by Louis Mark Plaza
Louis Mark Plaza at the GEG Leaders Summit
Louis Mark Plaza of the MSU-IIT Integrated Developmental School attended the Google Teacher Academy (GTA) in Southeast Asia at the Asian Institute of Management Convention Center, Makati City on October 2-3, 2014.
GTA is a free professional development for primary and secondary educators across the globe. Google for Education describes GTA as “an intensive, two-day event during which participants get hands-on experience with Google tools, learn about innovative instructional strategies, receive resources to share with colleagues, and immerse themselves in a supportive community of educators making impact.”
About 50 Champion Teachers from around the world were chosen to attend each GTA based on the merits of their online application which included their resume, essays, and one-minute video.
Other GTAs have been conducted in New York, Sydney, and London. On its thirteenth cycle, this year’s GTA was hosted by the Philippines–the first among South East Asian Countries. Applicants for this cohort came from South Korea, Japan, New Zealand, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Singapore and the Philippines.
Educators who attend a Google Teacher Academy become Google Certified Teachers (GCTs) and will create and implement action plans for their schools and the community.
Participants of the Google Teacher Academy Southeast Asia 2014 (photo taken from Google Plus)
As a Google Educator Group (GEG) community leader for Iligan, Plaza also attended the GEG Leaders Summit for Asia and the Pacific on October 4, 2014 at the Jesus V. Del Rosario Foundation Building in Makati City. The cohort was attended by other GEG community leaders in the Philippines, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, Singapore and Cambodia.
Google Educator Groups are independently run communities by educators around the globe to inspire innovation in teaching with the use of technology. GEGs function similarly with other Google communities such as Google Business Groups (GBG) and Google Developer Groups (GDG).
Plaza was given a slot to share a seven-minute lightning talk entitled “Best Practices in GEG Meetups”, in which he shared the experience of the Iligan community to his fellow GEG leaders. Moreover, Plaza received the award for GEG Iligan for being chosen as one of the five most proactive communities in Southeast Asia during the evening gala.
The GEG Iligan will be holding a teachers’ fair on October 19, 2014 to present and implement the practices shared in the two Google Events. – contributed news for OC-OPI
Topics : google education