Google Innovator

One Year Later: Washington Sydney 2017 Google Innovator Cohorts

November 2, 2018

Congratulations! The #WDC17 (Washington, DC) and #SYD 17 (Sydney, Australia) cohorts have completed the yearlong Google Innovator program. Each cohort consisted of 36 educators. These educators were selected from hundreds of candidates based on their ideas on how to design creative solutions to solve the world’s toughest challenges in education. Over the last year, they have been developing and launching their Innovator projects, as well as working with a mentor, to drive change in their schools, districts, and communities.

Last month, these cohort members shared some of their projects and next steps. Here are some highlights to get you involved and inspired!

Eddie Small

Get Studio EDU

StudioEDU is an all-in-one solution in providing schools access to the latest media equipment and training. Built on innovation, mobility, and multi-functional use for schools, each studio can be outfitted with live streaming capabilities and teacher-led video instruction.

Call to Action: Like our Facebook Page, Share out StudioEDU.

Mike Daugherty

[email protected]

The goal of the Help @ Home project is to help parents become better connected with their student’s digital lives. Sample topics to be covered include digital citizenship, security and privacy, social media, and more!

Call to Action: Sign up for the newsletter! Get these tips out to your parents.

Jason Trinh

Racialized EDU

Our mission is to build a positive community of racialized educators, promote conversations about identity among all educators, and take action and improve equity in educational spaces.

Call to Action: Ideas and inspiration for video series called REAL TALK – looking to get educators to talk about identity, implicit bias, and microaggressions! Artifacts related to diversity, equity and inclusion to be posted on our blog!

Marcus Borders

Parent Tech. Connect

The Parent Tech. Connect seeks to provide families with opportunities to gain strategies for learning with technology in the home.

Call to Action: Use patience! Sign-up, locally! Provide feedback.

Nick Aguina

SPED Hub

The SPED HUB is a resource created that can be utilized by anyone who works in special education and student services. The goal of the SPED HUB is to provide resources that will minimize the time spent in regards to all necessary paperwork for all those who work in the field of special education. You will find a variety of resources to apply to your own school setting.

Call to Action: Submit resources that can help student services and special education teachers.

Todd DeSando

GIFs for Kids

The student-safe, teacher vetted way to access GIF images in the classroom!

Call to Action: SHARE, SHARE, SHARE. Share the resource, share a gif, and share the love of learning in a different way!

Kaylah Holland

Go Be Love

Go Be Love partnered with Mission of Hope Internation (MOHI) in Grand Goave, Haiti. MOHI is already changing the culture by providing consistent education to over 800 students PreK-12th grade.

Leslie Fagin

Ernie’s STEAM-tastic School Bus

Why a mobile STEAM lab? Why not? Our students deserve the opportunity to have access to hands-on and engaging activities that will allow them to learn the skills needed to be successful 21st Century students – creative, critical thinkers, communicators, and collaborators.

Call to Action: Share STEAM lessons that can be used on the bus, send money, share ideas, suggestions for items for the bus when we expand

John Zingale

HiPstory Network

HiPstory is a hands-on, individualized, project, & inquiry-based approach to History and Social Studies.

It integrates inquiry, design thinking, and technology with social studies to create an innovative classroom experience that is fun, engaging, and fosters 21st Century skills in students.

Call to Action: Look at projects, pass along to other History / Social Studies teachers so more will add to the project repository, and sign up to be HiPstory mentor teachers.

Andrew Fenstermaker

Empower EDU

The goal ?of Empower EDU is to equip Instructional Tech Coaches and Teachers with the resources ?they need to design ?learning that is student-centered ?and future-focused ?.

Call to Action: Teachers–> Fill out the Form and partner with a coach to plan a lesson. Coach–> refer a teacher to fill out the Form and partner with them to plan, implement and reflect on a lesson.

Amber Harper

Burned In Teacher

Feeling overwhelmed by poor classroom behavior, lack-luster relationships with your administration and coworkers, or are you just sick and tired of feeling sick and tired? Stop wondering what to do and start taking serious action in order to BEAT THAT BURNOUT.

Call To Action: Signing up would be AH-MAZING!! Also, just finished this FREEBIE, I’d love your feedback as I JUST finished it today. http://bit.ly/2O7soBB

Kat Crawford

DigiGuard

Welcome to DigiGuard! Navigating technology in this ever-changing landscape can be a challenge. As parents/guardians, we cannot do it alone. We need a community to share trends and tips to help us keep our kids safe.

Call to Action: Sign up and get involved.

Lisa Berghoff

Student Empowerment Project

The Student Empowerment Project’s mission is to connect EdTech tools with students with disabilities through Universal Design For Learning.

Call to Action: Wait for #moresoon.

Derek Doucet

FL4L

Our mission is to make foreign language learning accessible to all learners by providing an individualized approach to learning. A language pal with whom they can learn, listen and speak with thereby exposing the learner to various cultures, as well as immersing them in the target language.

Call to Action: See what it is and contact me for a beta testing.

Heather Breedlove

Design Thinker Lab

Ever wanted to try something new with your students but couldn’t find the time or resources? The Design Thinker Lab is an all-in-one solution that sends you everything you need to create opportunities for your students to practice digital age problem solving using the design thinking framework. Help your students become not only problem solvers but also problem finders.

Call to Action: Download the Design Thinker Lab kit for Rosie Revere Engineer and get their students using design thinking.

Lorinda Ferry

EdTechMix

A website built specifically for Ed Tech coaches and eLearning coordinators in schools. Filled with resources, tips, tutorials, and a blog. The one place where those who teach others digital technology skills can find the resources they need.

Call to Action: Sign up for updates on the homepage.

Tai Preuninger

Hometown 360 Project

The purpose of this project is to share and connect our community’s past to the present through the lens of 360° images and video.

Call to Action: Learn about the project to make it your own!

Martin McGauran

ICTEDUMAG

Our story is simple. We want to create a resource that is purposeful, relevant, ready to use and draws on the knowledge of expert teachers. Our aim is to support ICT and Digital Technology leaders in Australian primary education.

Call to Action: Please sign up and share amongst your networks.

Becky Shorey

NaviGlobe Treks

To give students and teachers a tool that is easy to use, that will make professional looking websites allowing integration of Google Earth, 360 Video, Street view, images, etc. The projects created by teachers will go into a database that is searchable so that other teachers can use it.

Call to Action: Make a copy of the spreadsheet.

Judy Blakeney

Strength-Based EDU

#StrengthBasedEDU serves as a resource to educators, students, parents and communities seeking a positive approach to teaching and learning where individuals seek to understand the strengths and talents first and foremost. This approach leverages an ethic of care for the individual while embracing the power of relationships and relationship building.

Call to Action: Check out the ways you could implement a strength-based approach to education in the Discovering tab.

Joanna Carroll

LocatED

LocatED is a free app for teachers, instructional coaches, administrators, librarians, and many more that makes it easy to connect and share so innovation can take root and grow in our schools.

Call to Action: Download the LocatED app! 🙂

Heidi Neltner

The Polaris Project

#FTPolaris19 is the second iteration of the Polaris Project, a project designed to help teachers guide their own learning and project development using design thinking strategies.

Call to Action: Right now – just explore!

Michael Davidson

Coding Across the Curriculum

Coding resources for teachers across all curriculum areas.

Call to Action: Watch the videos, share the videos, subscribe to the channel.

Monika Limmer

Special Ed Digitech Hub Project

Call to Action: Please sign up for further news!

Chris Young

Super Duper Toolkit

Call to Action: Folks should start getting real-time feedback from students to put growth mindset in action. Of course, they should give some feedback to me, so I can continue to improve it.

Susan Gaer

Susan Gaer Blog

Call to Action: Add a comment to my blog

Diana Gill

Licensed to ILL

Call to Action: Spread the message of asking, sharing and citing. Bring awareness to the mission of creative commons!

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Fly with Me – A Google Innovator Journey

June 18, 2018

It was about this time last year I was heavily reflecting on where my life was going and what I wanted to do. My work within the school district was good, but I knew I was capable of more and could make a bigger difference in education. I applied to the Google Innovator program twice before and was working toward a third application. This application was different. I had spent that first half of 2017 developing myself both physically and mentally. My daily workout and my increased consumption of books, had me applying with a completely different mindset.

News of my acceptance into the Google Innovator Academy came while I was strapped to the decompression table at the Chiropractor’s office. This was not my goal when I decided to increase my physical activity, however, I had never felt better. With my phone out of reach and not another soul in the room, I only had the notification on my watch showing a new email from the Google Innovator Program and the word “Congratulations!” I rushed home to print the contents of the email to surprise my wife. When I shared my news, she was overcome with emotion and I knew that I was holding an important key in fulfilling my desire to make a bigger difference. That day-that moment- was the best birthday I have ever had.

Now I sit here six months after my Google Innovator experience reflecting on what has changed. When asked about my experience I usually sum it up as “life-changing.” More specifically, it instilled in me an incredible amount of confidence. As my academy coach, Carlos Galvez, put it, “You’ve been handed the keys to a brand new rocket, don’t just let it sit out there in the parking lot. Get out and fly it.”

My new-found confidence unlocked some upgrades to my rocket. I was no longer hesitating to share my ideas and before I knew it I found myself coaching 48 new EdTech coaches within the district and going into the classroom to teach one of my passions: Design Thinking. I am also excited to be facilitating the first ever Young Innovator Camp (powered by Future Design School) in our district this summer and guiding a school outside of the district in establishing a culture of innovation. I am also leading small groups within the district through the design process in an effort to find innovative solutions to challenges that range from ways to create a better learning experience within a junior high to prototyping ways to reduce chronic absenteeism. These upgrades have helped fuel the development of my Google Innovator project.

I am passionate about finding ways to address the increasingly widespread teacher shortage. My project challenge statement is, “How might we inspire today’s teachers to remain teachers and today’s students to become tomorrow’s teachers?” Taking the momentum from some of my new opportunities as well as from the constant flow of inspiration from the rest of the #SWE17 cohort, I knew it was time to stretch the possibilities and to push the limits of my rocket.

The hardest part was pressing the launch button on my project, but the thrill of the launch soon took over and I was hooked! The first phase of my project was off the ground and I was planning to test the EdTrex Explorer program at SXSWEDU. The mission of the explorers was to bring insight, resources, and powerful moments to those teachers who couldn’t be there. With over 600k impressions to over 350k users via Twitter alone, I was convinced I was heading in the right direction. I have since iterated on this phase and have begun to make the Explorer program replicable for others and I am excited to test it further at ISTE 2018. An unplanned part of my project has also launched in the form of the EdTrex Podcast. The more exciting second and third phases of my project will be launched soon. My confidence and participation in the Google Innovator program has also led to numerous presentation and speaking opportunities throughout North America.

Much has changed for me and many of the other innovators in my cohort over the past six months as a result of what I would call “Innovator Confidence.” There is no reason things can’t change for you too! We need more rocket pilots to fly all those rockets just sitting in the parking lot. We need more Google Innovators to take on the challenge of making a difference in education. We need you to step out of your comfort zone and to discover your Innovator Confidence. What are you waiting for? Put yourself out there, fill out your application, and press the launch button. I can’t wait to fly with you!

Quin Henderson
Design Coach
Teacher
Google Certified Innovator
Utah, USA

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360 View of You: A Global Collaboration Project

May 30, 2018

In 2013, Buzzfeed conducted an awesome, eye-opening experiment where they asked several citizens of England to label all 50 states. The outcomes were both hilarious and scary (see image below and full Buzzfeed article here. Caution: Lots of laughter ahead and some vulgar handwriting).

On one side of the coin, this was hysterical. The participants’ lack of knowledge was filled with creative genius. Several Utah’s, “old people” for Florida, and “Further South Dakota”. I couldn’t stop reading through the maps to find the next “best” answer. On the other side, this was scary. I’m sure the pool of participants worked in various fields with an array of educational backgrounds and different levels of interest in geography. However, in a world where we rely so heavily on the global economy to fuel our everyday needs and ventures, our lack of geographical and cultural understanding is mind-blowing. This isn’t meant to be judgemental; believe me, I’m in the same boat. I’m sure a global map would be butchered with random country names if I was tasked with a similar objective (see USA results labeling Europe). But shouldn’t we know more about each other, where we live, and how our geography impacts our lives? How do we create this experience for our students? How do we educate our students to better prepare them to interact in a global world and build empathy and understanding for others?

Introducing 360 View of You! – A 2017 Google Innovator Project

360 View of You is a global collaboration project designed for students and teachers to share a snapshot of what life is like for them at their school. By utilizing Google Street View (a free smartphone app), participants will create 360-degree photospheres of their classrooms, cafeterias, playgrounds, and unique learning spaces to be placed on a shared project map. Globally, students will explore other cultures, learn about the different design elements of classrooms, and build relationships with students and teachers around the world. By leveraging technology and the shared network of participants, we hope to inspire global collaboration on projects where students incorporate cultural, economic, and political factors of other countries to find solutions to issues around the world.

Sample 360 Photosphere:

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Current Participating Classes:

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I’m interested, how do I participate?

In its first year, we are looking for teachers and students who wish to create a 360-degree photosphere of their classroom, cafeteria, and playground to share with the world. This 15-minute exercise can be completed using the FREE Google Street View app on any cell phone. All photospheres are placed on a global community map where teachers and students can view other user-submitted entries from around the world. This project is designed to create a global community that not only shares a 360-degree photosphere but builds instant access to connections around the world for teachers and students to collaborate and learn from one another.

Want all the details?

Visit www.360viewedu.com or contact Ed on Twitter (@EdfromEdTech) with any questions or comments.

About Ed:

Ed is an Innovation Specialist with Charleston County School District in South Carolina. As a Google for Education Certified Innovator and Trainer, and Apple Teacher, he enjoys sharing his passion for educational technology with teachers all over the world. During his career, he has worked as a fourth-grade teacher, technology coach, computer lab instructor, and educational technology specialist. Each job has provided a unique experience of 1:1 student device implementation and how to work with varying stakeholders to support a successful program. In his spare time, he enjoys coaching lacrosse, hanging with his son, and traveling the world!

We All Just Want to Belong

May 17, 2018

I just had dinner with my friend Eric Cross tonight. We just met a few months ago and I feel like the depth of conversation that we can get to within minutes is something that has taken years for me to develop with anybody else. And why is that? It’s about connection. The MTV Innovator Energizer happened this past Saturday in Mountain View, California. I was one of about 50 Google for Education Certified Innovators to attend this amazing day at the Google offices in Sunnyvale. The one thing that I was left with by the end was a deep sense of connection. Actually, according to data, because, you know, we like that sort of thing, 35.4% of the Innovators that responded to a survey rated the most valuable part of the program to be “Community with other Innovators.”

This journey for me started almost a year ago when I decided to apply for the Google Innovator Academy. I don’t know how I got so lucky as to be one of the 37 Educators that got chosen for the cohort of #WDC 17 to meet up in Washington DC, but I did. It was at this place, that I really felt a deep sense of connection. As a matter of fact, I hugged every single person in the cohort upon first meeting them, even though I’d only met two in real life prior to the event. Then again, I am that person… Here’s the first selfie I took when I literally realized that I had a long lost family that I didn’t know about.

In terms of the actual Energizer itself, I got to connect with a member of my #WDC17 cohort, a friend that I’ve made on twitter but never met in real life, my assigned mentor for the year (and his lovely wife and the littlest of all innovators, his 1 year old son), someone who presented at a the same conference as me in Chico, members of the EdTechTeam, someone who led a workshop that forever changed the way I look at or take photos, a parent from a school that I used to work at, the greatest Innovator coach someone could ask for – ever, innovators of the #SWE17 cohort who came from faraway places, like TX and NC and of course some of the most amazing new BFFs that I could ask for.

One of the highlights for me was the Spark Sessions. I had the pleasure to attend two sessions and lead one. Seeing all the different things that people were pitching during the day, I wanted to attend every single one of them. From growth mindset football (y’all call it soccer here) to 360-degree storytelling to Chopped: The Innovator Edition to Machine Learning, there was a lot to cover, uncover, learn and unlearn. I pitched my own “playshop” in partner inversion techniques that can be used by adults and students alike in building trust, relationship and a whole lot of laughter. Especially when you fall/fail. The energy I felt in each one of these spark sessions was amazing and contagious. It’s been almost two weeks and I still feel like I’m talking about it on a daily basis.

In my view of life, there is thought and action. When the two meet and action takes place with a degree of thought is when I get all juiced up. I did a whole lot of thinking throughout the MTV energizer and asked myself, “so, what next?” Here are the most concrete things that I have taken action on:

Reached out to a new connection to talk about the intersection of our Innovator Projects.
Reached out to another new connection to talk about a leadership class they will be teaching and how they could incorporate some of the partner inversion techniques in their curriculum.
Wrote this blog post.
Encouraged three friends to apply for the Google for Education Certified Innovator program.
Created a timeline to reconnect with three of my #WDC17 cohort and engage them in my Innovator project and get the next round of feedback and iteration.
Registered for ISTE and realized that there will be an Innovator Energizer the day I arrive.
Started to create a culture of ritual in my daily life. I have a morning and evening ritual. One of the things I do is filling out a daily google form reflecting on my day.
Committed to a #365dayphotochallenge on Instagram to practice photography, inversion and have another daily practice.
Wrote this blog post.
Committed to having a “happy innovator hour” with local-ish innovators in the SF Bay Area.

In short, the energizer gave me the energy to tackle new projects, renew my commitment to other projects and gave me the opportunity to be connected to some amazing people. They say that you are the average of the 5 people you hang out with the most. If those 5 people are all Innovators, your life, well, let’s just say that this ride is just starting…

Adnan Iftekhar
Director of Technology
San Francisco, CA
@adnanedtech

Join this Innovative group of educators and apply for the Google Certified Innovator programs today!

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Third Time’s a Charm: Google Innovator #SYD17 Academy Reflection

November 20, 2017

Cross-posted on Heather’s Blog

G’day everyone! The Sydney Google Innovator Academy cohort wrapped in August and many of us are still adjusting to our post-academy life where a fellow Sydney Innovator, Brian Host, expressed it best: “The tyranny of the urgent is a frustrating obstacle to creative thinking and innovation.”

In the days following a whirlwind of innovating, designing, collaborating and awesomeness of what is the Google Innovator Academy, I am trying to balance the demands of my day job with thinking of all the connections I made with amazing educators from all over the world and ideas swirling around in my brain.

Jammin’ with Your People

Getting Googley with my group, Area 52.

Getting into the Google Innovator Academy is not about the badge, the Google micro kitchens or swag. The Academy is about finding your people. People who are inspiring and passionate, people who roll up their sleeves when they see big problems.

Over the span of two and half days, we were put into small groups and matched with a coach who worked with us as we went through the design thinking process to expand our ideas and solutions. During one of the spark sessions, we learned to think outside the box even further by learning how to hold our ideas lightly by giving and receiving feedback by Chris Harte, our fearless coach at the back of the table.

Part of the process was giving a card that either had a 1x or 10x on it and we had to build on each other’s ideas without self-editing until one of us either vetoed the idea or put down the genius card. The fast pace of this exercise helped us to iterate quickly and allowed us to give and receive feedback in a fun way.

We worked together, we ate together and we even jammed out together with some guitars when we took a tour of the Google office. My group (Area 52 rocks!) and cohort became my people and we will support each other as we move forward with our projects as well as receive the support of all the Google Innovators. By becoming an Innovator, I joined a large family of passionate, quirky, fun people who work hard to make their moonshot thinking a reality.

Fail Fast and Fail Forward

Getting ready for the Gallery Walk where other Innovators left feedback on the prototype for my design thinking kit for teachers.

It may sound surprising but the next step for my project is finding ways to make it fail. One of the things we learned at the academy is to fail fast and fail forward. My project is to create a design thinking kit to make it easy for teachers to implement the design thinking framework with their students.

At the Academy, I built a prototype and received feedback from other Innovators but that is simply the first step in the feedback process. The only way to get true feedback is to put the kits into teacher’s hands and see what they think and what they want for themselves and their students.

One of my favorite design sprint activities was called “Kill your Darlings”. I worked with a partner to question everything about my project and to basically shoot holes in it. This helped me to not feel attached to my solution, but rather fall more in love with my problem.

After the Academy, we get partnered with a mentor, who has been an Innovator and who has already gone through the process. I am looking forward to reviewing all the feedback and making a plan. My design thinking kit will not be perfect the first time, but it will be a stepping stone to where it needs to go to meet the needs of teachers and students.

Learning Perseverance

#thirdtimesacharm

The Google Innovator Academy is a coveted experience for many educators who love all things Google. Google accepts around 35 educators for each cohort and hosts several cohorts in locations around the world each year. While the competition seems steep, do not let that deter you from achieving your goal of becoming an Innovator. For many of us at the academy, it was not our first attempt at applying.

It took me three times to get accepted into the Academy. Instead of giving up, I decided to take some action by gathering feedback from Innovators about my slide deck and video, attending Google Innovator Application Workshop and Panel hangouts and had fun hanging out on Twitter with the #GoogleEI and cohort hashtags.

At the academy we talked about the 8 Pillars of Google Innovation- number, eight being: never fail to fail. If I had not persevered, reflected and reapplied to the Innovator Academy, I would not have received the opportunity to develop my project alongside an awesome group of educators from around the world. The Google Innovator Academy is an amazing, life-changing experience and one that will continue long after my project is out in the world.

Heather Breedlove
Technology Integration Coordinator
Arizona, USA
@hblove03