Comments on: 11 Google Apps Improvements for the Classroom

By: James McConville

James McConville — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 20:54:12 +0000

Awesome list – google needs you to to be part of their apps department and they could really move into education in a big way.

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User links about "export" on iLinkShare — Sun, 08 Mar 2009 21:33:18 +0000

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By: hitechhall

hitechhall — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 07:46:09 +0000

Hi Tom, great and helpful article. Just a comment about your first suggested improvement, the blogging platform: In the absence of this feature, I have found using the “announcements” option within the Google Sites’ “Create New Page” tab can create a basic blogging tool. Here’s an example of what I mean. http://sites.google.com/a/rism.ac.th/mr-steve-s-teacher-blog/. The simplicity of this might be an even better solution than a full Blogger account.

By: Ms Wojo

Ms Wojo — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 23:20:51 +0000

I agree that Notebook is a must. It’s such a fabulous research tool. I also love the idea of audio comments for Docs. It would be nice to leave some words of encouragement for students in a way that is more personal than just a comment within a document. Certainly Get a Copy Templates would make my life easier and chat within Docs would be much easier that having to toggle between gmail chat and Docs. Outstanding suggestions!

By: Dave Stacey

Dave Stacey — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 20:21:11 +0000

I’d agree with all of these Tom, although for me the Notebook would probably be at the top of the list.
It looks as though the Start Page may have been fixed, we had to switch it off due to some inappropriate content being available, but I haven’t gone back to have another look yet.
The only other thing I’d love to see from an admin point of view would be levels of access, where I could staff access to the Start Page for example, but not students.
That and the option to bulk delete. It looks like I’m going to have to find someone to manually remove 500 accounts next week!

By: woscholar

woscholar — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 20:19:42 +0000

Google Reader should be a must. RSS would be such a shoe-in skill taught within the same suite.

Also, make all Docs, Spreadsheets, and Presentations publishable in the same manner (to ease instruction of students and teachers).

It would be nice to have a student plug in for the admin to allow Gaggle-type of email monitoring for student accounts. I think schools would be more apt to utilize it with students.

My final addition (for now) would be to have a link to use the available Gmail unused storage space as an online HD. Linking outside of it would not be feasible, but just hainv gone place to put things that do not fit inside the Google Docs options would be cool. Might even allow districts to move away from Active Directory (which we are working on doing).

By: Jenny Luca

Jenny Luca — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 20:08:03 +0000

Totally agree with you about Google Notebook Tom. I think it’s the untapped resource that teachers should be using with their kids at the start of any research project. A great list. You really are doing a wonderful job for educators everywhere. I hope the Google team sit up and take notice.

By: Google for Educational Contexts « Disparate

Google for Educational Contexts « Disparate — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 04:34:42 +0000

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By: Erica Hartman

Erica Hartman — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 00:02:54 +0000

My suggestion was going to be chat in docs as well, and they I saw you already had it. It would be awesome to be able to chat with my students while they were working and suggest improvement, etc. I would like to be able to use html codes in google sites and presentations. I have had real problems embedding anything not “google” such as gcast mp3’s and audio into sites. At the last GTA we requested chat ability in docs so maybe we will have it soon

By: JennK

JennK — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 21:32:57 +0000

Another addition I’d like to see is the ability to create an educational group outside of a formal institutional setting. Allowing tutors, for example, to set up Google Apps for their students. This could be a tremendous help for tutors who only see their students in-person once a week. In my own case, I’d like to be able to set up Google Apps for my children to facilitate our homeschooling, and also for writing classes that I teach to groups outside of my home. My only option right now is to establish us as a “small business.”