The Google Infused Classroom

by Holly Clark and Tanya Avrith

It's time we stop talking about technology and start focusing on how technology can improve teaching and learning in our classrooms. In this book, Holly Clark and Tanya Avrith, explore the ways in which technology can be purposefully used to amplify and disrupt the learning experience. This beautifully designed book walks teachers through the process of rethinking the delivery model of instruction and is focused around the ideas of using technology to make student thinking visible, give every student a voice and allowing them to share their work. The Google Infused Classroom is packed full of examples of how you can use just ten simple online tools, to completely transform your classroom. In addition, it includes a special section on student digital portfolios.

Genres: Education, Teaching

140 pages, Paperback

First published November 15, 2016

Reviews

[Guadalupe · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Google Infused Classroom by Holly Clark and Tanya Avrith is a guide to make thinking visible and give students a voice. This book includes pedagogy and informs the reader about a variety of tools available to integrate into the classroom. The chapter on pedagogy provides a deep understanding of the methodology and practice of teaching.
I believe this is an excellent book to read for any teacher. I had used Google Docs and Slides in the past. However, I did not know how "Google is redefining what a learning space looks like, taking a traditional classroom and made it a place where students can visualize their thinking, give each and every one a voice, and allow them to share and publish their work." (Clark & Avrith, 2017, p.3).
"A Google infusion is simple: It is a fun way to incorporate some of the great tools available in Google Ecosystem-Drive, Chrome apps, and extensions, and Google Classroom-and partner those with another web- or app-based tool to amplify teaching and learning in your classroom." (Clark & Avrith, 2017, p.114). An example of infused is using Google Classroom to add Flipgrid. Another example is Chrome extension Talk and Comment in Google Docs. The extensions are applications that live on the Google address bar and allows you to personalize browsing experience.
The Google ecosystem is composed of all the tools created by Google for schools; they are called G Suite of Apps and are free. Another perk of the Google apps is that they do not require an internet connection so students can work offline, and when they are back online, their work syncs automatically. This book has given me the knowledge I need to apply G Suite in my classroom efficiently. On page 124, there is a table with suggestions on how to integrate technology in the classroom.
Some of the Apps, extensions, and web-based tools the book informs about are Socrative, Padlet, Formative Hyperdocs, YouTube, Book Creator, WeVideo, Soudtrap, Canva, Screencastify, Blogger, FlipGrid, Seesaw, and Recap. It also includes a guide for creating digital portfolios.
As a novice in the technology-infused classroom, I would recommend this book to anyone wanting to find information with detail explanation on why and how it is essential to teach and use emerging technologies in their classroom. Change is difficult for most people, but it is inevitable. Before I decided to jump into G Suite, I wanted guidance and support, reading this book has given me what I need to make a change in my classroom. I learned that sometimes, we must disrupt learning and be transliterate educators. According to the authors, transliterate means to be fluent across all mediums of information, not just reading and writing. "As disruptive, transliterate educators, we must learn how to speak social media and understand what it means to be connected learners so that we can guide our students." (Clark & Avrith, 2017 p. 6). The authors state that we must understand new forms of information using technology and how to use them correctly. "Being a disruptive teacher means understanding that although students know how to use technology, they don't understand how to use it to learn." (Clark & Avrith, 2017 p. 7). I interpret the quote as one must understand and speak social media to teach students how to use it. Students connect through social media, and it's essential that they realize the impact they make when sharing thoughts or opinions in a virtual social platform. It is equally important that students learn how to turn a social media platform into a learning tool so they can be global social citizens.
The author's intent in this book is to inform the reader of the possibilities of using technology in the classroom. Both authors are highly qualified to address the topic of Google Infused Classroom. Holly Clark is an Educator Strategist; she is a Google Certified Innovator, National Board Certified teacher, has an M.A. in Technology in Education. She has taught in public and independent schools. Currently, she consults with schools internationally on building culture and strategy to support and inspire innovative teaching. Holly gives keynotes to audiences worldwide and has presented for Ted Talks, is the co-founder of #CaEdChat and authors an educational blog hollyclark.org. The co-author Tanya Avrith is a teacher, Curriculum and EdTech Consultant, Google Certified Innovator, and Apple Distinguished Educator. Tanya contributed to the vision and execution of the district-wide Digital Citizen Program. Tanya has presented at national and international conferences like ISTE, ASCD, and FECT. Tanya holds an M.A. in Educational Technology.
Work Cited:
Clark, H & Avrith, T (2017) The Google Infused Classroom. Irvine, CA.; EdTechTeam Press

[Varo Asorian · Rating 5 out of 5]

The purpose of “The Google Infused Classroom: A Guidebook to Making Thinking Visible and Amplifying Student Voice,” by Holly Clark and Tanya Avrith is to provide educators with an overview of the myriad of available technology tools created by Google and others, which seamlessly integrate within the Google ecosystem and to convey that the use of technology tools in the classroom, in and of itself, is not sufficient. It is necessary to start with sound pedagogy and to “infuse” this pedagogy with technology tools that enhance learning and reflection, improve formative assessment and that enable students to show their learning in a more dynamic manner, eliminating the need for end of unit tests. In this way, technology becomes an integral part of the learning process, rather than just something added to say were using technology (Clark and Avrith, 2017). Moreover, Clark and Avrith (2017) express that technology tools must be used to transform the teaching and learning in the classroom, rather than be used to engage in traditional teaching and learning. This message and the technology tools are conveyed in an engaging writing style through a discussion of, pedagogy and why Google, formative assessment, differentiation, demonstrations of learning, reflection and digital portfolios, which is followed by a section that summarizes each tool and its uses and benefits.

Clark and Avrith (2017) promote, in the beginning of the book, the “Google Infused Classroom,” because “Google is redefining what a learning space looks like, taking the traditional classroom and making it a place where we help our students visualize their thinking, give each one a voice, and allow them to share and publish their work.” (pg. 3) The infusions include both Google created tools, such as Classroom, Docs, Slides and Drive and extensions for Chrome created by Google and others. This statement does ring true to me, as I have experienced a transformation in my own classroom this year by implementing the use of Google Classroom, Docs, Slides, Sheets and Drive. My students have delivered more in-depth work, have shown growth in their collaborative skills and seem to be more motivated to complete work.

To lend pedagogical support to implementing a “Google Infused Classroom,” Avrith and Clark, discuss the ten characteristics of today’s students and relate them to the constructivist approach. Some of these student characteristics are: they are the first digital natives, they talk in images, they like to create, and they want to win using strategies, practice, and do-overs. Through this discussion, they provide examples of strategies, which rely on Google Tools and Chrome Extensions that address these ten characteristics. Some of these strategies, tools and extensions are: book snaps, coding, gamify, hyper docs and screencasts. They continue, this leads to students “making their thinking and learning visible” and to increasing “student voice” through the creation and sharing of student work with their teachers and the online world (2017). This discussion is followed by several pages of brief descriptions of strategies to use, ten things to consider before implementing technology, UbD (Backwards Design), and assessment for learning, as learning and of learning. This section opened my eyes and confirmed what I know about my students: they need to be engaged in the learning process in new and innovative ways that peak their interest to be motivated to do school.

The remainder of the book focuses on pedagogy and the myriad of tools and extensions to use to implement innovative instructional strategies that integrate technology for assessment, differentiation, demonstration of learning, reflection and creating digital portfolios. For assessment, Cark and Avrith discuss: Socrative, Padlet, Google Forms, Formative and Talk and Comment. For differentiation they discuss: Google Classroom, Hyperdocs, Google Slides and YouTube. For demonstration of learning they discuss tools that address the many ways students can demonstrate their learning using these tools: Book Creator, WeVideo, Soundtrap, Canva, Screencastify, Blogger, Seesaw, Google Slides, Docs and Sheets, and Explain Everything. For reflection they discuss: FlipGrid, Screencastify, Padlet, Seesaw and recap. For digital portfolios they discuss: Seesaw and Google Sites and discuss how these tools can be used to create process, showcase and hybrid digital portfolios (2017). When discussing these tools, the authors present some of their features and uses, and how easy they are to set up and use for students and teachers. These brief discussions provided some very useful information that left me wanting to try: Seesaw, Socrative and Canva right away as they were the easiest to use and to set up for students and teachers.

Finally, the authors engage in a discussion of why to use Google, the Google Ecosystem and Google’s G Suite, followed by a brief description of each tool and when to use each one. Clark and Avrith (2017) advocate for Google for these “very simple reasons: accessibility, sharing, collaboration and its all free for schools” (pg. 114). This is provided through Google’s Ecosystem: Drive, Chrome, Google Classroom, and Google Docs, Slides and Sheets. This ecosystem allows students to collaborate through cloud-based applications that don’t require internet connections to create work, which saves automatically, amongst other key reasons: simple design, publishing ability and video capabilities. I found these discussions to be clear, concise and persuasive. I already use Google Classroom and like it, but now I want to more fully embrace the extensions to create a more robust learning environment in my own classroom. Therefore, the final section that contains tool descriptions and that categorizes them is a useful resource for quickly choosing what tool to use for a task. In sum, “The Google Infused Classroom,” contains a wealth of information on how to implement technology and what tools to use for both the novice and the experienced teacher.
Both authors, Holly Clark and Tanya Avrith, have decades of experience, between them, using technology in the classroom. Clark went 1:1 in 2000, which puts her well ahead of most others that have just begun using technology or have just went1:1. My high school is yet to go 1:1 and most teachers still use traditional teaching methods augmented with new strategies, but little technology. Consequently, this experience lends strong credence to what they advocate in their book. This experience combined with the easy to understand and clear explanations of each tool and its uses shows that these two authors understand deeply how to infuse technology into the classroom in a manner that improves learning and leaves me with no doubt that they are uniquely qualified to write this book.

Reference

Clark, H. and Avrith, T. (2017). The Google Infused Classroom: A Guidebook to Making Thinking Visible and Amplifying Student Voice. Irvine: Ed Tech Team Press.

[Kristina Roche · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Google Infused Classroom is written by Holly Clark and Tanya Avrith. Both authors communicate and understand fully that the technology does not improve the learning or create the student engagement but intentional lesson planning that considers how technology enhances the learning is what makes for high student engagement as well as deeper understanding of the content.
Holly Clark is an award winning educator based out of San Diego. She is a National Board Certified Teacher and a Google Certified Instructor. Holly consults with teachers and districts around the nation to help change their instruction with use of learning theory, technology integration, and design thinking strategies. She is also well known for her keynotes. She speaks passionately about creating an innovative classroom culture.
Tanya Avrith is a teacher, consultant, and a director of educational technology based out of south Florida. She is a Google Certified Instructor as well as an Apple Distinguished Educator. She consults with school nation wide to help plan and execute large iPad and Chromebook initiatives including plans for digital citizenship lessons. Tanya has taught all levels of education from elementary to high school levels.
This book focuses on the integration of the use of Google and other tools to help change and disrupt the delivery of instruction through a technology infused classroom. The book is grounded on the idea that if teachers put solid pedagogy first, the teachers can use technology to powerfully impact student learning. The use of technology can ignite curiosity, created a connected classroom, and create an environment which allows for 21st Century Learning.
The book discusses the characteristics of the students sitting in classrooms today. The characteristics include the fact they are true digital natives (meaning they have never known a world without smartphones, tablets, and social media), they talk in images, they are social entrepreneurs and like their learning to have meaning and purpose, they think in high definition videos, they prefer hands on and interactive projects, they communicate in short, bite sized pieces, they like to create, their social circle is global, their cell phones are the hub of their social circles, and they want to win. The authors go into detail about how the use of technology can support these learners and meet them where they are. Then, the authors go into constructivism and connectivism and how these learning theories support us in meeting the needs and expectations of Generation Z. “Constructivism is based on the idea that students construct knowledge and meaning through experiences. Students need to work with information, play with it, try new ways, figure things out on their own, find other views and opinions, and come to their own conclusions.” (p 12) “Connectivism proposes that students learn through their connections and networks, both physical and digital.” (p 13)
A big part of having a technology infused classroom is amplifying student voice and ensuring all students have a voice. Being able to make thinking and learning visible was difficult in the past “but thanks to today’s technology, getting inside out students’ heads and finding out what they know is easier than ever” (p 14). There are so many programs and apps that reveal their thinking by allowing them to record their learning experiences, ideas and thinking. “This is especially important because at the foundation of all good cognitive learning is the idea that we must teach our students how to think about thinking.” (p 15). The authors go into great and innovative ways to help teach the students to make their thinking visible and one way they advise is by “thinking routines”. Thinking routines rely on the notion that learning is not a product but a process. This idea comes easy to Generation Z because they are “characterized by their ability to learn, unlearn, and relearn ideas and concepts.” Giving sentence stems such as “I used think… but now I think…” promotes this type of thinking!
The authors spend the second half of their book going through the different tools that educators can utilize to enhance the learning that is taking place in their classroom and focuses how the tools can support pedagogy. They go into details for tools that can be used as formative assessments and tools for differentiation.
I really enjoyed reading this book and my book is filled with post-its and marked up in the margins next to highlighted sections. The authors do an amazing job explaining that technology will not make for great lessons on their own, technology does not replace teachers but if teachers have integrated technology into great lessons, the lessons and the learning have the potential to be outstanding! I am excited to use the tools I have learned throughout this book. I am especially excited to screencastify which is a google extensions that allows students to capture and record all of the screen activity that takes place within a tab including audio; “You can record anything everything on your screen without a webcam” (p 65). I am excited for students to record their thinking. This feature allows students to “share their thought processes behind and reflections on their work and creations” (p 65). I also am going to set an intention for next year to utilize blogging in the classroom. Blogging gives students opportunities to speak to a real audience. I have had students blog a few times this year but after reading this book, I have learned I need to set students up for a better chance at success. I am going to show students “mentor blogs” to use as resources.
This book is filled with wonderful ideas and I am eager and inspired to try them out! I have learned a lot about the use of technology and how to better integrate pedagogy with technology to create a powerful, resourceful, and brave classroom!
CLARK, H. A. (2019). GOOGLE INFUSED CLASSROOM: A guidebook to making thinking visible and amplifying student voice. S.l.: ELEVATE.

[Ann · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is one of few that begin with pedagogy: the "whys" that give context to the learning theories behind the ideas. It is not a book on learning theory, but rather consolidates big ideas that will support the Google infused tools throughout the rest of the book. In addition, the authors chose a small collection of 20 tools to support students in creating, communicating, and sharing what they have learned. It is not a step-by-step how-to of using the tools. It does give a clear explanation of what the tool is, why it is great, how easy or difficult the set up is for a teacher, what it allows for, the type of information you get using the tool, and how the tool can be used. As a director of instructional technology it pulls the instructional methods and tools into a single resource. I will use this as I work with teachers and provide the supports they need to make the ideas work in their classroom. The last section of the book is a guide to getting started with digital portfolios. This section gives teachers ideas to think about whether they choose to have students record the process they used in their learning, a showcase of their learning, or a hybrid of both. It is also a beautifully laid out and designed book as well. I believe I will be referring to this often as I support teachers with the G Suite of applications and extensions. (Cross posted on Amazon.com)

[Jolene Badour weir · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great resource for everyone. It divides into two sections, one focusing on pedagogy and the others on Google tools. It discuses the four foundations of Google (drive, forms, classroom and docs) as well as many add-ons and extensions for those four. They don't go into great detail of how to set up the extensions/add-ons, but there is enough of an explanation there to get the gist of what the potential is.

[Sydney · Rating 5 out of 5]

I liked that the authors started with the pedagogy and THEN gave the tools. The tools section is good because it is brief and a condensed version of the pedagogy section. And as they said "The best lessons never focus on the tools or the technology we use; rather, they focus on student learning." Page 127

[Melissa Hoeft · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such a great resource. The chapters were clear and concise. The necessary info was given, but not lost in paragraphs of explanations. I loved the ideas on how to use these tools and the charts in the back are amazing!

[Melanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good solid entry into the edtech field. Love their focus on pedagogy and 21st-century skills. Would have liked to see a little more expansion on some of the ideas shared, but overall, a good guidebook.

[Shanna · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you are looking for a way to effectively incorporate the use of technology into your classroom, then this is the book for you. It is full of strategies to help students take control of their learning in fun and powerful ways.

[Lauren · Rating 5 out of 5]

After reading many books about Google and Google Classroom, this book has been the most beneficial. I love the layout and all the ideas and apps used to discuss ways for student to collaborate, engage, and use technology in a more purposeful way.

[Courtenay · Rating 5 out of 5]

A must read for every 1:1 Chromebook teacher.

[Thorey Ellis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lots of ideas for web apps and tools and suggestions on how to use these tools in a meaningful way in your classroom.

[Dr. Stephanie Douglass · Rating 4 out of 5]

Similar in nature to Microsoft Infused Classroom. I actually read them simultaneously.
If you use GSuite at all, definitely recommend reading this.

[Lora · Rating 4 out of 5]

Given that I wasn't sure what I was looking for to give me a boost in the tech area of my classroom this turned out to be a great choice.

As with all ed books there's a pedagogy section at the front to sum up and reference the research, but the best part is the detailed description, app by app in the second half of the book that describes what the apps do, how to get students using them in the classroom to show their thinking and learning(lesson ideas -- task creation / imaginings), and how to use them as a teacher to facilitate our work. This second half goes quick (bulleting is a plus here) and I left lots of bookmarks to come back to.

Very quick read on the ipad, but I'll be getting the hard copy so that I can mark it up as I try out new stuff to make what I do well even better. = ) Yay!

*The hard copy was helpful. It will be sitting right beside me as we head into (more) distance learning in a couple weeks. Got some great ideas second time around given the sink or swim nature of last spring, I feel much more confident to use these tools.

[Tweller83 · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this as part of a book study with the district with homework assignments and the like. I will say though, that this is one of the best professional books I've read. Really 4 - 4.5. I got a lot out of it and want to implement many of the items in it (and already have incorporated much of it). I would recommend this to most teachers. Even if you've already used Google, it still gave me much to think about.

[Denise OBrien · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great read for any teaching looking to further their use of tech tools (google) in their classroom!