Tech Talk Tuesdays Webinar co-presentation on GTA experiences

Image courtesy: Cartoon Motivators

Every now and then you do something that makes you step right out of your comfort zone and continue that journey of life-long learning and discovery. Recently I had the privilege co-present with Tania Sheko a webinar via Elluminate for Tech Talk Tuesdays relating to our Google Teacher Academy (GTA) experiences. While I had attended Elluminate webinars previously, I had NEVER presented at one. Anne Mirtschin asked Tania and myself to share our experiences of the GTA in terms of the application and selection process, the agenda and the flow of the day-and-a-half, the philosophy of Google and its headquarters and talk about some of the Google tools that really appealed to us.  It certainly was not a blow-by-blow account of all the Google tools and applications we covered at the GTA.

It’s a very different experience presenting at a webinar.  While I was a little nervous to begin I felt at times I was trying to do many things at the one time, for example, trying to keep an eye on the chat box for questions and think off the top of my head, while not blabbering on too much. Thankfully Anne Mirtchin was hosting the show and with her webinar-presenting experience kept a closer eye on the chat box than I could. Presenting at an online webinar could perhaps be thought of as more of a conversation rather than a direct presentation where you are up on show the the whole time. Next time, if the opportunity arises to present online again, I’ll have to try and be a little more relaxed and just go with the flow of the session. I hope down the track when I’ve had a chance to further develop my own skills and implementing many of these Google tools and applications at OLMC that I will have an opportunity to share my progress in making a difference to learning and teaching and improving students’ and teachers’ skills in ICT. I work towards Without a doubt this was a professionally rewarding experience. Thanks Tania too for being a great co-presenter.

What surprised me was the worldwide participants attending this webinar. Not only were there Australians but we were accompanied by educators from New Zealand, Malaysia and the United States.

Thanks to Tania Sheko here is the slide presentation and the archived Tech Talk Tuesdays recording can be listened to here.