Why become a Google Certified Trainer?

The question really is not Why become a trainer? but more, Why not?

As professionals in education we have a huge amount to offer others, regardless of our daily role. You don't have to be a teacher to become a trainer. Many excellent trainers hold other roles in schools including IT managers, instructional coaches and office staff.

The are three things I think you need; good knowledge of Google Workspace, the ability to engage your audience and the enthusiasm and curiosity to try new things without getting scared. Let's face it, you really can't break it.

When I applied to become a trainer I was a Senior Leader, teaching languages and I had no formal ICT training whatsoever. I had completed by Google Educator Certification and already begun to share my new knowledge with others to help them grow and save them work.

Everybody wants that, right?

So if you are wondering if you should apply, you should apply as you have nothing to lose and a huge amount to gain from joining the Google Certified Trainer family.

In this book we'll look at the whole process from application through to becoming an established trainer.

Level 1 Certified Educator

An important prerequisite of applying to become a Google Certified Trainer is
that you must have valid Level 1 and Level 2 Google Certified Educator status.

Both courses provide asynchronous practice materials and questions via the Google Teacher Center to help you decide if you are ready for the exams.

Once you are ready, you can sign up for the Level 1 exam at a minimal cost of $10 (£7) and you will be given a window of 8 days to complete the 3 hour open-book examination online.

The Level 1 exam covers the basics of Google Workspace and is made up of a multiple choice scenario based section, followed by practical tasks to be completed by you in a provided Google Workspace exam account.

The exam is marked using AI so you just have to complete the tasks, they don't have to be masterpieces!

Level 2 Certified Educator

The level 2 exam takes you to the next level and covers more aspects of Google Workspace as well as some really important pedagogical themes.

The Teacher Center has plenty of resources that are available for free and online groups such as Global GEG have Level 1 and Level 2 bootcamp playlists on their Youtube channel that you can watch in your own time.

Some schools may also enlist a Google Training Partner to conduct bootcamp style training to support staff in preparing for the exam.

Just like with the Level 1 exam, you need to give yourself up to 3 hours uninterrupted to complete the online exam. Get yourself comfortable, away from distractions and don't overthink it.

Level 1 Certified Educator

An important prerequisite of applying to become a Google Certified Trainer is
that you must have valid Level 1 and Level 2 Google Certified Educator status.

Both courses provide asynchronous practice materials and questions via the Google Teacher Center to help you decide if you are ready for the exams.

Once you are ready, you can sign up for the Level 1 exam at a minimal cost of $10 (£7) and you will be given a window of 8 days to complete the 3 hour open-book examination online.

The Level 1 exam covers the basics of Google Workspace and is made up of a multiple choice scenario based section, followed by practical tasks to be completed by you in a provided Google Workspace exam account.

The exam is marked using AI so you just have to complete the tasks, they don't have to be masterpieces!

Level 2 Certified Educator

The level 2 exam takes you to the next level and covers more aspects of Google Workspace as well as some really important pedagogical themes.

The Teacher Center has plenty of resources that are available for free and online groups such as Global GEG have Level 1 and Level 2 bootcamp playlists on their Youtube channel that you can watch in your own time.

Some schools may also enlist a Google Training Partner to conduct bootcamp style training to support staff in preparing for the exam.

Just like with the Level 1 exam, you need to give yourself up to 3 hours uninterrupted to complete the online exam. Get yourself comfortable, away from distractions and don't overthink it.

Trainer Skills Assessment

Once you have your Level 1 and Level 2 Google Certified Educator certifications, you can begin your Google Certified Trainer Application.

First of all, there is the Certified Trainer course which will teach you everything you need to know.

A fundamental part of this application process is that you must complete and pass the Trainer Skills Assessment. To do this, you must create an account or login to the webassessor platform.

This is again, an online assessment focusing on the key aspects important to successful trainers. Much of the content is similar to Level 2 but you have added content to be aware of including privacy rules and accreditations such as FERPA and COPPA in the US and GDPR in the UK.

Google for Education Trainer Program

Your first trainings

In order to complete your Trainer application you will need to have conducted a certain amount of training already. This could be with staff in your school or elsewhere but you will need to draw on these experiences as part of your written application as well as reflecting on how impactful the training was and how you might improve it.

In order to do this, it's important to gather feedback from any training sessions that you run and ideally, you would want these sessions to include a minimum of 5 trainees.

Later on we'll look at what sort of feedback to gather but of course, how you gather it is about walking the walk, so use a google form and make life easy on you and your trainees.

At this point in time you cannot claim to be a Google Trainer but as a Certified Educator Level 2, you will have plenty of knowledge to impart on your audience that will revolutionise the way they work.

In my opinion, the most effective way to deliver training is to make it as hands on as possible but don't expect everyone to keep up and learn everything. I always ask my trainees to try to take at least one thing away that they will work on or try.

In terms of resources, you will create your own according to the needs of your audience but you do not need to spend hours creating beautiful templates. Instead, head to somewhere like Slidesmania.com to make use of the amazing free templates already made available by Paula and other educators.

Your first trainings

In order to complete your Trainer application you will need to have conducted a certain amount of training already. This could be with staff in your school or elsewhere but you will need to draw on these experiences as part of your written application as well as reflecting on how impactful the training was and how you might improve it.

In order to do this, it's important to gather feedback from any training sessions that you run and ideally, you would want these sessions to include a minimum of 5 trainees.

Later on we'll look at what sort of feedback to gather but of course, how you gather it is about walking the walk, so use a google form and make life easy on you and your trainees.

At this point in time you cannot claim to be a Google Trainer but as a Certified Educator Level 2, you will have plenty of knowledge to impart on your audience that will revolutionise the way they work.

In my opinion, the most effective way to deliver training is to make it as hands on as possible but don't expect everyone to keep up and learn everything. I always ask my trainees to try to take at least one thing away that they will work on or try.

In terms of resources, you will create your own according to the needs of your audience but you do not need to spend hours creating beautiful templates. Instead, head to somewhere like Slidesmania.com to make use of the amazing free templates already made available by Paula and other educators.

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Your application

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So now you have enough trainings and feedback complete, you should begin your written application.

This is your chance to shine, to celebrate what you have done to progress the use of technology in the classroom and beyond. Talk about impact, numbers of people trained, changes in whole school approaches, colleagues who have also achieved Level 1 or 2 as a result of your work, basically anything that seems relevant.

If you have been training staff, you will have no shortage of things to talk about. Don't be shy, respect and reflect on what you have achieved already!

Here is a link to the FAQs on the Teacher Centre

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It is vital that the trainings included in your application (aim for at least 5 to be included) should be recent (within the last year) and you will be asked to provide links to resources you have used such as slides decks, templates or google forms. Make sure when you add these links, they are in a viewable format "anyone with the link can view" or your application will be rejected. In fact, that's the most common reason for rejected applications.

You will need to upload your feedback files, your Level 1, Level 2 and Trainer Skills Assessment certificates (not the badges) and make sure you reference any externally sourced materials used so the reviewing panel can determine your resources from those of others.

Just remember, not all of your trainings need to be delivered to 5+ people but at least 1 should. Trainings can be face to face or virtual.

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Your feedback

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When gathering feedback from your initial trainings, keep it simple but qualitative. Gather information such as names and email addresses first but then I would suggest using scaled questions such as:
"How would you rate the quality of this training?" (make sure you clarify the scale)
"What was the best thing about the training?"
"How could this training be improved?"

I also like to ask
"What is one thing you are going to follow up with or try as a result of today's training?" and then I use FormMule add-on to send this to the respondent as a reminder of what they have committed to.

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Your case study

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It is vital that the trainings included in your application (aim for at least 5 to be included) should be recent (within the last year) and you will be asked to provide links to resources you have used such as slides decks, templates or google forms. Make sure when you add these links, they are in a viewable format "anyone with the link can view" or your application will be rejected. In fact, that's the most common reason for rejected applications.

You will need to upload your feedback files, your Level 1, Level 2 and Trainer Skills Assessment certificates (not the badges) and make sure you reference any externally sourced materials used so the reviewing panel can determine your resources from those of others.

Just remember, not all of your trainings need to be delivered to 5+ people but at least 1 should. Trainings can be face to face or virtual.

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Your potential reach

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Also, think about your potential reach in terms of training. How many staff in your organisation? Are there other schools nearby that you could support? Could you provide training within your LA or Trust? Could you provide training on a private basis?

For example, at Academies Enterprise Trust, we have a team of InnovAETors who are the edtech champions in each school. We work together, hold regular events and support schools in the trust and beyond with meeting training needs.

All of this will have an effect on the impact of your training and your growing reputation.

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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.

If you want some inspiration, check out other people's application videos on Youtube.

Alice Keeler has published a playlist of trainer applications for you to view

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.