Google Apps, the BIG picture

"Google’s mission is to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful."

Google Apps for Education is an entire suite of productivity tools. They are synchronized and cross-platform. That means you spend less time duplicating and more time collaborating!

Let's take a look at the Apps Suite:

Docs: includes Docs, Presentations, Spreadsheets, Forms, Drawings

Gmail, Video chat, Google Talk

Calendar

Sites

Groups

Video

Google Moderator

use Google Gadgets for extra productivity

Google searches, Google+, Maps, Earth, Sketchup, Picasa Photo Editing, Chrome browser

What does all this mean for the average user?? You can SHARE! It's nice to share!

  • If your school has Google Apps, everyone has access to the same tools, no one is left out
  • You can set up Goups that allow sharing of documents and edit in real time and collaborate through a built-in chat window
  • You can send email to an entire Group by using the group's single address: i.e. english-dept@myschool.org
  • Share calendars, see other's calendars and schedule meetings when everyone is free, use the Calendar as a lesson plan book
  • Use Forms to collect any type of data: i.e. tests, quizzes, information, information from parents, etc and view the results in spreadsheet form. Tests can be automatically calculated to return grades.
  • Put teaching materials online with a class website
  • Post a website expressly for students to collaborate on a project
  • Post, view and collaborate on school produced videos
  • Use Moderator to solicit questions
  • If admin allowed, link all this to your mobile phone and have it at your fingertips
  • Communicate using Google's Translation gadget
  • Create presentations and post on webpage
  • Use Google Search which is built into Docs (like synonyms)
  • Protect students with built in Gmail filters
  • Easily manage the ever-growing Contact list
  • Use the Calendar integrated with Gmail to send invitations
  • Video chat with professionals, conduct meetings, visit places, collaborate with other classrooms
  • Schedule resources using Calendar
  • Create Templates to be shared with collegues
  • Analyze data using PivotTables
  • Use a class site as a blog or wiki

Now...doesn't that all make sense?? Now, how does it work?

Here's an example site and how you might use some of the tools:

https://sites.google.com/site/sampleteacherappssite/

This is an example of one of the zillions of gadgets available for your webpage.

For more information on power uses, see the Power Tool workshop:

https://sites.google.com/site/ttechclick/Home/workshops/google-power-tools

Going Google:

https://sites.google.com/a/googleapps.com/k12-guide-to-going-google/