Gearing up with Google – Modern Mindset Drives Digital Strategy

North Notts College is proud to share that it has been making rapid progress toward being a modern hub of digital innovation in teaching and learning.

As part of this push, all academic staff are aiming to achieve their Level 1 Google Educator qualification by the end of July 2021. The qualification is designed to develop a holistic understanding of Google applications and how to use them effectively in an education environment. With many staff already having passed their certification, and with more passing every week, the College’s talented teams are able to proactively use G Suite in their teaching and student learning.

Having worked with G Suite since before the pandemic, Covid-19 has accelerated a shift North Notts College was already making toward well-integrated digital learning support. Examples include using Drive for sharing learning resources and submitting work, using Docs and Sheets for producing tasks and keeping track of busy schedules on Calendar.

Ensuring all academic staff are Level 1 certified is only part of the picture. The College has established ‘Google Go-Tos’. These are Level 2 Google Educator qualified staff, equipped with coaching skills, who act as digital knowledge reference points for staff and students.

Being provided with 100 hours of coaching, the Google Go-Tos aim to drive innovation and develop digital staff and students learning communities by sharing how to get to grips with digital software, tools and blended teaching, learning and assessment. Monitoring the impact of digital teaching, they attend monthly meetings with the Quality and Learning department leads to share best practice.

As one of the College’s Google Go-Tos, Community Lecturer Sue Brown said: ‘I think this is a wonderful initiative. With the skills I’ve learnt on my Google Educator course, I’m now a reference and support point for students and staff wanting help with using digital tools for learning.

‘There’s a whole host of brilliant opportunities out there for our students once they graduate, and if they’ve got experience of approaching things from cutting-edge channels then they’re well on their way to excelling in the modern workplace!’