Our first experience with Google Hangouts
would have been for fun with friends and family. For friends and family members who stay very distant from us, we can use Google Hangouts as a tool for video chatting with every one simultaneously. My experience would
define it as fast, simple to communicate and fun.
We know the fun part of Google Hangout is not the gist of this article. We recommend that teachers should utilize their time with effective video chatting as Google Hangout is an ideal tool for teachers to increase the level of communication and professional development in every school.
Thanks to this article by Ben Johnson
, we now know the great uses of Google Hangout for Teacher Development.
A Tool for Collaboration
We can see the increase in number of teachers who have access to internet. Grouping teachers residing close to each other requires walking along the passage for meeting colleagues and that requires an excessive portion of effort. This is simply because those teachers are extremely busy and cannot figure out time for such efforts. Here is where, Google Hangouts can provide help to teachers.
There are numerous campuses comprising of several buildings separated by passages and courtyards. A Google Hangouts session could assist in saving time and energy for every individual. Google Hangouts for teachers can simplify the load by providing more time allotment for discussion and scheduling. This application can be easily downloaded on their devices like iPad and can communicate instantly with their departments by creating a circle of friends.
Flexibility
Google Hangouts for teachers is a potent tool for teachers for communication that can augment association and competency by reducing time, energy. It is not necessary for all discussions to be performed during the day – they could be done at home during evening hours and on weekends when things are a bit further matured, rested and ready. After school hours is usually not a right time to expect teachers to be at their best since they seem to be exhausted and justly so. Google Hangouts for teachers permit teachers additional time for becoming flexible.
In reality, the most potent feature of Google Hangouts for teachers is when teachers get the opportunity to see how they teach and receive feedback on that teaching, they receive help in improvement of teaching. Giving a watch to other teachers while they teach in the classroom can guide in professional advancement and persuade all new teachers to take a look of a few of the best teachers and their teaching styles.
Virtual Classroom Visits
Google Hangouts can perform as a virtual classroom tool for teacher development. Teachers could volunteer to have their devices like iPads set up in the classroom for the purpose of recording and also other groups of teachers could examine the lesson in actual time, discuss with each other about it while it is ongoing. Obviously, the recording teacher would have to turn off the speakers on their iPads such that the students would not hear their discussion.
New teachers get the opportunity to ask questions of the other observers while it is happening. Skilled teachers could divert their concentration to outstanding strategies and point out the finer particulars. The best part of all is that the video is not recorded. Thus, there is no messing with tapes nor any worry about the video being uploaded to YouTube and about confidentiality or FERPA – Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (a Federal law that protects the privacy of student education records) for the students.
The best way for improvement of the instruction for the teachers is to start the procedure as referred by the peers. This sort of professional advancement will assist them in regulating campus views as “good teaching” and will assist them to acquire that to the next stage of “great teaching”. It is worth mentioning that the professional discussion, the faith and the unity formed by first being eager to be exposed in front of your peers, and then being exposed for honest discussion of individual performance, still just concentrating on the positive, will bring far-fetched outcomes in every day teacher lessons.
Building Instructional Practices
I can imagine how teachers use Google Hangouts for teacher development each time they wish to try a new approach and asking an appreciated peer to view it and send its feedback. I consider it as a communication tool which will aid teacher communities in decision making. When a professional learning community (PLC) intends to compare approaches for selecting the most efficient one, they can make two of their teachers to try them out and can watch the outcomes in actual time. Teacher development with Google Hangouts would be a worthy training tool for administrators using it in a way to display your megastar teachers and start to replicate them and create more megastar teachers.
Possibly this is a function of Google Hangouts for education that was not expected, but it has a potent prospective and I wish to use it on my campus this week. Similar to social media, Google Hangouts for education establishes a connection now, and do not save it for posterity. While still growing on the local connections, one of the circles you can go after is the Learning Revolution seen on the button marked “communities”. There is no doubt that allocation is powerful. But, in the neighborhood, chat with associate teachers, share the ups and downs, and make use of Google Hangouts as an educational tool
for creating those bonds of faith and joint effort which will contribute in making a vast difference in your teaching and in your students.
I am curious about you sharing your practices and experiences of using Google Hangouts for education. Please comment and share knowledge.
