Educational use of Google's apps - Part 1 - GMail

It's all well and good to tell people about technology-based solutions that are available for use in the classroom, but it's also important to report out on our experiences using the tools, too. I've made a big push recently to use Google's office apps in my 10th grade Biology class and in my 9th grade Integrated Science class. Given that Gmail accounts can act as a common sign-in for all Google services, and that signing up for a Gmail account in class provides an opportunity for students to get themselves an e-mail address they can feel good about putting on a college application, I started off by having all students sign up for Gmail.

At the beginning of this school year, Gmail was still an invite- or cell phone-only service, but recently they opened up the service so that you can sign up even if you don't have another e-mail account. I survey my students at the beginning of each course, and most (sometimes all) have an e-mail address, but the accounts aren't always accessible by the web and the names are not always the most ... academic. Having the students sign up for Gmail opened up a conversation about the differences between personal and professional internet use, and students seemed surprised to learn that things like e-mail addresses and social networking pages can affect the way a college might perceive them in the admissions process. Only one or two students ignored my advice to keep their account name purely academic / professional, but even these resistant students didn't choose accounts that were inappropriate, and they did have some aspect of their name involved. I guess you can't win 'em all...but overall, the experience was pretty easy, and I'm hopeful that they'll continue to use the account for their college applications.

The actual process of signing up is relatively straight-forward, but I did encounter a bit of a difficulty - when my students from my second biology section attempted to sign up, they got errors saying that a new account had already been set up and directing them to sign in. On the day that I brought my Integrated Science students in, about 20 were able to sign up before others received the "already signed up" error. I collaborated with our technology coordinator and even after clearing the caches and cookies on the school's internet server, we still couldn't find a work-around. Perhaps there's an issue on Google's end with regard to a limit on new accounts within a short period of time from a small number of closely-related IP addresses? In any case, sign up went fine the next day.

Once the students were signed in I had them send me an e-mail so that I could add them to my Contacts and start a Group for each class. I also had them send e-mails to each other to get familiar with the interface, and they quickly discovered the chat feature which I think has a lot of potential good use (I especially like how chats are automatically threaded into related e-mail conversations) but of course, a lot of potential for distraction. I used their exploration as a good time to talk about learning to be able to use chatting for academic purposes and not getting distracted from educational goals by social opportunities. As we continued through our work (which I'll describe in more detail in Parts 2 and 3), I didn't notice too much distraction - I generally found that the students seemed to enjoy the inclusion of technology enough to stay on-task (and combined that with good monitoring by walking around the room and making it a point to acknowledge that I'd be looking at everyone's screen as I did so).

Once in Gmail, I also had the students use the navigation links at the top left corner to explore Calendar and Documents. I didn't give them any specific tasks other than to "poke around a bit to check things out". Some found the Calendar app interesting (generally they were the ones who seem to be ahead of their peers with regard to time management skills), others didn't care too much about it. All of the students were intrigued when I mentioned the collaboration features on Documents - they played around a little, ran into some bumps, but I knew the exploration would make using Documents easier as it became a formal part of our work.

As a side, but important, note - our school's Technology Committee is currently discussing how we can adapt our policies (while complying with laws like the Children's Internet Protection Act - see the ALA's page on CIPA for great information) to make the best and safest use of these tools with our students. It appears that the situation is favorable to revise our school's policy against students using e-mail at school, but we also need to touch base with other parts of our community, particularly the parents.

In Part 2 of this series I'll talk in some detail about how I used Spreadsheets with Charts with my 9th grade Integrated Science students. In Part 3 of this series I'll describe how I used Documents and Blogger with my 10th grade Biology students. Stay tuned!

P.S. Check out this article for more cool ideas on how to integrate technology in the classroom.

Other online "office" apps

Some competitors to Google Apps, MS Office, Open Office, et al:

Desktoptwo: Not just "office apps" in a browser window, this brings the "whole desktop" to the browser. Essentially seems like the early stages of a WebOS environment, no screen shots available for the office functionality, but other options (MP3 player, RSS Reader, E-mail, etc) look pretty usable. Seems worth checking out, but might involve subscription fees for storage beyond 1 GB.

Ajax13: Includes ajaxWrite, ajaxSketch, ajaxXLS, ajaxPresents, and ajaxTunes. The "look and feel" is very similar to desktop apps, design seems intuitive and appealing to the eye, and most important, the tools are free. The XLS spreadsheet program was not accessible at the time of this writing, but the "learn more" page for it did mention that the primary tool was a spreadsheet *viewer*, while their *editing* application is still in development. The Presents tool seems nice, though it runs a bit slow on this G3 iBook. Ajax13 is also in the process of developing AjaxO.S., which would appear to compete directly with the above-mentioned Desktoptwo.

Michigan iPod controversy explained

As it turns out, the whole Michigan iPod-per-student "proposal" was, as suspected, never even real. The Lansing State Journal reports that a portion of the budget proposal press conference included an off-the-cuff comment, while holding an iPod, that the Democrats wanted to get "one of these" in the hands of every kid in Michigan. Apparently this statement was not based on any specific proposal, but reflected the general desire of the individuals involved to improve the technology component of Michigan's K-12 education. Given the financial troubles of the state, it's not unreasonable for people to have questioned the statement, and it's going to be interesting to see how the repercussions play out (especially since some of the representatives involved accepted money from Apple to fly out to Cupertino).

iPods for Michigan: much ado about nothing?

Slashdot recently featured a post referring to a CNET post that referred to a Detroit News editorial lambasting Michigan's House of Representatives' Democrats' budget plan for 2008 that proposes spending $38 million to give every student in the state an iPod.

Or so one might think if they just looked at the vitriolic headlines and following discussion.

I've spent at least a total of 2 to 3 hours now searching for a specific iPod-related proposal, and I can't find anything. What I have found is that the Michigan House Democrats are calling their 2008 budget proposal the Road Map to Michigan's Recovery. The closest I've come is a reference to $38 million in iPod or MP3 player funding in a Detroit Free Press article reporting on the Road Map proposal.

So, is the lambasting here based on some type of insider knowledge that wasn't attributed or referenced (as in, information on a specific funding bill or proposal, and / or the name of the politician sponsoring it)? Is the proposal simply for educational technology funding, which people are assuming is for items like iPods? Is the proposal moot anyway because the sponsors of the bill are a political minority? It's certainly important to recognize that Michigan is facing some serious financial problems, but should this idea be rejected without consideration so that the state can focus on core services? As a technology-oriented teacher, I'd love it if all of my students had iPods. However, it'd take me a considerable amount of work and effort to use the new tool effectively - so hopefully, if true, the $38 million includes a significant amount of funding for teacher training - not on how to use an iPod, but how to integrate it successfully into an educational experience.

Time will tell whether or not the Michigan iPod controversy is legitimate, but it serves as the basis for good discussion. First, this kind of contentious proposal should be on the web before it hits the press - people will inevitably have questions, and primary documentation has proved to be difficult to find. Second, it's important to discuss the need to invest in education even in times of financial stress. Third, the cultural phenomenon of the iPod can't be ignored by educators, and, as with other technological and cultural innovations, should probably be embraced. Finally, the integration of technology in the classroom is difficult - educational processes have inertia, teachers are already largely working at capacity, and adding another widget in the mix is not always welcome.