The Google for Education Training Center now offer some outstanding professional development opportunities for teachers including two educator certifications, Google Certified Educator Level 1 and Google Certified Educator Level 2. I have recently completed both and highly recommend the courses for their sound pedagogy and practical classroom focus.

The Center provides interactive lessons organised around the themes of engaging in professional growth, saving time and increasing efficiency, and facilitating student learning and creativity. Within each of these three themes are a number of different units, each made up of multiple lessons which can be accessed in any order you prefer.

The lessons are clearly structured and typically contain several different learning resources including video and audio content, transcripts, and discussion forums. Many lessons have a notepad for you to reflect or to jot down ideas and each lesson ends with a brief Lesson Check to help reinforce a few key points. This check is just for you and your answers are not recorded. A Progress page allows you to see how many units you have completed, an estimated time spent on the course and certifications earned.

Once you have completed either the Fundamentals or Advanced course you can then choose to sit the comprehensive exams to become a Google Certified Educator Level 1 or Level 2. The exams last 180 minutes and cost $25 each. The certification is valid for 24 months.

If you want to take your training further you can also apply to become a Google for Education Certified Trainer  or Certified Innovator, allowing you to participate in special speaking engagements and deliver training events. There is also in-depth devices training for using Android tablets and Chromebooks and access to the YouTube Digital Citizenship Curriculum.