Googlios

I listened to the podcast "Googlios: A 21st-Century Approach to Teaching, Learning, & Assessment by Alex Ambrose" that was found on K12 Online Conference 2009. A Googlio is your own website where you can use all of Google's free tools. I have to admit that at the beginning of this podcast I was thinking "there is no way I'm going to make it through this 20 minutes," but about 3 minutes into the podcast I was interested. The introduction was terrible, but Alex Ambrose started to really know what he was talking about once the video slide show started playing. I learned that the use of technology is projected to keep rising as we enter further into the 21st century. DFL or "digital as a first language" are what our students are. We need to offer them the type of learning that is natural to them. They are digital natives, unlike most of us teachers who are digital immigrants. The biggest question is...will schools advance fast enough to provide this type of learning environment? Google apps help provide schools and educators with the tools they need to create this type of environment. If learning changes, then assessment needs to change as well. The use of webfolios, which are portfolios online, offer a great way to assess students in this century. The webfolio will follow the student their whole life. Teachers can use them, parents can see them, guidance counselors can use them and so on. Googlios are webfolios and it is free to use. They are a great way to begin to create a learning environment that will help our DFL students understand faster.

I never realized how many cool things Google has to offer. I keep hearing more and more about them this week. "Google it" has much more meaning to me now. It is not just a search engine, its like everything!