GSuite Training: Task Cards

Every year, I lead a Technology for ELLs Focus Group for teachers in my district- Classroom and ESOL teachers are welcome to attend. Between class sessions, teachers read Learning First, Technology Second by Liz Kolb. During sessions, we get hands on practice with different tech tools and discuss how they can be used in instruction to support language growth of ELLs.

As part of the focus group, teachers take the Level 1 and Level 2 Google Educator Exams. One big challenge when leading any sort of technology training is always the fact that there tends to be a wide range of tech-know-how in any group. If you do step-by-step, the more advanced users are bored, and if you skip the step-by-step, the less techy teachers struggle.

This time around, I decided to use task cards to let the teachers explore different parts of the GSuite for Education at their own pace. Each task card has 1-3 related tasks, along with a link/QR code leading teachers to directions or a GIF demonstrating the task. I plan to pair up the more proficient users with the less proficient users, and let them work through the tasks.

This will give the less techy teachers support, while building the capacity of the more techy teachers to share their knowledge.

So far, I've created task cards for Gmail, Google Classroom, and Google Forms. Below you can find the task cards for Gmail. If you use these for a training, please leave my name and contact info intact, and comment below to let me know how it goes!