Magazine
They Said It: Take the Conference Experience to Go
7/26/2012 By: Wendy Gorton
Teachers, we’ve all been there: you take a couple of days off from the classroom, fly to another city,
pick up your conference program brimming with great topics and speakers, and then promptly get
overwhelmed when you realize that you can’t possibly go to every session you want.
As much as I love the conference atmosphere, networking, and choosing relevant sessions,
sometimes I need just-in-time professional development. Google Education On Air conferences are
just one snapshot into what that future could look like. Every hour throughout the day, presenters—
teachers, teacher trainers, technology coordinators, and many Google Certified Teachers and Certified
Trainers—partner with a Google employee moderator to invite guests to join them via Google+ Hangouts on Air,
a free online social networking platform, to discuss a range of topics in education. I create circles of educators
and organizations where I can share pictures, links, and ideas that can turn into longer conversations. Hangouts
On Air takes the conversation one step
further and enables you to share a live stream
that anyone can watch. It then archives it
automatically to your linked YouTube account.
The great news is now when I have a
colleague who is wondering how to use a tool
or wants to hear the latest discourse on digital
citizenship, I’ve got a link I can send him. Instead
of heading to day-long or week-long professional
development seminars where the topics are
pre-set, educators now have the power to use
technology to gather like-minded folks together
to hash out a topic. This just-in-time professional
development can be seen taking place all over the
Web, from teachers joining in weekly #edchats
on Twitter to the EduNationCast hosting weekly
shows on technology topics for the world to see.
So how can you, your colleagues, and your
school join in on the professional development
fun now that the day is over? Easily. You can
watch the archived session recordings of each
Education On Air session and check out the
YouTube Channel. You can attend future
teacher-organized events, or you can jump
right into Hangouts on Air and host your own
professional development event that can be
watched live and immediately archived for
teachers to view at their leisure. Are you having
a panel on digital citizenship at your afterschool
meeting with some of your teachers? Get
laptops, broadcast it, and have your whole staff
watch it later. Tia, Google Education Manager
and former teacher, says, “Some of the easiest
ideas to implement are: holding office hours
with school staff, doing virtual parent-teacher
conferences with busy parents, debriefing
and planning for lessons with colleagues, and
bringing guest speakers to an audience virtually.”
Google + Hangouts on Air are ready for
you—sign up, log on, and start a hangout and
invite some colleagues. My mind is already
abuzz with applications for the classroom,
and you can use your personal account to
start watching great PD, connect with other
classrooms around the world, or invite an
expert into the classroom. For instance, the
New York Times hosted a Hangout On Air with
Secretary of the United Nations Susan Rice and
New York Times writer Nicholas Kristof.
In what ways can you see this technology
enhancing your school’s professional
development and instruction?