Google Apps Guidance Needed
I have a school account established for my teachers and students but I am stuck. I want to set up what the kids are using as their homepage. From the past several days I see that iGoogle is not the option any longer, but instead use a start page. But how do I go about limiting all the inappropriate widgets. (And why don't the girlie widgets go away when it is turned into a school resource?) Do I have to create a start page for each of the kids and lay it out for them? If that is the case, do I make the teachers' start pages too so that the students can have a link to their pages? I was wanting a homepage for the students with an RSS feed (maybe), Google Calendar, a to-do list or agenda planner, short cut to Google Docs and later to add the Google Chat feature. Is there anybody that has already gone through this process that might be interested in helping guide me? I would SOOO appreciate it!
Tags: Google, GoogleApps
Replies to This Discussion
-
Permalink Reply by Andrea McBeth on -
How did you get the "Add stuff" to not show all of the gadgets?
Thanks
-
Permalink Reply by svinks on -
@Melissa,
As from December 3rd 2008, the Start Page is no longer included for new organizations that sign up for Google Apps. Personally I have upgraded our Google Apps Standard edition (which was created before that Start Page cut off date) to the Education edition and requested the limited gadget feature. Now none of our Google Apps users can add inappropriate gadgets. Users are restricted to the gadgets that I as an administrator allow and provide (by URL). For now I have only allowed the Google Apps gadgets. If users don't delete the default gadgets such as notes, weather, news and some more that I don't remember, they will continue to have access to these gadgets.
About email, I still have to convince my administration to set up student accounts, but with Postini recently offering a free service to the education edition, which allows administrators to control message rules for user groups, it should not be much of a problem. Here the announcement with further info http://googleenterprise.blogspot.com/2009/07/todays-day-signups-ope...
-
Permalink Reply by Anthony VonBank on -
Depends on the age groups, but I let the kids do iGoogle pages, but they need to show them to me at any time (I take addresses down if I need to) and just stay over their shoulder about it. Now, that's 12th graders. I think your idea will be fine, but it seems like a lot of work. How about Blogger? It has feeds, widgets, what have you, but the center of it is all you.
You can see mine at:
bpglobaltech.blogger.com
and also, I am blogging about instituting Google Applications in the classroom:
teachingwithgoogledocs.blogspot.com
Hope that helps....
-
Permalink Reply by Mike on -
I just turned the Start Page feature off for our students. It was sort of nice, but I found it to be more of a distraction/time waster. I haven't tried regulating the gadgets yet, mostly because I haven't had time.
- ‹ Previous
- 1
- 2
- Next ›
Commercial Policy
If you are representing a commercial entity, please see the specific guidelines on your participation.
The Fifth Year Anniversary Book Project!
Related Links & Events:
EdIncubator
EdIncubator" projects are designed to help education projects or initiatives build advisory councils with real educators, administrators, parents, and students giving real feedback. Current projects are below.
Groups interested in participating can contact Steve Hargadon directly.
Support:
Classroom 2.0 is a free site. You can support the network by making a donation (any amount):You can also support us by using our Amazon search link:
Thanks to support from:
Badge
About
Follow
Awards:
© 2012 Created by Steve Hargadon.
