February 2012 Google Educator Newsletter

February 2012 Google Educator Newsletter
Hello educators,
We're excited to kick off 2012 with new competitions for students (Doodle 4 Google, Google Science Fair) events for educators (Google Teacher Academy, NY/NJ Google Apps Summit), and education resources (new Google Education site and YouTube for Schools). 
Also, you can now stay up to date with the Google Education Google+ page for the latest news and upcoming events - http://goo.gl/kTnnE 
Best regards,Dana NguyenGoogle Education Team

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Google Teacher Academy in London - 4-5 April 2012-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------We're hosting our 14th Google Teacher Academy next spring at our Google London office on 4 April 2012 with an optional half-day unconference on 5 April 2012 2012. We are accepting applications from all over the world, so polish up your writing and video skills and apply by 11:59 PM PDT on 16th February 2012.  For more information, please visit our site: http://www.google.com/educators/gta.html
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------US Doodle 4 Google 2012 is open for submissions!-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Doodle 4 Google invites K-12 students to express the theme--”If I could travel in time, I’d visit...”--as creatively as possible using Google’s logo as their canvas. This year’s winner, along with having his or her doodle featured on our homepage for a day, will take home a $30,000 college scholarship and a $50,000 technology grant for their school. And as an added bonus, the winning Doodle will be featured on a special edition of Crayola’s 64 box! We hope you’ll get everyone in on the fun (but please -- just one doodle per child!). All submissions must be postmarked by March 20th and received by March 23rd so there’s not a moment to wait! Check out www.google.com/doodle4google for more details.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------NY/NJ Google Apps for Education Summit Mar 22-23-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------The Google Apps for Education East K-12 User group (k12east.appsusersgroup.com) is hosting a 2 day summit on March 22nd and 23rd. This two day event, lead by Google Certified Teacher, Google Apps for Education Certified Trainers, administrators, and members from the Google Apps team will focus on deploying, integrating and using Google Apps for Education to promote student learning and achievement.  This event will take place on March 22-23 at Kean University in NJ. Cost for the event is $200.  Registration and information for the summit: https://sites.google.com/site/nynjgs12
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------New Google Education Website, Google+, and Booklet-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------We launched 3 new Google resources we launched today for educators and education-enthusiasts:(1) A newly-improved website, google.com/edu, which is a one-stop-shop for Google in Education.(2) A Google in Education Google+ page, which has news, tips, and  discussions http://goo.gl/G42c3. (3) A booklet, "Google in Education: A New and Open World for Learning,” which describes how people are using Google’s education resources - google.com/edu/about.html .
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Google Science Fair 2012 now open!-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------The Google Science Fair is in its second year in partnership with CERN, LEGO, National Geographic and Scientific American. The competition is open to students between the ages of 13 - 18 from all over the world. Students will have the opportunity to compete for over $100,000 in scholarship funds, an expedition to the Galapagos, life changing experiences at CERN, Google and LEGO and a new Science in Action Award courtesy of Scientific American. This year we also have some great educator resources to help you bring the Science Fair into your classroom and encourage your students to explore their scientific passion. Visit www.google.com/sciencefair for more information.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------YouTube for Schools, now available!-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------YouTube for Schools lets schools access free educational YouTube videos while restricting access to other YouTube content. Students can learn from more than 400,000 videos, from well-known organizations like Stanford, PBS and TED, and from up-and-coming YouTube partners with millions of views, like Khan Academy, Steve Spangler Science and numberphile. Schools can also customize their YouTube for Schools experience, adding videos that are only viewable within their school network. Visit YouTube.com/Schools to learn more and sign up today!
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Chromebook Classroom Special Offer-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Chromebooks for Education give students, teachers, and administrators a simple solution for fast, intuitive, and easy-to-manage computing. Buy 30 or more Chromebooks and receive a Chromebook charging cart and a Google Cloud Print printer.google.com/chromebook/education

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Google+ ideas for teaching & learning-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Although Google+ is not yet available for under 18s, there are still a number of ways you can harness it for learning in and out of school. Here are a few ideas we have seen from teachers:(1) Universities- Tking or teaching university classes? Visit the new Google+ community page for universities: http://www.google.com/+/learnmore/universities/(2) Lesson resources- Looking for a lesson starter? An image to illustrate a difficult concept? Current events? Within Google+ you can now search public posts and web results. For example type [supply demand] into the bar and find news articles bringing the concept to life, images, etc.(3) Guest speakers- Looking for a guest speaker but can’t afford to bring them to your class or Career Day? Consider having them join via a Hangout, projecting them into your class.(4) Holidays- Looking for easy ways to edit and create images for the holidays? Within Google+ Photos you can choose “Edit” and then “Creative Kit” to access fun editing tools. Add a Christmas hat, a birthday present, and other fun edits
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Google Code-in-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Google Code-in is a contest designed to get students interested in open source software. Students complete tasks in one of eight categories: coding, translation, outreach, documentation, quality assurance, user interface, research, and training. Completion of just one task will get the student a t-shirt and a certificate of participation. More tasks earn the students cash prizes and possibly a grand prize trip to Google’s headquarters with a parent or guardian. You can learn more about the contest and register at www.google-melange.com
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------App Inventor is Moving to MIT-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------App Inventor was started and incubated in the Google Research Group and now that it is well established it is time for App Inventor reach new heights at MIT!  At the end of December 2011 Google will end support of App Inventor and make the code base open source.  MIT has already begun making plans to run an open source instance of App Inventor and looks forward to furthering the momentum of App Inventor among educators through its newly established Center for Mobile Learning.  To learn more about MIT’s work and get updates on the MIT instance of App Inventor visit: http://mitmobilelearning.org/-- Google for Educatorshttp://www.google.com/educators