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3rd of 5: Leadership and Google Apps in Your District

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Google EDU Globe
At the NJ Google Apps for Education Summit this month, we had the opportunity to briefly present and discuss the role and impact of Google Apps in K-12 Education with administrators and leaders from several districts.  This post is the  3rd of 5 on Leadership and Google Apps in Your District.

Learn, Plan, Execute, Review, Repeat

As noted in the first post in this series, your Google Apps deployment gets you to the starting line.  The race, however, is a marathon and not a sprint.  Schools often set lofty goals and objectives with the intent of doing as much as possible as soon as possible.  While aggressive plans are fine, districts need to avoid overwhelming staff with initiatives that require new skills, tools, and methods.  While training and professional development is critical, rushing to pull it together to meet arbitrary deadlines creates stress and makes integration of Google Apps, devices, apps, and content more difficult.

Educators must be confident in their own ability to use and manage the technology and methods before they stand in front of their classes.  Allow teachers and staff to learn, incrementally, and to apply what they’ve learned before moving forward.

Some of the elements of a successful professional development program include:

  • Clear long-term goals and near-term objectives
  • Established tracks based on roles: administrator, teacher-centric, student-centric, etc.
  • Sufficient training on basic use of Google Apps — what it can do and the clicks you need to do it.
  • Use-case centric education on applying the features of Google Apps to classroom use.  Using suggested edits and comments to facilitate paperless homework and collaborative lesson planning are two examples.
  • Allow educators time to plan and use what they have learned before moving forward.  Holding a half day workshop every 3 months can be more effective than two full days of training in August.
  • Help faculty integrate the use of technology and the Google Apps ecosystem into lesson plans.
  • Provide a means for faculty to practice in front of peers, with feedback, before using new technology in front of students.

When it comes to integrating Google Apps, Chrome devices, tablets, and other technologies into the learning process, professional development must be more than a set of classes for continuing ed credits.  A sound curriculum and plan, that helps faculty and staff advance their capabilities of time, is a key to success.

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If you are interested in a professional development assessment covering Google Apps, Chromebooks, and/or Play for Education tablets, please contact us.

Chromebook SSO Eases Access Administration

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Single Sign-On (SSO) enables users to access multiple systems and applications with a single username and password, and a single login screen.  And while many schools and businesses use SSO for Google Apps and related solutions, Chrome devices have always required a separate login.

To easy access administration and simplify user logins, Google has launched SAML-based SSO login for Chrome devices.   Organizations running current versions of Chrome on devices registered via Chrome Management licenses can now extend their Google Apps SSO login to the registered Chrome devices.

Feel free to contact us if you would like more information or assistance with your setup.

 

1st of 5: Leadership and Google Apps in Your District

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Google EDU Globe
At the NJ Google Apps for Education Summit this month, we had the opportunity to briefly present and discuss the role and impact of Google Apps in K-12 Education with administrators and leaders from several districts.  This post is the 1st of 5 on Leadership and Google Apps in Your District.

Google Apps is a Platform, not a Solution

While this statement seems obvious, we work with many school districts that become so focused on the near term goal of getting Google Apps up and running, and their users and data moved over, that they neglect to consider what comes next.

If your moving to Google Apps simply for email and calendaring, then yes, for the moment, your deployment project is the end of your journey.  If, however, you expect to use Google Apps in the classroom to foster innovation and education results, than your Google Apps deployment is the prep work for your journey.

Yes, Google Apps provides a suite of apps and tools.  How you use these apps and tools is what makes the difference.

Google Apps is also the base of a managed ecosystem.  Through Google Apps for Education, you can manage access to applications, web sites, learning tools, educational content, and services.  You can manage devices — tablets and Chromebooks, with extensive control over the students’ user experience.

Most importantly, Google Apps provides a platform for innovation.  Be it flipped classroom, web-based learning, student portfolios, or self-directed learning, Google Apps provides the core tools, administrative platform, and security envelope you need.

Drive vs Docs = New Google URLs

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google drive
Google Drive and Google Docs are no longer the same thing.  As Google expanded the file service capabilities of Drive, Docs and Drive were separated to better reflect Docs as the office productivity tools and Drive as the secure file service.

Recently, Google made changes to ensure this distinction is evident in the URLs we use to access these services.

  • drive.google.com still points to Google Drive, and drive.google.com/a/<domain> still takes you to your Google Drive page
  • docs.google.com will soon point to a new Google Docs homepage that takes you directly to the Google Doc apps

We recommend updating your bookmarks as well as your custom URL mappings.

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If you need a hand with your custom URL mappings, please let us know.

Restore Google Drive Files Offers Some (but not enough?) Protection

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google drive
Among the myriad of new features and upgrades announced at Google I/O this week, Google added the ability to restore users’ Drive files that have been deleted from the Trash folder.

While offering some protection, the feature is limited in its scope.

  • You cannot restore individual files; you can only restore all files deleted within a date range you provide.  The minimum date range is 1 day (24 hours).
  • You can only restore files for individual users, one at a time.
  • You can only restore files that were deleted from Trash within 25 days.
  • When restoring files, the permissions are not restored.  Only the user will have access to the files.

With these limitations, we do not expect the ability to restore a user’s Google Drive files will be of great use to most organizations.  With a limited retention period and lack of granularity, the tool provides a big shovel when most users need a spoon.

The solution also depends on users’ ability to recover information from the Trash folder, a process we find difficult at times due to the limited ability to search Trash in Drive.

True backup/recovery solutions give users and administrators that critical features that deliver more usability and effectiveness:

  • Flexible retention:  Allow organizations to implement policies related document and records management, including extended retention and removal of data past retention windows.
  • File-Level / Item-Level Restore: Most data loss and restore needs result from human error or action and impact fewer than 5 files.  Acceptable restore capabilities include the ability to restore individual files (or entire accounts) and should include the ability to select file by version or point in time.
  • Protect Meta Data:  Protect the meta data as well as the files themselves.  File ownership, permissions, etc. should be preserved and recoverable with the file.
  • Data Export:  Provide the ability to export data so that it may be migrated to other accounts and/or other systems.
  • Administrative Control:  Identify and allow backup/restore administrators that are not full domain administrators.

Absent many of these features, the ability within Google Apps to restore a user’s Drive files is a limited feature that will not meet most organizations’ needs for data protection.

Third party backup/restore solutions are still a necessary and appropriate component of a robust Google Apps environment.

Feel free to contact us if you would like to explore backup/recovery options and solutions.

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New Google Sheets are Here

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Google Sheets
Over the next few weeks, Google is rolling out the new version of Sheets to all users. Sheets include a many new features beyond offline access, speed, and no more limits on formula complexity and sheet size.

Spell check is not yet part of the new Sheets, but is coming soon.

You can click here to learn more about the new Google Sheets, and you can see Google’s announcement here.

For those that want to help users get the most from Google Docs, contact us about self-paced, integrated Google Apps training and other professional development options.

 

Google Apps and Student Privacy

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student-privacyAs you have probably heard,  there is a Federal lawsuit against Google in California that accuses Google of mining student data for commercial purposes. We have received a few questions and should expect we will have more.

Here is what we know so far.

  • Google Apps for Education remains certified as FERPA compliant. Federal regulators have not seen any issue to warrant reconsideration, revocation, or further investigation at this time.
  • Yes, Google scans all email before it reaches its inbox.  The scanning addresses several issues, including spam and virus protection, archiving, spell checking, and priority inbox, as well as automated identification of keywords.
  • Auto identification of keywords is for ad display.  Unless explicitly turned on by a school district, ads are not displayed and this functionality is disabled.  We have never turned on this service for a school, and to the best of our knowledge, no school has turned on ads themselves.
  • No humans read emails or other Google contents.  The scanning is automated, by computer algorithm.
  • Google does not sell the information it gathers — that is not how Ads work. When an advertiser selects keywords, Google’s system matches keywords from ads with keywords from users.  Advertisers do not know the identity of those who see ads.
  • The lawsuit alleges that Google could use a “profile” learned from email scanning to advertise and market to students using other Google services. Emphasis is on “could”.  While Google could do this, they do not, as to do so would invalidate Google’s FERPA compliance and would destroy the trust of thousands of schools and districts.   Also note that SaaS providers offering SIS and LMS services also have information that could be sold or used for marketing.   Like Google, these providers hold the information as confidential.
  • The judge in the case denied the request for class action status. This indicates that there is likely insufficient cause to expect a broad application of fault or liability. While we are not lawyers, appears to be an early indication regarding the merits of the case.

We will continue to monitor the case for developments and publish relevant information as it becomes available.  If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us.

Google Apps for Education Security and Privacy

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Secure Cloud
Recently, there has been much media discussion in light of litigation regarding data privacy in Google Apps for Education.  Here are the important facts about student accounts and Google Apps for Education.

First and foremost, Ads in Gmail are turned off by default for Google Apps for Education and Cumulus Global advises every school and district we work with not to change this setting at any point in time.

Gmail for consumers and Google Apps users runs on the same infrastructure, which helps Google deliver high performance, reliability and security to all users. However, Google Apps offers additional security, administrative and archiving controls for education, business, and government customers.

Gmail scans and indexes email for multiple purposes, including spell check, virus and spam protection, features like Priority Inbox and auto-detection of calendar events, relevant search results and advertising.  This scanning is done on all incoming emails, is 100% automated and cannot be turned off.

When ads in Gmail are turned off for Google Apps for Education, automated scanning that is done in Gmail is not used to target ads to Education users, whether inside Gmail or in other Google products (e.g. YouTube, Google Search, etc.).

Google does not scan information stored in Google Drive or Docs (or Sheets, Slides, Drawings, Forms) to target ads to Apps for Education customers.

Google does not share personal information with companies, organizations or individuals outside of Google unless one of the circumstances outlined in the Google Privacy Policy applies.

The data schools and students put into Google systems is theirs, and Google believes it should stay that way. If an education department, school or university decides to no longer use Google, it easy for them to take their data away with them.

Google Apps for Education offers schools a number of additional controls and security features. These include a 99.9% uptime guarantee, 24/7 customer support, greater storage capacity and the ability for school administrators to turn certain features or services on or off. As with all our accounts, we keep our users secure by filtering out spam and looking out for viruses and malware.

If you have any questions or concerns regarding Google Apps for Education security and privacy, please contact us.  We are happy to answer questions and provide additional information.

Classroom Results Improve with Google Apps Professional Development

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Eduscape Logo
Cumulus Global and Eduscape Learning Partnership Delivers Certified Educator Training

Following successful participation at last week’s FETC 2014 conference, Cumulus Global today announced a strategic partnership with Eduscape Learning, offering comprehensive professional development programs for schools and districts using Google Apps for Education.  The partnership combines Eduscape Learning’s existing professional development services and Google Apps Certified Trainers with Cumulus Global’s experience and “Google Guides” peer resource program.  Beyond basic use of Google Apps, the firms offer a multi-track curriculum that focuses on the needs of teachers, administrators, and student interaction.

“We provide professional development to teachers and administrators, giving them a practical path to facilitate technology integration into the curriculum, including Common Core Standards,” noted Alex Urrea, Managing Partner Eduscape Learning. “Our workshops, delivered by former educators, provide classroom teachers with useful strategies to create engaging lessons for 21st century learners.”

Instead of relying on canned digital curriculum offerings which take creativity and differentiation out of the teacher’s hands, Eduscape Learning’s workshops help teachers facilitate collaboration and communication in the classroom to support curriculum outcomes.

In addition to Eduscape Learning’s proven courses and workshops, more schools and districts have access to Cumulus Global’s “Google Guides” program.  Google Guides is a peer-to-peer resource program for schools and districts that want to leverage best practices in support of successful adoption of Google Apps during and after deployment. The Google Guides program improves the migration and adoption process by providing advanced education to tech-savvy faculty and thought leaders within the school.

“Moving to Google Apps for Education and deploying Chromebooks is not the end point,” stated Allen Falcon, CEO of Cumulus Global.  “Once in place, Google Apps is a platform that facilitates improved learning outcomes.  The key to success is empowering faculty and administrators to leverage the collaborative features of Google Apps.”

Cumulus Global and Eduscape Learning deliver workshops in a blended format using an onsite, face-to-face model combined with web-based offerings that increase and support teacher adoption.

About Eduscape Learning
Eduscape Learning is a company whose primary goal is to advance 21st Century Skills in the classroom. Comprised of primarily educators, we make classroom technology relevant for students and teachers by taking a curriculum-driven approach to professional development.

 

Cumulus Global Offers Solutions and Seminars at FETC 2014

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FETC-2014Visitors to FETC in 2014  in Orlando later this month have a unique opportunity to learn how Google Apps for Education can serve as platform for robust administrative and classroom computing.

Cumulus Global (Booth #256) is hosting a series of in-booth seminars covering a range of topics from system administration, data protection, and security, to 1:1 program design and professional development for faculty.  Cumulus Global is webcasting the sessions as well, for those unable to attend FETC in person.

With more than a dozen sessions, Cumulus Global intends to offer attendees new perspectives on how schools can effectively Deploy solutions, Gear Up with the best devices and infrastructure, and Transform the learning process.

Session presenters include experts from Backupify, Bettercloud, CloudLock, Edsby, and Eduscape Learning.

Click Here for more information, or to register for one or more of the webcasts. Feel free to Contact Us with any questions.

As a featured exhibitor, Cumulus Global is able to offer the following discount codes for FETC 2014 attendees:

  • Register using code FREE974 for your free Exhibit Hall Pass and access to the Learning Labs, a $50 value.
  • Register using code EDUCATE to save $60 on FETC Full Conference Registration.