and complaints of disgruntled educators but what I found was something totally opposite. Of all the training I have done over the years, I must say that launching Google Apps has been 'THE' most exciting and fun.
Here are some of the things I offered to our administration and staff.
1- In 2010, we sent home a letter to all parents in the high school and middle school announcing the use of Google Apps. (We have since rolled out Google Apps to our elementary schools.)
2 - With the help of another school district I wrote a basic Google Apps manual. I only did this once as Google Apps continues to change so keeping up with such a project would be a full time project for me. I can share my manual but it has not been updated since 2010. Thus, much of the information covered is outdated.
3- I set up voluntary summer training sessions. Sessions were 1-2 hours in length (see sample document - A Day with Google) and covered all the items we were using at that time. (I did this during the summer of 2010 and 2011.)
4- I made individual appointments with teachers and their classes. Generally I spent 2 days in each classroom preparing the students and the teacher with how Google Apps worked. (One day I discussed appropriate use; the second day we practiced with some of the components of Google Apps.) In most cases, after meeting with the teacher, I asked each teacher to give me an idea of how they would use Google Apps in their classroom. I asked them to start small...then move to bigger projects. Some had no idea so I suggested a small project to get them started. I was amazed at the different ways our teachers wanted to use Google Apps. It was very refreshing to see our staff excited about this 'new' tool!
5 - Since we rolled out Google Apps over the summer, I set up Friday sessions (similar to my A Day with Google document) with our administrators and their assistants. The sessions were offered on a volunteer basis and were ability grouped to meet the user's needs. These sessions were so informative and fun! Just as with the teaching staff, it was so exciting to assist individuals with their Google Apps questions and projects.
6- I offered on-demand training as needed. Sort of a "Did you know you could do this..." session as personal questions arose.
7- I let my users know that I was not the expert. There were times when I would say..."I will get back to you". Often, the user would find out the answer to his/her question(s) and share. Isn't that what collaboration should be?
8- YouTube has some great Google Apps videos. When I was strapped for time I would direct individuals to a video if one existed.
Challenges: I work on the training end so I cannot speak for the technical end of Google Apps. I do know we had a few issues but our technology staff just kept finding solutions.
One last bit of information regarding training - Prior to rolling out Google Apps to the district, the Technology Department 'played' with Google Apps for approximately 3 months. I ran Friday afternoon meetings (about once a month) with the entire technology staff so that we could attempt to find any issues and discuss any issues before the technology staff encountered questions upon roll-out. I needed to know that my technology staff had a comfort level with Google Apps before sending them out to assist district employees. This was a great way to end the week - educational and fun too!
Jayne
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ents as Google Apps assigns each document an URL which can be copied and pasted for use in any blog, website, email, or online course.
Similar to most other web 2.0 tools, documents are saved and can be accessed from any computer with an internet connection. I keep finding more and more ways to make my computers less important for saving and organizing my past work.
How do you envison schools integrating Google Apps? Anyone with a connected computer can create and save documents and spreadsheets from anywhere in the world and then access their work from school-based computers/terminals. No need for the proper version of the same software to interpret/open documents on a different computer.…
Anyone use Google Apps Education Edition. I would like to form a network. Google Apps has changed our school I would highly recommend it.
http://www.schoolinfo.ca/connectingeducation/googleApps.htm
s.
This change will not impact organizations that signed up for Google Apps in the past; those domains can continue using the Start Page without interruption. If you are currently using Start Page and are experiencing any issues with that service, these are unrelated to this change. Please see the Known Issues page or Sites Help Center for more information.
To provide some context, Start Page was offered to provide organizations with a convenient way to help their users keep in touch with essential information. However, we found that the Start Page wasn't living up to that goal. At the same time, Google Sites has matured as a highly flexible, customizable platform for organizations to create dynamic public and private websites, including pages with gadgets similar to the Start Page. For more information on how you might use Google Sites, click here.
Google is committed to innovating and improving the Google Apps message and collaboration services. Click here to see recent improvements to the Google Apps suite. We look forward to sharing many innovations in Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Docs, Google Video and Google Sites in 2009 and beyond.…
n just having a school or student google account setup. It advises purchasing a separate domain outside of your school domain since Google Apps becomes the main home page.
I haven't tried the API approach but from what I have read, this assumes you have the Google Apps for Education installed.
See the article for more info:
http://www.smeech.net/smeech/2009/7/29/process-of-setting-up-google...
Good Luck!…
may have had. Now every time I use a Google app for class I have to think about how Google could shut it down. I'll think twice about using any Google app now.…
Added by Scott Beiter at 11:53am on January 20, 2009