Google Apps

NY / NJ Google Apps Summit comes to Kean University

Lisa Thumann, , , Leave a comment

Please save the date!!

Registration will open on January 3, 2012 for the first ever NY / NJ Google Apps Summit. Kean and the School for Global Education and Innovation are proud to sponsor this event at the University’s STEM Building on March 22 and 23, 2012.

The event has three conference strands:

  1. Google Apps for Education Overview
  2. Technical Deployment
  3. Using Google Apps for Education in the Classroom

We also have planned to accomodate differing tech abilities by noting which sessions are designed for:

  1. Basics
  2. Tips and Tricks
  3. Getting Geeky

Sessions will be presented by:

  1. Google Apps Certified Trainers
  2. Google Certified Teachers
  3. Area administrators and classroom practitioners
  4. The Google Apps for Education Team

Please consider joining us for both days (3/22 8:00-4:00 and 3/23 8:00-12:00) for a cost of $200. Registration opens on January 3, 2012. You’ll find registration information listed here, on the Google Apps Education site or you can contact me directly at lisa dot thumann at gmail dot com and I will gladly send you the link.


Twitter hashtag #NYNJGS12
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Google Apps adds the EDU Category to their Marketplace

Lisa Thumann, , , , , 2 Comments


I was happy to see that today, via the Official Google Enterprise Blog, Google announced a new category in their Marketplace.

Here’s just a few of what is already available in the new EDU category:

  • Haiku: an LMS that allows teachers to create media-rich class websites, give and auto-grade assessments, annotate assignments and interact online with students.
  • Brainpop: an app that offers animated, curriculum-based content that enhances student learning in numerous ways, from illustrating complex concepts to reviewing before a test.
  • DreamBox: a tool that helps students learn math through interactive lessons and gives teachers reporting dashboards to monitor individual student progress.

There are two Google webinars that are coming up soon that you may want to consider attending or plan to view the archive of. They are:

Manage your school in the cloud with the Google Apps Marketplace
Featuring classroom management tools Haiku and Learnboost
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
10:00 a.m. PST / 1:00 p.m. EST
Register here (https://googleonline.webex.com/googleonline/onstage/g.php?t=a&d=575427854&source=gct)

Help students learn more effectively with the Google Apps Marketplace
Featuring web-based learning tools Grockit, BrainPop, and DreamBox
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
4:00 p.m. PST / 7:00 p.m. EST
Register here (https://googleonline.webex.com/googleonline/onstage/g.php?t=a&d=570677445&source=gct)

With over 10 million users in Google Apps Education Edition, Google said this is only the beginning.

Upload Videos to Google Docs

Lisa Thumann, , , 12 Comments

I saw yesterday on the Google Docs Blog that you can now upload and view videos in Google Docs. I saw an immediate use for this as so many schools don’t want to upload to Youtube, Teachertube, Vimeo or any of the other video storage and streaming sites. So I gave it a try to see how the video would look and what the privacy and sharing settings would be.

It’s as easy to upload a video file to Google Docs as any other type of file. Actually, if you haven’t been in your Docs account in a while, you’ll get a pop-up (shown here) notifying you of the new feature.

You can upload videos up to 1 GB in size. Please note that the video will not be viewable immediately. I uploaded a  43 mb video and it took less than 5 minutes for Google to convert it. (You will need Flash in order to view it.  (Sorry iPad users.)

Here are the supported file formats listed in the Google Help Forum:

  • WebM files (Vp8 video codec and Vorbis Audio codec)
  • .MPEG4, 3GPP and MOV files – (h264 and mpeg4 video codecs and AAC audio codec)
  • .AVI (many cameras use this format – typically the video codec is MJPEG and audio is PCM)
  • .MPEGPS (MPEG2 video codec and MP2 audio)
  • .WMV
  • .FLV (Adobe – FLV1 video codec, MP3 audio)

Either before or after you upload your video, you have the chance to select the Security Settings. You can make the link completely public, completely private, or choose to share it with selected people only. I chose “Anyone with the link” so that you could see how the video would look. (By the way, this is my application video from 12/06 for the Google Teacher Academy.)

I think this is going to be a great alternative for uploading and sharing videos. Give it a try and let me know how you are using it.

Using Google Apps to Foster Global Collaborations #globaled10

Lisa Thumann, , , , , , 2 Comments

I was honored to present for the Global Education Conference today. Here are the slides I shared and the accompanying links. The archive of the webinar will be posted soon at http://www.globaleducationconference.com/recordings.html

These are the links I shared during the webinar today.

Places to look for Global Collaborations:

List of Educators on Twitter:
https://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=pM_ZE5BS0SgqDabnhl8Z2aA&hl=en#gid=0
Add your name to the list:
http://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?key=pM_ZE5BS0SgqDabnhl8Z2aA&hl=en

Educators who attended the Webinar and are looking for Global Collaborations:
https://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=0Au4tGyN-X4T0dENEQjlnVUN5UlBQamlsZU9zb3NfSVE&hl=en&output=html
Add your name to the list:
https://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?formkey=dENEQjlnVUN5UlBQamlsZU9zb3NfSVE6MQ

Additional Resources:

EasyBib and Google Apps

Lisa Thumann, , 4 Comments

EasyBib is now available in the Google Apps Marketplace.

So, you ask, what is EasyBib?

  • Instantly cite books, websites, journals, & more
  • Comprehensive coverage of MLA, APA & Chicago style
  • Automatic single sign-on via Google Apps

The benefit of it being available in the Google Apps Marketplace is that there is a single sign-on. This means that if you have Google Apps Education Edition in your district or school, you can add EasyBib to your domain and students can use the functionality of it with their Apps sign on.

Take a look at EasyBib in action.

Who Owns Your Data?

Lisa Thumann, , , , , , , 13 Comments

I have been reviewing many questions recently about storing data in the Cloud. With so many districts moving to Google Apps I decided to put together some resources on data ownership and privacy. I hope you find this helpful:

Who owns the data that organizations put into Google Apps?

Resource: http://www.google.com/support/a/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=106876

  1. Google won’t share your data with others except as noted in their Privacy Policy.
  2. They keep your data as long as you require them to keep it.
  3. You should be able to take your data with you if you choose to use external services in conjunction with Google Apps or stop using our services altogether.

The best tool for taking your data with you is Google’s Data Liberation Front at http://www.dataliberation.org/. You can even use this tool to export all of your Google Docs out of your personal Google Account and import them into your school Apps account.

Security and Privacy – FAQ’s

Resource: http://www.google.com/support/a/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=60762

In Google’s Security Whitepaper, they cover, in detail, some of the issues we find ourselves talking about with Administrators and even Board of Education members before we can utilize Google Apps. Some of these issues include:

  • Google corporate security policies
  • Systems development and maintenance
  • Regulatory compliance

Google Apps is a technology platform schools can trust

Resource: http://www.google.com/a/help/intl/en/edu/privacy.html

Here you will find the following:

  • Google complies with applicable US privacy law, and the Google Apps Terms of Service can specifically detail their obligations and compliance with FERPA (Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act) regulations.
  • They offer Google Apps Education Edition to schools for free. It’s also completely ad-free — which means your school’s content is not processed by Google’s advertising systems.
  • To reduce exploit risks, each Google server is custom-built with only the necessary software components, and the homogeneous server architecture enables rapid updates and configuration changes across the entire network when necessary.

I’m hoping folks will find this information useful as they field questions from their colleagues and possibly even parents of the students they work with.

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Google Apps Education Certified Trainer

Lisa Thumann, , , 21 Comments

Today I received the e-mail that I was accepted as a Google Apps Certified Trainer. 

The qualifications to earn this certification are:

  • Receive a passing score (80 or above) on 6, 90 minute Google Apps exams
  • Complete the online application including a 2 minute video
  • Demonstrate a proven background in professional development or technology training
  • Demonstrate areas of expertise in educational technology

The requirements for maintaining certification include:

  • Acting on behalf of Google
  • Log training events (3/quarter) – attendance, topics, dates
  • Stay up to date with all the latest features/releases
  • Participate in the community
  • Contribute resources
  • Maintain qualification (additional exams)

I’m excited to bring this to the Center and to New Jersey. I hope that being connected to this new community of learners will give me new ideas, inspire me to stay current, and open the door to additional collaborations.

Become an Apps Certified Trainer by visiting the Training Center.