So you want to become a Google Certified Trainer

Your application video

Your application video should be 3 minutes or less in total and must focus on how a Google for Education Tool can increase efficiency and redefine learning in the classroom.

Just like any linked resources, video settings should be set to viewable. The team will be reviewing your style and ability to train in the video so be sure to reflect the integration of the tool you choose to use with students as well as communicating your "googliness". How do you embrace innovation, change and challenge?

The quality of the video is very important and I would recommend it should be either posted on a Youtube channel as unlisted or saved in Google Drive and should be viewable anyone with the link.

The first 60 seconds should be about you and your role with regards to G Suite for Education/Google Workspace. The remaining two minutes should be used to deliver a tutorial using one or more G Suite tools in an innovative way.

Think about not only demonstrating the tools, but also how it could be used in the classroom in a creative way.

Make sure to focus on a G Suite tool, not a 3rd party app.

Your video doesn't have to be a masterpiece of video editing, that's not what's being reviewed. It's the content that matters. Getting used to using a screen recording tool such as Screencastify or Loom is a huge benefit and don't feel you have to do it all in one take.

Before recording, get comfortable and time yourself in a practice to make sure you don't exceed the 3 minute limit. You'll be surprised how quickly that time will pass.

Prepare all your resources and know your steps for the tutorial section. Know what you are going to type, upload or edit in advance.

Google Certified Trainer Group

So you've sent off your application. The waiting is horrible but hopefully you'll soon receive the email you've been waiting for and your welcome to the Google Certified Trainer community.

Brace yourself! The Google Trainer Group emails are intense, you'd expect nothing less from such a global group of awesome trainers working on different time zones. It never sleeps but you can set up filters and of course, choose a daily digest or abridged summary if you prefer.

The most important thing is to make sure you don't miss any emails from May Jue. May is the program manager at Google and an absolute superstar. She is always looking for ways to celebrate and amplify the work we do as trainers as well as finding awesome opportunities for us to collaborate.

You'll also be given your own Google Workspce domain so you can set up your own accounts and manage apps and access in the same way your school IT admin or IT support provider does. This is a fantastic opportunity to provide seamless training to trainees who don't yet have Google accounts but also to test out new tools, features, extensions and add-ons without having to get them approved on your school network first.

The other thing you will be asked to do is sign a Google NDA (non-disclosure agreement) because as trainers, we are often party to information that is not public knowledge. It is vital that you sing and honour this agreement or your trainer status may be revoked.

A huge advantage is also the opportunity to meet up at events like the Bett Show or at Google offices for Trainer Energizers. Your local GEG might even organise their own events too so get involved and grow your network.

Filters rock!

Completing the 12 annual trainings

One of the things that often puts people off applying is the worry that they won't be able to complete the 12 trainings per year and I felt the same when I applied but I needn't have worried.

There are many ways to ensure you complete at least 12 trainings but you need to be aware that they may well be seasonal and therefore not evenly spread as one a month.

As we all know, teachers in general are keen to learn new things at the start of a term when (hopefully) feeling refreshed so there are often opportunities both in school and beyond around the start of terms. On the flip side, approaching Christmas and the end of the school year can often present the opposite. You may feel under pressure to fit a training in to stick to their planned schedule but if people aren't in the right mindset, your efforts could be wasted and your impact minimal.

Add to that that in some schools, by the end of term people may be trying to 'tick off the required hours' and you may not get the right people in the room.

I would advise that you actively seek opportunities to conduct trainings. It could be that you speak to your school PD coordinator to arrange formal sessions or some time on an INSET day, but equally, you could ask Heads of Department for some time with their team to look at new tools or approaches, or offer sessions for trainee teachers or NQTs. Don't forget, you can also add a lot of value to the office teams too as they are often the ones who may have Google Workspace thrust upon them and may not receive enough training specific to their busy roles.

You can hold 1:1 sessions, small group sessions, drop-ins, whole school PD or virtual. Just keep your resources, gather your feedback and be sure to enter your sessions in the EDU Activity App for trainers.

Setting up your domain

If you've never set up a domain it can be quite a daunting process. Firstly, get yourself a domain name, personally I went through GoDaddy to get mine and it was pretty painless. The issues came when I suddenly had to deal with DNS settings and various other terms I had absolutely no idea about.

Luckily, I posted in the Trainer community and someone recommended a series of videos by Louis Shanafelt (@TH_LouisS) who now works at Texthelp. It turned out that weeks of frustration basically came down to one full stop that wasn't needed. Thanks Louis for these videos.

You can also ask your local GEG or members of Global GEG for assistance. Global GEG founders Abid Patel (@Abid_Patel) and Luis Pertus (@pertuzluisfer) are often to be found offering to support newly minted trainers with their domain set up so you are not alone!

Once you have your domain set up, you'll need to think about permission settings and which apps you want to be able to use. Consider carefully whether you want trainees to be able to add extensions or add-ons themselves or wether you want to perform a domain install to keep more control.

Creating trainee accounts

Now you have your domain set up, you'll need to create some user accounts on your domain. Personally I use a simple user1@domain.com format and have 30 accounts set up for use if needed. I not only use these accounts for training people who don't have a gmail account already, but also for testing and demonstration purposes.

It's really important to see the user experience from both ends.

Once you have conducted you accounts, it pays to log in to each one and open up all the apps you intend to use. This will prevent users at training having to click through Take a tour pop-ups that will be covered by your training anyway.

After the event, delete docs from the accounts so that they are clean for the next user.

Of course, you won't always need these accounts as many users will already have an account but it pays to know in advance.

Getting out there

Once you are all set up the biggest step is just getting yourself out there. You don't have to start with a whole school PD or a large group session. Start where you feel comfortable and feel you can have an immediate impact.

Talk to colleagues about their pain points, think about whether you may have a suitable solution and perhaps find a time to sit down together 1:1.

Alternatively, offer to support other trainers by being an extra pair of hands to help with logistics of a large training. You will learn a huge amount from other trainers, especially about different delivery styles and approaches. Everyone has their favourite way of doing things but there are so many ways that we can never know it all. Are you on one of these teams, or moonlighting across many?

URL Trickster

URL Tricksters love playing about with all that gobbledygook in the omnibox to perform their magic. They have no time for keyboard shortcuts or more traditional methods. They are anarchists.

Change the URL end from:

/edit to /copy to force a copy
/edit to /template/preview to create a template
slides.new for a new slide deck
meet.new for a new Meet

Keyboard Magician

These trainers love a keyboard shortcut and seem to have them carved into their brains. They are the. kings and queens of the CTRL/CMD key and all it's wizardry.

CTRL + SHIFT + T - repoens last tab
R in gmail starts a reply
SHift + F in Drive creates a new folder

Waffle Warrior

Waffle Warriors like things simple and all in one place. They refer to the app picker as a waffle because it's homely and they like that they can rearrange the furniture.

What will your training look like?

What you training looks like will depend on you personally, your audience and who you are delivering for. Google Partners might provide resources, slide deck templates and a schedule to stick to while schools and groups might ask you to focus on one particular tool or ask for a general Q&A demo.

Whichever it is, remember you are in control. You manage the time and your trainees don't have to suddenly become experts in everything. Invariably you are encouraging them to dip their toes in the water rather than a deep dive into the inner workings of Google Workspace.

Encourage exploration, clicking, trial and error and sharing amongst your trainees both during the training and thereafter.

These are just some of the Google Partners I have been involved with and highly recommend.

Keeping it real

However you run your trainings, the most important thing from my perspective is to keep it real. I don't think there is any substitute for using real life examples when training. Examples of where you or others have adopted a new tool or approach and the impact has been significant.

To help get your message across, try to develop your story-telling abilities. Lead people on a journey, take them their in their imagination and let them feel what it's like to experience that breakthrough.

Do that and you will quickly get people on the bus with you. Obviously, you can use your own experiences too and most importantly, also tell stories about your own failures when things didn't work so well.

Before the training

There are a number of things that you may need to do before your trainings depending on where and when they are. I've been fortunate enough to lead in person training in my own school and local schools as well as at International Schools in Europe.

For all trainings, you need to make sure you find out certain things in advance like:
* does the venue provide devices? If so, which?
* do delegates have accounts or do you need to provide them?
* does the venue have a firewall that might block certain sites? If so, can you provide URLs to be unblocked?
* is there parking at the venue?
* what time can you get access to the venue?
* will anyone be on hand when you arrive to aid with set up?
* will you need to travel the day before?
* will you need to book accommodation and/or flights?
and of course
* are refreshments and lunch provided?

If you are staying overnight or booking flights, it's worth looking at loyalty programs if this could become a regular thing. You may be able to earn points or discounts on future bookings.

Also consider the impact of travelling on yourself. You probably don't want to be travelling home at midnight and then having to teach at 8am so think carefully about dates and other commitments.

If others are also delivering with you or at the same venue, can you arrange to car share or at least travel/ stay together. It's not much fun dining alone so if you can arrange a dinner the night before or at least a breakfast together, it really helps.