Google’s Applied Digital Skills Curriculum can be the refreshing resource you never knew you needed. Best of all, it’s easy to use and 100% free for everyone!
This post is guest written by Sue Tranchina. Sue is a high school business-technology and video production teacher at Shore Regional High School in West Long Branch, NJ. She is a Google for Education Certified Trainer and leads workshops on behalf of Professional Development Partner at Google for Education, Kiker Learning. Sue has led more than 50 Applied Digital Skills workshops in-person across the USA and virtually to educators globally. Sue also presented on the Applied Digital Skills Curriculum in the Google Theater at ISTE 2019. You can follow Sue on Twitter @SueTranchina and youtube.com/HowToWithSue.
Teachers are working harder now than ever before. In the face of the pandemic, we’ve been forced to reinvent nearly every element of our trade in order to adapt to remote or hybrid learning environments. The pandemic has also pressured us to feel that we should constantly be learning new tools and trying new strategies or resources.
Unfortunately, these stressors are pushing teachers everywhere to burn out. Still, we press on.
But we shouldn’t have to do it alone.
Google introduced a curriculum called Applied Digital Skills. Applied Digital Skills is a free, video-based, easy to use curriculum that infuses content standards into project based, authentic learning tasks anchored in Google Workspace (formerly G Suite) applications. As a high school video production and business technology teacher for over a decade, I’ve used Applied Digital Skills to help my students develop critical, job-ready digital skills, as well as fundamental soft skills (e.g. collaboration, critical thinking, creativity) while simultaneously meeting grade-level content standards. More importantly, students love it!
5 reasons why you should be using Google’s Free Applied Digital Skills curriculum
1) EASY TO USE
- Applied Digital Skills is true student-centered learning with technology infused.
- Designed by teachers, for teachers
- Each lesson contains
- ACTIVITIES: video tutorials, extension lessons, estimated time to complete, digital tools, & skills
- TEACHING MATERIALS: lesson plans, rubrics, certificates, example projects, starter projects, & video downloads
- Aligned with state standards & Reviewed by the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE)
- Already in use by more than 1,000,000 students
EASY TO USE - Recommended resources:
2) TEACHES 21st CENTURY SKILLS
- 148+ lessons (& counting!) that are accessible anytime, anywhere
- Project-based curriculum that uses the Google Workspace (formerly G Suite) Apps
- Lessons that prepare students for jobs not yet invented by infusing job-ready skills and technology in each lesson: productivity, collaboration, organization, etc.
- Teach the 4 C's: communication, collaboration, creativity, and critical thinking
EXPLORE THE CURRICULUM FAVORITE LESSONS:
3) MAKES YOUR LIFE EASIER
SAMPLE LESSON: If-Then Adventure Story
- INSTRUCTOR-LED - VIDEO LESSONS: PERSONALIZED VIEWING FOR ABILITY
- A+ SAMPLES PROJECTS
- STARTING TEMPLATES
- (EDITABLE!) LESSON PLANS ✅
- (EDITABLE!) RUBRICS ✅
- SHARE TO GOOGLE CLASSROOM
- MONITOR STUDENT PROGRESS
- DOWNLOAD ALL VIDEOS
4) POWER UP YOUR ASYNCHRONOUS INSTRUCTION
POWER UP YOUR ASYNCHRONOUS INSTRUCTION - Recommended resources:
- Applied Digital Skills Independent Extensions - QUICK LESSONS that are great for younger students or anchor activities
5) YOU CAN LEARN, TOO!
- You don’t have to master a tool in order to assign it to your students
- Lesson Collections to help review Google Workspace and prepare for Google Certified Educator Exams
- Lesson Collections to aid with teaching in hybrid and remote instruction
LESSONS FOR EDUCATORS & SCHOOL LEADERS - Lesson recommendations:
- Google Applied Digital Skills: Teach from Anywhere
- Google Workspace Training - learn or refresh you knowledge of Google Workspace (formerly G Suite)
- Create Quizzes in Google Forms - a top requested PD training session
- Lessons on Google Drawings or Google Sites
Finally, (again..) YES! THIS IS 100% FREE!
Usually, the PD for Applied Digital Skills is too!
If you are interested in Google sponsored PD with Sue, please email SueTranchina@gmail.com. Workshops can be delivered virtual or in-person (hopefully soon?!) in 1-2 hour sessions for groups of 35+.
If you are already using Applied Digital Skills, you can share your story here!
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