Happy Wednesday, y'all!

It had been a while since the last time I have posted around the Digital Badge worth pursuing in education. As many of you had requested, I will be going through a new route to level up and a unique digital badge and certification worth pursuing in education. Please feel free to repost or share this with a friend.

Let's get started!

If you are an educator or an education leader or instructional coach who works directly with teachers every day and is looking forward to shifting teachers' practices and transforming instructions in every classroom, this is the right program for you.

Step 1: Become #GoogleEDU Certified Educator 

· Certified Educator Level 1: To get this badge, you need to pass the Google for Education Level 1 Exam. The exam is two to three hours long, worth $10 and valid for three years. This certification and badge indicate that you can "integrate Google for Education #GoogleEDU tools successfully into the teaching and learning practices"*. And guess what? The exam is now available in different languages, including Arabic. Click here to go to the Fundamentals Training Link.

· Level 2: To get this badge, you need to pass the Google for Education Educator Level 2 Exam. This exam is also two to three hours long, worth $25, valid for three years, and available in different languages. "The exam assesses your ability to integrate a wide range of Google for Education tools and other technologies to transform teaching and learning practices"*. Click here to go to the Advanced Training Link.

 Step 2: Complete the curriculum and pass the skills Assessment

Complete the coaching curriculum. It is systematic and follows the challenge-based coaching model, and includes innovative ideas and links to fantastic resources. 

To prove your knowledge, you need to complete the Coach Skills Assessment. The test is free and includes 47 MCQs. To pass the assessment, you have to answer at least 80% of the questions correctly. It will take approximately 45 minutes. 

Tip: Don't forget to keep a screenshot of the result, as you will submit it with the application later on.

Step 3: Practical work and data collection

After you have passed the exam, it's time to apply your skills and start working 1:1 with your selected coachees on the first coaching cycle. 

Tips: 

1. Make sure to follow the 5-steps coaching model to keep all your work-related and organized. 

2. Save all materials, data, and documents that showcase your coaching workflow and interactions, how you have measured impact, your coachees' feedback, and their bright spot stories when celebrating the teachers' wins on a GoogleDrive folder as you will also submit these artifacts with the application. 

Step 4: It is time to apply!

You will submit a brief coaching portfolio (short video and three artifacts) that shows that you have successfully embraced the coaching model while working with coachees and a reference letter from an admin familiar with your work as a coach. 

Tips:

1. The video should be 3-5 minutes long (5 minutes max - don't exceed the limit) and enunciate that you have used the coaching model effectively and meaningfully with a specific coachee. 

2. Don't include any private data (PII) in the video and the artifacts.

3. The artifacts files should not exceed 100MB.

4. Make the links viewable for anyone with the links. Try links out on an incognito window.

You can learn more about the #GoogleEC here. 

Stay Safe!