plans to different learning styles, but many teachers don’t know about all of the opportunities. Chicago Public Schools organized and hosted a two-day professional development event, Googlepalooza, which featured more than 200 workshops for teachers to learn more about Google for Education tools.
After the free summit, teachers introduced new tools to engage students and collaborate with peers outside the classroom. For example, a civics class used Hangouts to connect with a class in North Carolina and engage in a debate on the civil war. Another teacher incorporated Google Draw in her lesson plan to cater to students who prefer to express their ideas in artistic form. When teachers have the opportunity to learn and practice using new tools, they see even more ways to take their use of technology in the classroom to the next level.
CPS Educators demoing Google Expeditions at Googlepalooza
5. Be Patient
Many schools expect teachers and students to embrace new tools the week they’re adopted, but often it takes months or even years. Getting used to a new way of teaching and learning takes time, and it’s important all stakeholders know that impact can’t be seen overnight. “Explain to boards and superintendents that this is a process,” Grey says. “Don’t expect everything to change in two months. And support your staff on this point — they need to know you’re not keeping score.”
Ross Vittore, Director of Innovative Learning at CCSD 59, captures these schools’ sentiment when he says: “Don’t adopt technology for technology’s sake. You want to create an environment for 21st-century instruction.”
We’ve heard great stories from many of you about how you’re using technology to do amazing things in your schools, so we're going across the U.S. to see for ourselves! Check out the map below to see where we’ve been. We’d love to hear what’s happening in your state, so please share your story on Twitter or Google+ and tag us (@GoogleForEdu) or include the #GoogleEdu hashtag.
The way people manage their bank accounts today stands in stark contrast to a decade ago, or even just a few years ago. Where they once walked into branches to deposit or withdraw money and check on their balances, they now use laptops and mobile devices, and they do it from anywhere and at any time of day. As a business, we know we need to change with them, to be as mobile as they are, so we’re on a constant quest to transform both how we work with our customers and how we work ourselves. Moving to Google Apps for Work and using Android for Work are two steps we’ve taken to further that digital transformation. We’re proud to be one of the financial services industry’s earliest adopters of Google to create true mobility for both customers and our team.
Before moving to Google, we were relying on tools that held us back rather than pushed us forward. We were using Lotus Notes, which lacked the necessary collaboration tools and required people to be at their desks to do their work. We had to shuffle presentations and reports back and forth between employees, so new products took months to get to markets.
Our deployment to nearly 5,400 employees took just 90 days, and with the help of our implementation partner Netmail, we’re already on our way towards becoming a completely new bank. During the rollout, for example, we created a Google+ community called “Simply Coll@borate,” and invited employees to share advice and tips on using Google. It quickly became the fastest and most useful channel for seeking guidance on our new tools. And our Project Management Office, the first department to shift all its work to Google, now creates and shares Google Docs and Google Sheets in Google Drive, and builds monthly project reports using Google Slides.
Our Human Resources department used to gather feedback on training and hiring by using paper forms or sending out emails that generated few responses. Now they use Google Forms to make data collection easier and more seamless – like gathering suggestions for improving the quality of HR services. They’re also replacing phone interviews with interviews via Google Hangouts, as meeting candidates over video helps hiring managers get more accurate first impressions. The retail bank sales team also uses Hangouts for sales meetings, saving travel time and costs.
We’ve also completed rolling out smartphones equipped with Android for Work to every employee, and we believe we’ll see our vision for the mobile Raiffeisen Bank team come to life. No longer tied to our desks, we’re free to work in new ways for our customers. We save them time and offer them a higher level of customer service by meeting where they work — or from anywhere using Hangouts on mobile devices. We put the rigid ways of traditional banking behind us and have our sights set on a more flexible, innovative future.
We started building the app before the Liberty Center was finished and opened to the public, which meant that Google didn’t yet have mapping information for the center’s streets and stores. We solved this by building a layer with the required information on top of the map. In addition, we had no routing information, so we built an algorithm to provide directions using open source Google Optimization Tools.
Liberty Center opened its doors on October 22, 2015, and thanks to Google Maps, we’re now delivering an engaging, interactive experience for visitors. People who walk up to the kiosks or use the Web app on their smartphones get customized walking directions based on their current location, and can zoom in and out around the property to explore shops and other destinations. Liberty Center shoppers can spend less time getting from place to place and more time in stores and enjoying time together in restaurants.
