It doesn't take much to see that I'm more than a bit of a Google fanboy. My school uses Google Apps for Education (GAFE), I have my own personal domain set up within Google Apps, most of my day is spent in the Googlesphere working, training and supporting others.
As an educational technology coordinator most of my time is spent training others...which I love! The professional challenge for me comes when I am trying to develop and grow my own knowledge and skills. Many of the traditional workshops and conferences don't always have offerings for those of us who provide workshops and training to other professionals -- plus it's me and my colleagues who usually present at these events. How do we, the professional developers, coaches and facilitators continue to grow? I'm foreshadowing here to a couple of posts I have swirling in my head about the future of PD in education -- more on that later.
I first learned about the Google Teacher Academy (GTA) a few years ago and have been interested in applying for it. Now, I finally have submitted an application to the upcoming GTA being held in Mountain View CA(#gtamtv) in early December 2012. The application deadline has passed and now we wait. Only 50 will be accepted and hopefully I'm one of them. GTAs bring together like-minded professionals to learn and explore the educational tools that Google provides. They are two day events that are action packed from what I can tell from afar.
So what could I possibly learn in two days of training? I'm not sure. However the part I would look forward to most is connecting with other Googley education folk. While following the recent Twitter stream for the GTA-New York (#gtany) I learned heaps. As the deadline for #gtamtv approached the Twitter Machine was abuzz with application videos being shared. By just watching those I have already grown and look forward to the opportunity to connect with more applicants at #gtamtv if I'm accepted.
Now, back to waiting...
Here's my application video.
