Over the years I’ve always recommended creating your own lesson plans as much as possible. However, the reality is that sometimes we just run out of ideas and need to borrow some inspiration from others. That is why, after more than a decade of introducing students and teachers to the capabilities and possibilities of using Google Workspace tools, I now recommend looking at Google’s Applied Digital Skills lessons for ideas about teaching with Google Docs, Slides, Sheets, and other Google Workspace tools.
There are currently 160 lesson plans available in Google’s Applied Digital Skills catalog. I’ve gone through and selected ten that can be used not only to help students become familiar with Google Workspace tools but also to develop skills that they can use throughout their academic careers and beyond.
All of the lesson plans in the Applied Digital Skills curriculum follow the same format. The lesson begins with a short introductory video (written transcripts are available) followed by videos that demonstrate the skills and tasks required to complete the lesson. Upon successful completion of the lesson students can receive an Applied Digital Skills certificate of completion.
Evaluate the Credibility of Online Sources
If your students are doing any online research, evaluating online sources is a skill that they need to develop. The days of evaluating websites based on top-level domain or site aesthetics are long gone (thankfully). Today, students need to have a process for analyzing the content of what they’re reading online. A process for evaluation is exactly what the Evaluate the Credibility of Online Sources Applied Digital Skills lesson teaches. Along the way, students also learn some helpful tips about creating and formatting Google Docs and Google Sheets.
Build Healthy Digital Habits
Between mobile phones, laptops, tablets, and television it is easy to spend an unhealthy amount of time looking at a screen. That’s why I was happy to find the Build Healthy Digital Habits Applied Digital Skills lesson that can help students become aware of their own digital habits and begin to build better ones. In the lesson students use Google Slides to create a journal in which they log their digital and non-digital activities. In addition to logging activities students write short reflections about how those activities made them feel and how they might change their activities in the future to create a better balance between digital and non-digital activities.
Time Management
For years I’ve told my high school students that showing up on time and getting things done on schedule is a skill that will help them be successful in many areas of their lives beyond school. Of course, school is the place to develop that skill. The Applied Digital Skill lesson Create a Study Schedule with Google Sheets can help students develop better time management skills. Through the lesson students will also learn how to format spreadsheets, how to conduct sorting functions in spreadsheets, and how to track progress in spreadsheets.
Group Project Management
Being able to work with a group of people to complete a project is a skill that can serve students well throughout their lives. Much like individual time management, group project management can be made easier when done with a plan. Google Sheets is a great tool for creating a plan and system for managing a group project. The Applied Digital Skills lesson Organize a Group Project walks students through how to format a spreadsheet, share it, and use it to track project tasks with a group.
Story Planning
Writing an If-Then Adventure Story is a lesson in which students collaborate with classmates to create a story that has multiple possible story paths. I’ve used variations of this lesson with students as young as fourth grade all the way through high school. The basic idea is that students use hyperlinking within Google Slides to build multiple pathways through their stories and the reader gets to pick the direction in which the story goes. Through the process of creating an If-Then Adventure Story students develop story planning skills as they learn to account for multiple possibilities throughout the story.
Game Design
Playing a game that someone else made is fun. Watching someone play a game that you built or playing a game you built with someone can be even more fun. I’ve witnessed this first-hand with my own students. If you want your students to develop a digital game and learn some spreadsheet skills at the same time, take a look at the Applied Digital Skills lesson titled Wage a Sea Battle with Google Sheets.
Mind Mapping
Mind mapping is a topic that I have researched and written about extensively over the years (most recently right here). I’ve used Google Drawings for years to have students create their own mind maps on a wide variety of topics. Creating mind maps is a great way for students to think about and demonstrate the connections that they make between topics on a given subject. This Applied Digital Skills lesson will show you and your students how to Create a Mind Map with Google Drawings.
Conducting Job Searches and Identifying Career Paths
The days of high school students opening the classifieds to find a part-time job are long gone. Likewise, learning about career paths is no longer limited to looking in a few library books about careers. Google for Education’s Applied Digital Skills lesson library has lessons that can help you help your students learn how to find part-time jobs and explore career paths.
In the Search for a Part-time or Summer Job lesson, students learn to identify their interests, create a list of their experiences and skills, and then find part-time jobs that match their interests and experiences.
The Research Career Paths lesson takes students beyond the old days of reading about careers in a book or listening to guest speakers during a “career day” at school. The lesson plan walks students through using Google Sheets to analyze career paths based on pay, education requirements, education costs, and job outlook. I used a slightly modified version of this lesson last year to help my students research career paths. My modification added a layer specifically for career paths within computer science.
Understand Digital Footprints
It seems like every day there’s a new story about a celebrity or public figure getting in hot water because of something they said or did online in the past. That should serve as a good reminder to us to teach our students to be mindful of what they say and do online. At the same time it serves as a reminder to teach students that they leave digital footprints everywhere they go. In Understand Your Digital Footprint students use Google Sheets to create visualizations of their digital footprints to understand how large their footprints can be.
Build a Portfolio
As I’ve told my high school students over the last couple of years, building a digital portfolio can be a part of managing your digital footprint and increasing your job opportunities. To that end, my high school students created small digital portfolios. My students used Google Sites for that process and yours can too when they follow the steps outlined in Google for Education’s Applied Digital Skills lesson titled Build a Portfolio With Google Sites.
Start Using These Lessons!
Watch this short video that I created and learn how you can distribute Google for Education’s Applied Digital Skills lessons to your students via Google Classroom.
