Google Apps for Education
When you see this icon you will know that you are accessing the Google Apps for Education Cloud Computing sites that are registered to the Chequamegon School District.
The Chequamegon School District is a registered Google Apps for Education school. Google Apps for Education is a free cloud-based service that allows schools to use all of Google’s software and services for free. The service includes filtered email, calendar, online documents, video conferencing, photo albums and web site development. In addition Google Apps for Education connects our school to many other third party applications for free, such as SlideRocket, Easybib and Lucidchart to name a few. These third party apps allow free access to their software for educational institutions.
Please watch this quick video for a demonstration. How Google Apps Work video. Google Apps Ad video. |
Google Apps Status Dashboard - Having problems with Google Apps, check here for the status of the system.
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By using Google Apps for Education, each staff member and each student will have a Google account based on the schools domain name they can use to access these services. Each user will have access to their files and the programs used to create these files from anywhere and at anytime. As we move ahead, more and more of what we do will be using an online application or web app. This on-line technology is only getting better and soon it will become the de facto method when you sit down at a computer or other smart device.
With Google Apps for Education each user is provided with on-line storage via their Google Drive and on-line web applications. It is important to understand the way file storage is done with Google Apps and Google Drive. Each user has 30G (G = Billion) characters of file storage space that can be used for uploading and syncing legacy files such as Word documents, PDF files, images, videos and any other type of file. Google’s intent is that you use Google Docs to create and edit your files directly within Google Docs online using your browser instead of a desktop application like Word or Excel. If you create your files in Google format directly in your browser then you have an unlimited document storage quota. If you upload your existing files and folders to your Google Drive storage, you are given the opportunity at the time of upload to convert your files to the Google format. Choosing to convert your files to the Google format will allow your files to not consume your 30G of storage and then you fall under the unlimited quota space for Google formatted documents. If you continue to create files using Microsoft Word and upload these files to your Google Drive document space unconverted you will have 30G of free storage. By using Google Docs to create your files there are many other features that you would not otherwise have if you just create a document using Microsoft Word. Features such as instant collaboration that allows you and many others to edit the same file at the same time and see each others edits in real time. Share a file or an entire collection of files with a class list, or instantly publish your file to any number of users with its own unique web address. Create an online form in minutes that collects data. This online form could be a quiz or a survey with all the results collected into a spreadsheet. Teachers from schools around the country are making use of the real-time web, such as Twitter, Skype and Google Apps in their instruction and the Chequamegon School District is also increasing its use of these online tools as well. Security of Google Apps and your documents: Many have raised concerns about the security of storing their files in the Cloud. In the past, school districts maintained local file servers for housing files but now with the mobile computing capabilities, most people want access to their files from anywhere and at anytime. School districts can open up their local file servers for outside access however this action imposes a massive security invasion threat that most schools can ill afford to cope with. Google maintains massive data centers throughout the world with redundancy on a huge scale. This ensures that your data is not stored within any single point of failure. This massive infrastructure cannot be matched by any school district. Add to this the fact that Google employs hundreds of engineers responsible for maintaining Google's security apparatus, a task that the typical school district is no match for. In recent years Google Apps for Education has made a strong case for its security and privacy. In 2012, Google Apps received an ISO 27001 security certificate, the industry gold standard, and its cloud services are now certified under the Federal Information Security Management Act (FISMA), a security standard required for storing government data. With these efforts in place by Google, you are ensured that your documents and other data are being stored within a safe and secure infrastructure. The rule is simple, if it is private/personal information then store it on a removable storage device and keep it at home. Your school documents are fine to store in the cloud. These are the URLs that are important to know for using Google Apps for Education. All of these URL’s are on the School Web Site under Staff Access. You can also see a more compressed list here. User Hub: google.com/a/csdk12.net - this link will take you to a page with links to all of the basic Google Apps. gmail.com - This is your email. Spam blocking, email virus detection and blocking, and email archiving are all provided by Postini.com which is also owned by Google. To access your spam filter and to see all messages blocked by Postini just go to login.postini.com and sign on with your email address and password. NOTE: This will be changing very soon to a different solution. (Summer 2013) calendar.google.com - This is your calendar. The schools also maintain event list and schedules using Google calendars. drive.google.com - Your Google Docs web apps and file storage. contacts.google.com/a/csdk12.net - Your contacts plus district wide shared contacts. Easily create your own groups or distribution lists. sites.google.com/a/csdk12.net - A simple way for you to create a web site for your classroom. Also recommended is weebly.com https://picasaweb.google.com/home - Once you are logged in you can get to your Picasa Web Photo Albums here. Everyone has 5G of Google Drive storage which is shared with Picasa. |
Here are some quick videos that show basic computer applications.
How to create a mailing list Using Forms in Google Docs Sharing in Google Docs How to make a blog How to share a big file How to transfer files between computers How to know if an email is real How to make calls from your computer How to video chat How to check your spelling How to create a strong password How to attach a file to an email How to make text bigger (or smaller) How to shorten a long URL How to resize a picture Search by Image 5 tips for staying safe on the web |