As technology is touching and changing every aspect of our lives, including the classroom, the Parkes Christian School has embraced it and is regarded as a pioneer in the Central West.
Clarence Goh is the school’s Information Technology teacher and as the only Google Trainer and Google Innovator in the Central West, he is leading the Google Education Group (GEG) in Parkes. He explains that GEGs (Google Educator Groups) are independently run communities of educators who inspire and empower each other to meet the needs of students through technology both in the classroom and beyond.
Via face to face meet-ups and online activities, GEGs provide a way for educators who are passionate about education and technology to meet like-minded people and share, learn, and collaborate together.
This week he convened a meeting with 12 teachers of the Parkes Christian School where they learned more about the usages of Google Classroom and how it can improve classroom practice. “Google Classroom is part of the G Suite collection of tools that our school is currently the pioneer and leader of in the Central West,” said Clarence.
“The session went well and staff gained a lot of new knowledge. This will help improve our teaching methods and assessments,” said Clarence. He aims to make the Google GEG a quarterly event in Parkes. “All GEGs are open
to the public, which means that all educators from the region are welcome to attend.” The next GEG will be in term 1 next year.
Clarence is also working towards getting more staff Google-accredited. This means they would have completed the Google Educator Exams Levels 1 and 2 and could then become trainers and innovators.
“As we learn and employ new technologies into our classroom, the teaching and learning process will improve and become more streamlined and efficient,” said Clarence.