Sunday, 12 August 2018

Google Certification

Having just completed the Google Level 2 certification exam (yes, its called an exam), I was thinking about how stressful exams are. I haven't sat an exam for many, many years. Even when upgrading my TTC to Bachelor of Teaching & Learning way back in 2003, there were no exams. That qualification was based on assignments.

Once again, to be put into the place some of our learners are in is good for us to understand what it feels like.  There was a mixture of emotions leading up to taking the exam - anxiety, fear of failure to say the least. Why is this so? Even having been well prepared by going through the training material diligently - even if I thought I was au fait with the content, I was still quite nervous going into the exam.

Adult training or Andragogy, is well documented and I was aware of this as I prepared and went through the training material and considered my experience and knowledge as I did them.

I considered the assumptions of andragogy [1][2]  following this exam to see if there was something in here to explain the nerves...   Need to know: I knew the reason why I was learning this. 

  • Foundation: I was using experience as the basis for learning
  • Self-concept: self-concept was not a tick - I wasn't involved in the planning or evaluation of this instruction
  • Readiness: this had immediate relevance to my work 
  • Orientation: this learning was mostly problem-centered, scenarios were included, and there was some content-oriented material.
  • Motivation: and the motivation for me was internal rather than external as I knew I needed to dig deeper into the Google Suite. External motivation was also a factor as it is an expectation of our employment. 
No real clue in there either as all but one was a tick. Maybe I am just an over-achiever? And it just goes to show - you're never too old to learn. 

Upshot of it all is that I now have Google Educator Level 1 & Level 2 and ready to take on the Google Certified Trainer next - but first Apple Teacher.

1. Instructional Design: Theories - Andragogy M. Knowles Encyclopedia of  Psychologyhttp://www.instructionaldesign.org/theories/andragogy/  Retrieved 2018/08/12
2. Malcolm Knowles, informal adult education, self-direction, and andragogy


http://infed.org/mobi/malcolm-knowles-informal-adult-education-self-direction-and-andragogy/ Retrieved 2018/08/12

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