Google Domination at #METC15

I look forward to the Midwest Educational Technology Community Conference (METC) for approximately 362 days each year; give me a day to recover from it and I'm counting down to the next one.



My time at METC this year ended up overwhelmingly Google-influenced. Yes, I chose to attend a few sessions that had Google in the title. But even if the session wasn't declared to be all about Google, there was some kind of Google influence. Maybe the fact that Jaime Casap (@jcasap), Global Education Evangelist at Google, Inc., was a keynote speaker had something to do with it, I don't know. Check out his address here - well worth a watch! He was full of insights, an engaging speaker, and really delved into the nitty gritty of the past and future of education and technology. Some favorite nuggets:

This generation of students doesn’t think who can I work for? They think who can I work with to have an impact. @jcasap #metc15
— Steven W. Anderson (@web20classroom) February 11, 2015

We used to have to call the Internet. And the Internet was busy. #METC15

— Stacey Kenney (@stacey_kenney) February 11, 2015

"Education isn't broken... The world it was set up for just doesn't exist anymore" @jcasap #metc15

— Michelle Fank (@mfankopedia) February 11, 2015

#Technology is not the silver bullet. #Education is the silver bullet for lasting change - @jcasap #METC15 pic.twitter.com/Rv0qJPkfGS

— Drew McAllister (@drewmca) February 11, 2015

The devices kids are using today are the worst devices they will ever use in their lives. #metc15 pic.twitter.com/X9nXdQbGJ1

— Dr. Justin Tarte (@justintarte) February 11, 2015

I'll be devoting a few future blog posts to more detailed explorations of favorite tools, tricks, and concepts from the various presentations. And any resources from sessions are available on the METC website for anyone to view, so take a look! But in the meantime, a rundown of JUST the Google topics/tools I loved would be...

• Using "replace with" codes for adding quick comments (so simple!)
• Lab-scheduler add-on for Sheets
• g(Math) add-on for forms
• Using Drawings within Docs to format a template
• Changing the word "edit" to "copy" at the end of your sharing URL to force students to make a copy of a shared file
• Adding attachments (collaborative docs?) to events in calendar
• Research tool
• Using Google forms for a plethora of formative assessment: exit slips, 3-2-1, performance rubrics, quick writes, etc.
• Google Drive Template Gallery for school-wide document templates
• Doctopus and Goobric (mind blown!)
• Saving Forms to a tablet or smartphone home screen for quick, on-the-go access to save classroom observations, to-do lists, etc.

I'll add some links above as I find them. And I'm excited to share more details about the above tools and tricks. 

For now, I'll just leave you with this...