Google Apps – a single online service for all of your students’ online needs
Google Apps is a set of communication tools provided by Google, ideally suited to the educational market. Here at Brightcookie.com we can not only give you advice on how to implement Google Apps so that your organisation can achieve maximum benefit and usage, but also provide you with a custom-made set-up to suit your specific needs.
Google Apps – one sign-on, many uses
Google’s free email, Gmail, has evolved as Google continues to add more features to it.
In Google Apps, Google has grouped a number of essential services together: email, calendar, video, talk, sites, and docs. This is all in a single sign-on package with a high level of flexibility and security, combined with large volume storage. In addition, Google Apps is easily inegrated into Moodle and Mahara.
With Google Apps you can email, instant message, and make high-quality voice and video communication without launching a separate application. You can voice and video-chat and IM straight from your inbox. Gmail also features a high quality search engine allowing for easy access to all mail, supported by 25 GB of storage per user.
Keep out the stuff and nonsense
Advanced email filters keep spam from your inbox so you can focus on messages that matter. Security is a high priority and Gmail lets you create custom inbound and outbound policies to keep students and data safe.
Google Docs
Google Docs provides the ability to upload, share and organise documents, thus allowing students in different locations to collaborate on one document. Students (and teachers) can share the same online copy of each doc, spreadsheet or presentation. All revisions are saved and recoverable.
Presentations can be delivered to remote audiences and documents and spreadsheets can be published internally for students and teachers to view. The in-built search facility allows for access to any documents quickly and easily. Google Docs gives you far greater flexibility and efficiency through importing and exporting documents, as well as collaboratively editing or publishing from a huge range of different formats (including .doc, .xls, .csv, .ppt, .txt, .html, .pdf). To protect your documents, administrators have fine-tuned controls to manage how broadly data can be shared. To allow students to work together without the hassles of attachments, Google Docs allows them to share the same online copy of each doc, spreadsheet or presentation. All revisions are saved and recoverable.
Google Calendar
A shared calendar means people can get together easily. Just pick a time (based on when people are free) and enter meeting details. Google Calendar will send invitations and keep track of RSVPs. Students can share project calendars-either amongst a whole class or with specific collaborators. Collaborators can have editing rights and see shared events alongside their own schedules. Your institution can show event information in context – embed an internal calendar in Google Sites or publicly on your website, no programming required.
Google Video
Use Google Apps to share rich video information. Video sharing makes important communications like training, presentations and announcements more personal, engaging and effective. Videos are kept secure and private – students and teachers can securely share videos with specific people without making confidential information public. No need to worry about large files or complex infrastructure – Google securely hosts and streams your videos, so students and teachers don’t need to share videos over email, or deal with IT for a video solution. Everyone can contribute. Students can share videos instantly. Viewing and annotating doesn’t require any special software, just a standard browser.
Google Sites
You can keep your information secure by setting consistent sharing permissions across all areas of your institution or course. In the same way, you can make useful information accessible – create an intranet or let project teams build sites to capture and share knowledge. Files can be shared simply – through automatic file versioning. It’s easy for people to make updates and get the latest version. Google Sites also allows you to combine content from many sources. Students and teachers can display Google Documents, Spreadsheets, Presentations, YouTube videos, Picasa slideshows and gadgets. All without any programming skills.
Google’s search engine power at your fingertips
Google search technology is built-in, so students can find useful information as easily as searching the Internet. Everyone can contribute. No coding or system expertise is required to update pages or create new internal sites, so anyone can add to shared knowledge.