My Twenty-Percent Project: Part 1

After much thinking and considering the input from my peers, I decided to focus my Twenty-Percent Project around becoming a Google Apps for Education (GAFE) qualified individual. I was really excited to try it out but also scared of what it would look like and what the test would ask me to do to prove that I am qualified. 

So ready or not I started Module 1 today: Google Apps for Education (Admin). The training module was straight forward and fairly easy to follow--four chapters with different focus points to read/review. My former district had just begun using Google Apps my last year there so I had experience with what it offers and entails. There was general overview information, FAQs, and a fair amount of site administrator specific information. I wish that my GAFE account had admin privileges so I could click around & see what they were talking about, but even without it I was able to learn some pretty cool things that would have been helpful in my old district and will be helpful in the future. For example, my former district was not using the groups function to be best of their ability. Not only are groups able to be used for specific email lists, but even more useful is that you can share sites, docs, videos, and calendars and their permissions to those groups as well! And that these permissions self-update as you add or remove people from that group, without any extra steps. That by itself would have made our lives a lot easier last year!

After completing the training module it was time to take the test. Once you purchase the test and start it, you have 90 minutes to complete 60 multiple choice questions about the module you just completed. I was freaking out a little at first until I realized that you can go back into the training readings to find the answer if you're not sure (*phew!). After figuring that out and relaxing a bit, the test went smoothly and I was done with plenty of time (even with looking up a few answers). Anxiously clicking the "End Test" button I found the results below:

Yay! Go me! :) You have to get 80% or higher to pass, so I was in the clear. The only thing I wish they would change is allow you to see what questions you missed--it drives me crazy when I get something wrong and I don't know why! But all in all, a good first Twenty-Percent Project day. 

One part down, five more to go....