Online Toolkit Presentation for Manaiakalani - Using Google Drawing in the Classroom

As preparation for the Sydney Summit I volunteered to facilitate an online toolkit on Using Google Drawing in the Classroom. Dave Winter provided support via a Google Hangout for preparation for this. Setting up included developing a slide deck; setting up a calendar event with an invite for participants sending the link within the invitation. Via the calendar event I sent an e-mail invitation to all the participants - easy when you know how! The toolkit ran on Wednesday 5th June for 45 minutes.
I decided to include some slides on basic Google Drawing skills at the beginning of the deck, then have the bulk of the deck filled with illustrations of student work highlighting how the tool can be used to learn, create and share in a variety of different ways across a range of curriculum areas. I linked my thinking around these slides to key skills and competencies in learning, that related to areas within the Australian Curriculum, ready for submission for the Sydney Summit. These included - Knowledge and Skills; Problem Solving: Critical Thinking; and Creative Thinking.
At the end of my slide deck I included a couple of slides, with extra tips on using Google Drawing - including a trick for inserting video; changing canvas size; inserting diagrams; changing backgrounds; and using Word Art.
Despite having 26 people register for the online toolkit, only 14 participated on the day. I had set a colleague up as wing person - which was great. She was able to monitor comments and questions as we went. It was really difficult to monitor the session as it proceeded - very different to a face-to-face workshop, where you can see participants and make changes accordingly. The participants were very quiet, but most seemed positive with thank you comments at the end. I had great face to face positive feedback from one participant a couple of days later, when I bumped into her at the supermarket. Another participant sent me a piece of work that one of her students produced when she planned a task using Google Drawing the day after the toolkit. That was encouraging!

Like other MIT colleagues, I found it useful to do the toolkit. It was a good opportunity to trial the material for our Summit workshop, with plenty of time after to review the slides and think about changes needed. I have decided I need more examples with a bigger range of  learning at different levels. I also need to plan for "play time" during the session, so think about when to schedule that into the workshop presentation.