This is just a Short Jaunt TechXcursion into the mysterious world of the ninja. At the Learning 2.012 conference last year in Beijing (back at my old school, the Western Academy of Beijing, so I had to make the long trip from Europe ;-) Jeff Utecht demonstrated the Google Apps Ninja Program that he developed based on the official Google Apps Certification program. I had met Jeff before, in my previous days working at WAB, and his presentation of the Ninja program intrigued me. He originally developed the program at the International School of Bangkok and has since released it for any school to implement for free.
As you can tell by the name of the program, Jeff has branded it and made it for student consumption. There are online quizzes and ninja belt levels to work through, as students (and faculty) work through the different belts on their way to becoming a Ninja Master. I have implemented and launched the program here at ASW, but I have to say that it was no small feat. It is a huge job! As another blogger mentions here, it has taken me numerous hours to take the Ninja materials and fashion it into a workable program at my school. Updating and checking all of the quizzes was a big job, and I took my cues from the materials and logos to make it a little campy as well. Do you understand, Grasshopper? In building the program for my school, I also took the opportunity to reorganize the program into 5 Disciplines corresponding to the different quizzes that are available - Search, Communication (Gmail), Organization (Calendar), Collaboration (Docs/Drive) and Contribution (Sites).
I took a slightly different path for my implementation, as my school uses both Google Apps and Moodle as our primary learning platforms, so I built our Ninja Dojo in Moodle along with placing all of the associated materials in Google Apps. This particular Moodle course is not currently setup for Guests, so I cannot provide you with a link into it here. So you will just have to be content with the screenshot above and the other links at the top of this post. However, I will say that I have put myself through the entire program (which makes me Grand Master Kwan) as a test of all of the materials, belt tests and processes for grading the quizzes through Flubaroo . . . it is challenging and fun, and there is a lot to learn for staff and students alike. I have pushed this out directly to a few faculty members who wanted to learn more about Google Apps this year, and have done a soft-launch with the HS student body . . . a few have signed up already so it's gaining some traction. The other angle that I am playing with this is to turn it into a CAS service project for students, where the idea is to become a Google Apps Ninja Master Sensei after completing all of the belts . . . sounds cheesy, but it might just work. I have already created a student tech help group in the HS which I have named the AppleCorps to help with in class support for our new Mac 1:1 laptop program, so why not try to build a similar student program for Google Apps? Have a look at the Ninja Program, and if your school uses Google Apps for Education then you might want to start a dojo of your own.
Do you think becoming a Google Apps Ninja Master can change your Computing Karma? Have you started a dojo in your school? What have been the challenges and successes?
As you can tell by the name of the program, Jeff has branded it and made it for student consumption. There are online quizzes and ninja belt levels to work through, as students (and faculty) work through the different belts on their way to becoming a Ninja Master. I have implemented and launched the program here at ASW, but I have to say that it was no small feat. It is a huge job! As another blogger mentions here, it has taken me numerous hours to take the Ninja materials and fashion it into a workable program at my school. Updating and checking all of the quizzes was a big job, and I took my cues from the materials and logos to make it a little campy as well. Do you understand, Grasshopper? In building the program for my school, I also took the opportunity to reorganize the program into 5 Disciplines corresponding to the different quizzes that are available - Search, Communication (Gmail), Organization (Calendar), Collaboration (Docs/Drive) and Contribution (Sites).
I took a slightly different path for my implementation, as my school uses both Google Apps and Moodle as our primary learning platforms, so I built our Ninja Dojo in Moodle along with placing all of the associated materials in Google Apps. This particular Moodle course is not currently setup for Guests, so I cannot provide you with a link into it here. So you will just have to be content with the screenshot above and the other links at the top of this post. However, I will say that I have put myself through the entire program (which makes me Grand Master Kwan) as a test of all of the materials, belt tests and processes for grading the quizzes through Flubaroo . . . it is challenging and fun, and there is a lot to learn for staff and students alike. I have pushed this out directly to a few faculty members who wanted to learn more about Google Apps this year, and have done a soft-launch with the HS student body . . . a few have signed up already so it's gaining some traction. The other angle that I am playing with this is to turn it into a CAS service project for students, where the idea is to become a Google Apps Ninja Master Sensei after completing all of the belts . . . sounds cheesy, but it might just work. I have already created a student tech help group in the HS which I have named the AppleCorps to help with in class support for our new Mac 1:1 laptop program, so why not try to build a similar student program for Google Apps? Have a look at the Ninja Program, and if your school uses Google Apps for Education then you might want to start a dojo of your own.
Do you think becoming a Google Apps Ninja Master can change your Computing Karma? Have you started a dojo in your school? What have been the challenges and successes?
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