What is Google for Education Certified all about? As Google continues to gain influence in the ed-tech hardware market, a lot of educators are beginning to see the relevance of Chromebooks in their classrooms.
These Google for education certified devices look quite small and basic in appearance, but you can never the might of these devices until you take a look at some of its features such as Google Docs, Slides, Sheets, Apps, and many more.
In this article, we shall be throwing more light on all that we need to know about becoming a Google Certified Educator. But before going into details of what is and what’s not, what do we understand by the term Google Certified Educator’?
Well, a Google Certified Educator, GCE, for short, is a program structured and managed by Google that utilizes G-Suite as part of their teaching and student learning.
This program aggregates the experience of both classroom experience with training resources developed by Google and also examinations which ultimately prepares students to be Google for education certified professionals.
Keep on reading to learn more about Google for Education Certified.
Google for Education Certified
Just like every other professional field, there is always some type of hierarchical chain and pre-requisite qualifications before getting to the “peak”, the same can also be said for people aspiring to become Google for education certified professionals.
Levels of Google for Education Certification
There are four (4) basic certifications when it comes to Google certification, and starting from the least to the top are as follows:
- Google certified educator Level 1
- Google certified educator level 2
- Also, Google certified trainer
- Google Certified Innovator
Google Certified Educator Level 1 & 2
Anyone can become a Google certified educator and can even work towards achieving certification even at the comfort of their homes. There are online training courses put in place to facilitate learning on both levels.
Each course unit is structured to contain reading passages, audio clips, video testimonials from learning colleagues, and also a “Lesson Check” to monitor your progress through the course.
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The online training course takes basically 12 and 10 hours for Levels 1 and 2 respectively with an exam fee of $10 for Level 1 and $25 for level 2.
Google Certified Trainer
This is the logical next step after completing the GCE levels, and just like the pre-requisite qualification, online courses and exams are conducted to become a certified GCT, and in addition to completing the course, educators are required to submit a formal application that includes a demo training video, professional references, a resume, and case study of training strategies.
However, it’s not enough to just obtain certifications as educators are required to keep their skills sharp and updated throughout the year and these include the following steps to be taken:
- Conducting at least three Google professional development workshops annually.
- Collecting data on training and sharing them with the Google crew
- Also, Contributing at least one resource to Google’s online trainer community.
Google Certified Innovator (GCI)
This, here, is the ‘peak’ of Google education certifications. GCIs are a group of Google educators who are not only passionate about training others but also highly involved in innovating uses for the Google Apps ecosystem in education.
To apply to become a Google Certified Innovator, educators must be a level 2 Google certified educator and be able to demonstrate and have a sound knowledge of tech innovation in schools.
It’s also important to note that Google only open applications for the Innovator program periodically, so interested applicants stay tuned and keep their fingers crossed for the next round of application.
Recommended >>> Google for Education App: G Suite for Education | Google Classroom
