Ind. teacher will explore innovative outlets after being named ‘Glass’ finalist

Franklin Community High School teacher Don Wettrick doesn’t normally wear glasses, but that’s about to change.

Wettrick and his innovations class of juniors and seniors have been selected to receive Google Glass, a tiny voice-activated computer that is worn like a pair of glasses.

There are 8,000 recipients who were chosen to beta-test the new technology after applicants were required to submit a 50-word testimony as to how they would implement the new device’s features into their respective lifestyles.

“I’m more excited for my students,” Wettrick said. “This is a game changer. Just like the iPhone turned out to be more than just a gadget. Just how Twitter turned out to be more than just a way for Kim Kardashian to tweet about how she looks. It’s going to be like that for Google Glass.”

Wettrick’s innovations class applied for Google Glass on the last possible day, he said. With a 15-second video and 140 characters, the class explained why they deserve the Glass.

“#ifihadglass I would let my students discover all the uses of glass & collaborate w/ other schools worldwide,” Wettrick’s tweet read.

Last Friday, ProjectGlass tweeted back, inviting Wettrick to the #glassexplorers program.

“I got really excited. I just basically screamed and jumped up and down,” said Briceson Hill, a junior and self-described “tech-head” in the innovations class.
He said the class is already his favorite part of the school day.

But, the chance to test out the Glass makes the class even better.

“It’s pretty crazy,” Hill said. “Google, in my opinion, is one of the best companies out there. Getting to work with them, then testing out the Glass, is just insane.”

Wettrick said the class is already based on a method similar to Google’s “20 percent time,” where employes are allotted 20 percent of their time to pursue their own projects. Each student in his class has autonomy to concentrate on projects they are passionate about, Wettrick explained. 

These projects have ranged from increasing adoptions at a local animal shelter to working with an advertisement developer in Beijing.

Likewise, Wettrick said he will allow the students to choose how they want to use the Google Glass — as long as they use it to the best of their abilities and don’t post videos of cats, he said with a laugh.

“I think it will give us an even bigger platform to talk about what we do,“ he said. “I think with using Google Glass, since we are going to be among the first in the world, all eyes are going to be on us. We need to deliver.”

Hill said he thinks the class has prepared him to experiment with the Glass.

“It’s a bit overwhelming, but I think we can handle it,” he said. “Our class is purely based on results.”

The class, he said, will try connecting the Glass with their android devices, as well as try Google conferencing with other classrooms.

Grant Carlile, a technology teacher at Penn High School in Mishawaka, Ind., and an IU-Bloomington alumnus with a master’s in human computer interaction and design, was also chosen as a recipient of Google Glass. He said he plans to use the technology as an educator.

“When you combine the two of us — my knowledge of the lesson plan and the technology of the Glass — it’s a great matchup,” he said.

The idea of a wearable computer, he said, is not a new concept. Google augmented reality in the ’80s to see the different computers people have strapped to their heads, he said.

But Google Glass marks the beginning of a wearable technology available to everyone, he said.

“I think it’s a step in the history books,” he said. “We’ve finally made it to an augmented reality available to the masses.”

However, Wettrick and his class will be able to experience Google Glass before it hits the commercial market either later this year or early 2014. The official launch date has yet to be confirmed.

For now, Wettrick is waiting to find out when he can pick up the glasses from one of three Google locations — San Francisco, Los Angeles or New York.

The eyewear doesn’t come cheap, either. Wetrrick has to shell out $1500 for the Google Glass, but he said he is glad to pay the amount to get the technology in his students’ hands.

“When you are given a tool that you don’t know all the capabilities of, and it’s in your hands, that’s exciting,” he said. “That’s powerful education.”