My journey to apply to be a Google Innovator

Have you ever felt way out of your comfort zone? Well, that was me two years ago sitting in one of the Google Educator Bootcamps learning about what it takes to be a Google Trainer and Innovator. Everyone around me seemed to know more about tech than I did. I promptly put my head back inside my shell like the proverbial turtle and continued to work on developing my skills with the Google Suite of Apps.

In January this year our independent school system held it's annual teacher PD day and I volunteered to run a session on HyperDocs. Presenters were asked to volunteer to do a Demo Slam which I put my hand up for, and then found out I was going up against professional EdTech team presenters! Our system's eLearning Coordinator and myself were the only locals to take part in the event. I asked a few presenting teachers why they weren't getting up as I knew they were as techy or more so than me. Their response: "we're scared" and "we can't go up against the EdTech crew". Was I scared? Yep, terrified. How could I as a classroom teacher expect to do well against world-travelling professionals who did this all the time? Would I embarrass myself or my school? Would the technology stuff up? What if someone did the same thing (Bitmoji) as me? How would I cope with the time pressure? I struggled to sleep the night before and on the day had to work hard to stop the body twitching with nerves. I found this image on Twitter recently that really resonated with me after taking on this challenge. 

Yes, I was freaked out but I didn't let it conquer me.  I embraced the fear of failure and gave it a go. Most growth and learning occurs when you step outside your comfort zone. As a consequence of my Demo Slam efforts, Kimberley Hall (@kehall16) from EdTech encouraged me to present at a local EdTech Summit as well as apply for my Google Trainer and Innovator certifications. It was only with the encouragement of an external voice that I took on the challenge and applied for the #SYD17 Google Innovator Cohort. (Google Trainer Certification is my goal for 2018 or 2019).

So what is involved in applying to be a Google Innovator? You need to do the following:

1. Have your Google Educator Level 2 Certificate.
2. Come up with an innovative project that will improve teaching and learning using Google Suite Apps. This can be focused on students, teachers, the school community or wider education system. 
3. Download the draft application Doc so that you can have time to focus and reflect on creating your responses to the Google Form questions. Assessors are looking for applicants who show they are Googley so think about what that means. My hot tip is to ask someone to go over your draft responses and give feedback. One of my local EdTech team offered to look over draft responses at a Summit earlier this year and I took her up on the offer. She told me which responses were strong, and asked questions to prompt improvement in other areas. If you're interested in seeing my responses check out the following link. Make sure that any links that you list on your Application form are view only and open to the public. This is important if your Apps automatically limit sharing to your school domain.
4. Create a Vision Slide Deck to explain your project idea. The Innovator Application site will have a template that you can use and modify. Here is the one that I created. A quick Google search for Google Innovator Vision Decks will also provide you with some inspiration. Don't get too intimidated by what's out there though. Show who you are as an educator and link your solutions to Google Apps. That is the important thing.
5. Create a 1 minute Vision clip of your project that can be uploaded to YouTube as a public video. I found this the trickiest part as it is difficult to limit yourself to 60 seconds. You really have to focus on what is important! You can use any App/s to create your video. However, don't get so caught up in the design process that you forget to show the important stuff. Again, do a YouTube search to get some ideas. These are the Vision videos from the successful applicants in my #SYD17 Google Innovator cohort. There are some really creative videos out there with some inspirational ideas so have fun exploring. 

                                                                               

Once you put in your application, relax. Check out the Twitter hashtag #GoogleEI and build your Professional Learning Network (PLN) by adding like-minded Educators. Successful notifications come out on the week of a particular date. I didn't read that bit properly and so assumed that when I didn't get anything in my inbox on the Monday that I was unsuccessful. Suits me right for not reading the information properly like I'm always telling my students to do, lol! Our notifications came out on the Friday, with the original "congratulations" message landing in the spam folder of some applicants. If you're selected you will have about 4 other emails come in, so even if the original message goes to spam you'll know you got accepted. So what comes next once your successful? You'll just have to wait till a later post!

By the way, if you are unsuccessful with your application don't let it destroy your self-belief and desire to improve your Googlicious skills. Keep at it. In the meantime, share your journey with your students like I did. It's a great illustration to them of resilience, overcoming fear, building networks, modelling learning and trying your best.

                                                                                 @jodyflawson