Google Apps for Education 
Google Apps is free for schools and has no ads. It
allows students and teachers to create documents(Word, Excel, PowerPoint),
share calendars, email, chat, create web pages and more. It is secure
as everything stays within the registered domain and cannot be accessed
by people who do not have a school login. It is an excellent tool to
provide elearning. It works on any computer including Macs.
We have been using Google Apps in our school
since Febuary 2008. It has been a huge success. Both students
and teachers have said it improves learning. For information on the
implementation click
here. Please contact
us at connectingeducation@gmail.com for more information on our implementation
of Google Apps.
NEW
Mar. 12, 2009 Obama’s
new Chief Information Officer–Vivek Kundra–
said to the Wall Street Journal,
“I’m a big believer in disruptive technology. If I went
to the coffee shop, I would have more computing power than the police
department. Consumers had better technology than the government did.
I’m all about the cloud computing notion. I look at my lifestyle,
and I want access to information wherever I am. I am killing projects
that don’t investigate software as a service first.” He
setup Google Apps in Washington DC which saved millions of dollars read
more
NEW Mar. 12, 2009 Google Apps and Netbooks supported by major educational research project read more
NEW Feb. 11, 2009 - Google Apps SAVES MONEY - London Guardian News Paper now uses Google Apps "Apart from cost savings generated by the reduction of storage, server and application maintenance, reports suggested that the use of the web-based systems is also expected to free up a third of support time spent by IT teams at the media firm." read more
"Frantic troubleshooting by an overworked staff versus someone else fixing problems smoothly. A sliver of server space per person versus a five-gigabyte chunk. Half a million dollars versus free. That's what colleges are faced with as they decide whether to continue running their own e-mail services or outsource them to a professional service like Google Apps Education Edition" Chronicle of Higher Education, 1/11/2008
What is Google Apps ?
Why it works for schools .....
What students think of Google Apps... ame="player"
A student's opinion of Google Apps
Math Teacher's Opinion of Google Apps - Education Edition
Geography Teacher's Opinion of Google Apps - Education Edition
What other secondary schools feel about Google Apps
Google Apps saves money...
1. Nothing is lost. Documents and emails are automatically saved every minute.
2. Collaborate with anyone with both shared documents and email.
3. Lots of Space. Users get 6 GB plus to save documents.
4. Free software. Word processor, spreadsheet and presentation software is available for free on-line and work the same through any browser (newer than 2003).
5. Reduce costs. No hardware, software, maintenance or upgrade costs.
6 Improve communication with email, calendars, chat, document management and blogs.
7. Easy to use.
8. Free for schools with no ads.
Currently we are testing Google Apps at a high school in Canada (click here).
Google Apps for education click here
Google Apps for education description click here
Tech Learning article on Google Apps click here
Google Apps as a tool to share documents...watch...
Case Studies
Arizona State University
"Google Apps is helping Arizona State University become a highly flexible university that can provide extraordinary technology experiences for its students. Google's integration of webmail, instant messaging and calendaring is second to none."
- Kari Barlow, Assistant Vice President, University Technology Office, Arizona State University
Read the Arizona State University case study to learn more.
Columbia Secondary School
"Our technology and information systems are a huge selling point for parents who may otherwise have doubts about sending their kids to a brand new school. As a startup operation, drawing a talented and diverse student population has required that we create an impressive online edifice that preceded our physical existence as a school. From summer reading discussion forums to parent and student listserves and online interest groups, the strong, flexible, and user-friendly solution provided by Google Apps provided the glue to hold together our online community."
- Andrew Stillman, Assistant Principal and Associate Director of Technology and Information Systems
Articles
"Colorado State University has partnered with Google to significantly enhance these services for students."
Article : Colorado State University Implements Google Apps
"The ability to share documents—and
to communicate—with others, regardless of platform
or software, allowed Sylvia’s project to succeed."
Education talking about Google App