Navigating the Google Universe

The Google universe is vast and abundant. The school I currently work at uses Google Apps for Education and I wanted to learn more about these tools and how to maximize their full potential. As I began this journey, I was shocked to discover how many free tools Google offers through the Education Edition Plan. The main categories of products include: Mail, Groups, Docs, Calendar, and Sites. But there are so many other tools available through Google including video tools, blog platforms, photo editing tools, 3-D model creators, mapping tools, readers, eBooks, virtual galleries, and more. I have only begun to scratch the surface of what the Google world has to offer, but I think Google might become my new best friend!

In his article "Why Schools are Turning to Google Apps", Greg Ferguson provides three main reasons school are using this tool including cost effectiveness (free for schools), improved student motivation & performance, and students preparation for the real world. Google itself offers Ten Reasons to Choose Apps. The free factor and variety of what is offered really do make Google Apps for Education an excellent resource for schools. Let's take a closer look at a few of the options offered.

Gmail is a web-based email program hosted by Google which exists within the school domain. My school uses this system with standardized email addresses that consist of a staff member's first initial and last name, followed by the school domain (@vancouverchristian.org). This is a very efficient from of inter-staff communication that also allows all-staff emails to be sent out and has an effective search feature.

Google claims that their translator option allows you to translate letters to or from parents in a number of different languages. I tested this option, as I often receive emails in Spanish. The process was easy enough, but the translation, as I suspected and as is the case with most online translating tools, was grossly inaccurate. I do not recommend people use this feature.

My school has also moved to using Google Calendar to document meetings, school-wide events, field trips and more. We even receive reminders of staff member's birthdays as part of our staff birthday buddy program. The month of March is pictured below.

The calendar is easily accessible from my Gmail homepage and is simple to edit. In schools, the calendar feature could also be used as a way to sign-out equipment or special use rooms. A calendar could be used with students in class to map-out mini-deadlines for large projects or document upcoming class events on a class portal. Currently, the middle school staff at my school, in attempts to avoid over-loading students, manually document major projects in various subject areas on a template which is distributed to students and parents. I am going to suggest we move to using the Google Calendar feature for ease and convenience. As a TL, I could easily use Google Calendars to create a library schedule.

Google Docs allows one to create documents, spreadsheets, presentations, and drawings for a variety of reasons such as assessment, teacher or student observation, tracking homework, documenting discipline referrals, as survey tools, and more. As a middle school staff, we use a Google form to track student lates, which allows us to easily notice patterns in students habitually arriving late as they travel from teacher to teacher.

 

There are many pros to using Google Docs, including the ability for fellow teachers to work on the same document in real-time, the auto-save feature, the advantages of cloud-based retrieval, ready made templates, and the ability to use the chat feature while editing.

Other examples of using Google Docs with teachers include:

• Collaborative Lesson Planning
• Sharing lessons in a Doc list
• Taking Staff Meeting notes
• Sign-up Sheets for events
• Conducting surveys for Collection Evaluations

Other applications of Google Docs with students include:

• Writing with students (drafting, peer editing, teacher editing, publishing)
• Journaling with students (all to a common Google Doc)
• Having students keep Reading Records or Music Practice Sheets using Google Docs
• Teacher monitoring of student research
• Creating Science Lab Reports
• Using the Flash Card Center 
• Using Bibliography Templates 
• Writing Quizzes or Tests

Google Sites can be used to create classroom and school websites, student e-portfolios, for curriculum sharing, and as a form for students to present their learning. Blogger is a free web-publishing tool offered through Google and is the tool I used to create this very blog which documents my learning of applications for technology in education!

Described above are some of the basic features offered through Google Apps for Education. I became intrigued by some of the more "exciting" apps such as Picasa, an online tool that allows you to organize, edit, and share photos. Picasa was easy to install and expediently loaded all the pictures from my files. Downloading the program now allows me the option to edit any photo in Picassa when I right click the image. Here is an example of some of the editing features available (the photo I edited is of my three beautiful kids).

HDR

Sepia Tone

Neon

Two-Tone

Polaroid

Pencil Sketch

Picassa is a tool I will most definitely continue using as an art educator. I also discovered Art Project powered by Google which allows the viewer to explore 17 museums from around the world and view artworks in high resolution. This tool also allows you to create and share your own collections. I plan to experiment with Art Project and with Google Sketch-up, a 3-D modelling program, more this week.

For more information on how to use Google Apps for Education visit their Online Training Center or subscribe to the Google Apps Blog. Google also offers a wealth of Lesson Plans on how to incorporate Google Apps into your curriculum.

Question: What Google Apps for Education do you recommend?