Friday, November 1, 2013

Google Ninja Academy tomorrow!

In April, a co-worker and I thought it would be awesome to utilize our record number of Google Certified Trainers in our school district in a productive manner - through a Google Summit. At the time, we could only envision a conference run by a school district to bring notoriety to our school district. We knew that many of our teachers had not been to a true Google conference, much less a conference feature education technology. Most had only been to conferences where there was a main keynote who lectured. We wanted to expose them to a new style of learning - a learning style they could bring back to their classroom. Therefore, we opened up the academy to outside districts, hoping to build communities of innovation rather than pockets. And, thus, the Google Ninja Academy was born.

Six months later, we are one day away from our inaugural Google Ninja Academy, stressed, but excited. We are already making plans on how to improve it and grow it for next year. Some highlights include: over 500 registrants, over 100 sessions, a demo slam, learners' playground, Chromebook lab, bloggers' cafe, Google swag, and student-produced media. We will have a photobooth to document the academy and hopefully, encourage others to attend next year. We have also created our own Yapp App for the big day. Additionally, we have our own YouTube playlist for our Hangouts On-Air (yes, we have presenters coming to us from around the nation - through Hangouts On-Air) and our other big hits. But, best of all, we have plenty of learning opportunities for all learners!

Since this is our first year, we will have much to grow on and have already received feedback on ways to grow.  Please follow us tomorrow with #ninjaacademy and our twitter handle: @rrisdgsummit.

We also have Google + Communities you can join to find our session resources, located on our Website. Follow us tomorrow as we learn together!

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