Posted by Tia Lendo, Google in Education Team

Twelve years ago, in my first year teaching, I often felt very isolated. Not only was my fourth grade class housed in a mobile trailer outside of the main school building, putting physical distance between me and my peers, but I also rarely had time or ways to connect with other teachers outside the school day.

Thankfully, educators and schools today aren’t limited to the resources they have within the 4 walls of their classroom. The web is bringing students and educators together with information and opportunities that we never dreamed were possible in the year 2000. For example, today over 20 million students, faculty and staff engage in real-time collaboration and communication for free using Google Apps for Education.

Today, on World Teachers’ Day, we celebrate all of the amazing teachers around the world by offering them two new ways to connect with and support each other using Google+:

• Education On Air: We have organized a series of over 100 Hangouts On Air that will be led by educators and Googlers. Topics range from “Flipping Your Classroom” to “Weekly Office Hours staffed by “Tech Sherpa” High School Students” to “A Conversation with Sal Khan”, founder of the Khan Academy.
• Topics-of-the-day: Starting Monday we will begin a program of daily content aimed to help educate and inspire. We’ll reshare posts from educators on the following topics:
• “Magic Moment Monday” - Inspiring, magic moments in schools
• “Tutorial Tuesday” - Google Apps tips and tricks
• “Web Apps Wednesday” - Web-based resources and apps
• “Chrome Tip Thursday” - Chrome Ninja tips to make the most of the browser
• “Fabulous Find Friday” - Any fabulous Education resource
• “Show it Saturday” - YouTube EDU content
• “Search for it Sunday” - Google Search Education tips

We encourage you to follow the Google in Education Google+ page and to visit the Edu On Air site to sign up for Hangouts and add them to your calendar. We hope these provide a way for educators to link with their peers so that they can collaborate even after the sessions are over.

In the meantime, check out the highlight reel from some of the 46 Education On Air Hangouts that educators held on May 2, 2012.



#wtd2012

Posted by Adam Dawes, Product Manager, Google Apps

Google Apps delivers a stream of innovation that brings new features to end users. That same innovation also applies to our Apps administrators. In the past 3 months, admins have gained a number of new capabilities in the control panel, including the ability to search email logs, manage mobile devices more easily, and manage email delivery.

Today, Apps admins have another new capability to support the needs of different user groups in their business or organization. Email settings can now be applied to groups of users, known as organizational units, or OUs. Examples of these email settings include: IMAP & POP access to Gmail, offline access, email forwarding, email footers and many more.

Applying email management settings to user groups helps Apps administrators tailor the use of Gmail within their organization. It’s especially beneficial for organizations that have user segments with different compliance or security needs, such as allowing IMAP access to a specific group of users.

Like all the features that Google Apps delivers, administrators just need to refresh their browser to get access to these updates. For more information on email settings for organizational units, please visit our Help Center.

Posted by Fred Beckebanze, Manager, Google Apps Technical Solutions Engineers

Business is moving to the web. The web allows organizations of all sizes to get stuff done from anywhere, and work better together. The Chrome browser helps businesses get onto the web securely and quickly – and today, we’re adding phone and email support for Chrome for Google Apps customers.

Moving forward, Google Apps for Business, Education and Government customers may contact Google via phone or email to receive support on Chrome installation, functionality, security, browser policy settings and Google Apps interoperability for Windows, Mac OS X and Linux.

With Chrome you can securely sync your bookmarks, apps, settings and open tabs across devices – useful for the 98% of us who move between screens throughout our day. Google Apps also work great with Chrome, as features like offline document editing, desktop notifications and homescreen apps are currently only available in Chrome.

If your organization uses a legacy app that isn’t compatible with Chrome, we suggest adopting a dual-browser strategy. The costs of using an old browser can range from reduced speed and feature gaps to exposure to critical security holes – far greater than the costs of supporting a second browser.

Editor’s note: For Apps organizations running Windows, download the Microsoft Installer version of Chrome and centrally configure and deploy it to your employees. For organizations that support multiple operating systems, users or IT can download the Chrome client directly.

Join us for a Google+ Hangout on Air on Wednesday, October 3 at 11am PDT (2pm EDT) to review new Chrome features and deployment practices for Google Apps customers. Go to the Google+ Your Business page at the start time and you’ll be tuned in.

Posted by Mike Hudson, Creative Director of Handsome Coffee Roasters

Editors note: To celebrate National Coffee Day, today’s guest blogger is Mike Hudson, Creative Director of Handsome Coffee Roasters, an artisan coffee company headquartered in Los Angeles, CA. See what another coffee company that has gone Google has to say.

I have a passion for coffee – a passion so strong that, while working at a digital marketing agency, I spent my weekends working part-time as a barista at a legendary coffee shop in Los Angeles. It was there that a few co-workers and I sat down and hatched a plucky business plan: to roast our own coffee. In 2011, with little more than our gumption, a Twitter handle, a webpage, and 1956 Ford Falcon van that carried a mobile coffee cart we aptly named the Handsome Traveler, Handsome Coffee Roasters was born.

We took the Handsome Traveler to big events and festivals in Los Angeles, and began to cultivate a large and dedicated following along the way. And we grew with them: in just one year, our company went from the original founders to 18 full-time employees. We recently opened our flagship retail coffee bar in the Arts District of downtown Los Angeles, and have plans to expand to New York City next year.


Put simply, we couldn't have grown this quickly without Google Apps for Business. We’re small but global – we have a coffee bar in Los Angeles and a travel schedule that takes us to Nicaragua, Norway and everywhere in between, and Google Apps is a tool that caters to our on-the-move team. With Google Apps, we know we can share travel and employee schedules with Google Calendar, communicate across time zones with Google Chat, and access our permits, notes and updated sales figures from Google Drive. We can do everything on the go, from any device, whenever we need to. We even hold rigorous strategy sessions on Google+ Hangouts with various participants playing along on their mobiles.

Starting a business couldn’t be any easier with Google Apps. We can manage a Herculean amount of data, documents and communications without getting bogged down and wasting hours fiddling with antiquated technology. Thanks to Google's tools, we get to focus on what we really love: roasting and serving amazing coffee.

Posted by Denise Stephens, CIO, Idaho National Laboratory

Editors note: Today’s guest blogger is Denise Stephens, CIO and Information Management director of the Idaho National Laboratory (INL). INL joins a growing number of government agencies that have made the switch to Google Apps for Government.

Located in southeastern Idaho on nearly 900 square miles of desert, the Idaho National Laboratory is the lead lab for nuclear research for the U.S. Department of Energy (DoE). Employees at INL work on diverse projects that include making batteries used on United States space missions, developing new technologies for nuclear reactors, protecting critical infrastructure and operating the world’s 64th fastest supercomputer.


System integrator Unisys recently completed the migration of nearly 5,000 INL employees to Google Apps for Government from Lotus Notes. INL has not taken this transition lightly. We have spent the better part of a year developing requirements, engaging in internal pilots to mitigate risk and overcoming emerging challenges as a cross-organizational team to smooth our move to the cloud. Google Apps is the right investment to move the laboratory forward while meeting the lab’s important requirements.

Due to our remote location, having a reliable, redundant email system is paramount. Google Apps’ track record of 99.9% uptime gives INL employees’ confidence that their email will be there when they need it. Some INL employees work in facilities in the city of Idaho Falls, while many others work at our complex in the desert, some 30 miles away. In the past, this geographic separation made it harder for employees to share information. Google Apps is improving communications by allowing employees to work together in real-time with voice and video chat, calendar sharing and simultaneous document editing.

In this case, INL simply couldn’t afford not to go to the cloud. This move is less expensive, and allows the lab to take a flexible, nimble and cost effective approach to lab communications. Instead of managing infrastructure, INL has chosen to invest in capabilities that support the lab’s critical mission areas.

Posted by Tom Mills, Enterprise Director, Education

One of the many great promises of technology is its ability to help level the playing field in education. It can give students the tools and skills they need to prepare for work in a world where technology will be integrated in our lives. But few schools today have the opportunity to provide computers in every classroom, or access for every student. Budget cuts and limited resources at many schools are real challenges; but devices can be more affordable and valuable than you might think.

Google worked with IDC¹ on a sponsored white paper to quantify the value of Chromebooks for Education based on data from schools using Chromebooks. The key findings show promise for schools looking to implement technology without breaking their budget or asking teachers to serve as IT help desks.

• Chromebooks require 69 percent less labor to install and 92 percent less labor to support, reducing the need to hire additional IT staff
• Chromebooks reduce the per-device cost of ownership up to $935 over 3 years – a Chromebook deployed in school starts at $13.30 monthly

In addition to being affordable and easy for schools to manage, Chromebooks are also secure, fast and simple for students and teachers to get online and start collaborating using thousands of educational apps. They start up instantly, so they’re minimally disruptive to students when a great idea strikes (or when a teacher says “close your laptop”). They also have long battery life so creative minds aren’t tethered to a charger all day.

Teachers and administrators have told us that they have enjoyed knowledge sharing with other Chromebook schools around the country. In the spirit of expanding this community, we’d like to welcome a few of the newest members of the Chromebooks family:


Del Mar Union Elementary School District in California has implemented 700 Chromebooks in their eight elementary schools. This year 4-6 graders in two elementary schools have Chromebooks and the district plans to expand to all 4-6 grade students by next school year. Because Del Mar – one of the top-performing districts in the state – is focused on writing and the writing process to support “21st century skills” aligned with common core standards, they chose Google Docs as their primary curriculum tool. Docs allows students to easily share, communicate and collaborate on essays, responses to literature, and projects with their peers and teachers.


Milpitas Unified School District in California has purchased 1100 Chromebooks for students grades K-12. This year, Milpitas High School’s Digital Business Academy students have each been assigned their own Chromebook for the year that they are able to use in school and at home, replacing traditional textbooks. The district has also rolled out a true blended learning program in which elementary students rotate from a traditional classroom to a computer lab with Chromebooks throughout the day.


Lastly, we’d like to extend a warm welcome to Fort Sam Houston Independent School District in Texas, which will add 450 Chromebooks to students grades 9-12, the majority of whom are the children of military personnel living on the Fort Sam Houston Military Installation. And also to Chequamegon School District in Wisconsin, which has gone 1:1 with more than 380 Chromebooks in grades 4-8, including in their special education classroom, where students are engaging with educational web content such as YouTube and Khan Academy.

Learn more about how other districts and schools are harnessing the power of the Web in the classroom with Chromebooks for Education. Here’s to a happy, healthy, productive school year!

¹IDC White Paper sponsored by Google, "Quantifying the Economic Value of Chromebooks for K-12 Education," Doc #236459, August 2012.

Editor’s note: Today’s guest post is authored by Reynaldo D. Laguda, Assistant Secretary and ICT Chairperson of the Philippines Department of Education (DepEd)

Here’s a problem to solve: How do you connect 45,000 schools, 200 divisions and 600,000 staff across more than 7,000 islands? (Hint, it’s not with lots of boats). The answer we came to at the Philippines Department of Education (DepEd) was to move our systems into the cloud with Google Apps for Education. DepEd was looking for solutions to solve the day-to-day challenges of managing a large and complex national education institution with less than perfect technology. DepEd didn’t have a central email system — staff used personal email accounts. And although DepEd sent memos to district offices or posted website updates, we lacked a unified and reliable channel to communicate and connect with each other.

The benefits of moving to Google Apps for Education extend beyond improving our communications. Many of our teachers working in remote areas without reliable internet infrastructure access the web via mobile devices or Internet cafes. Moving content back and forth can be difficult and disk corruption or computer failure is common. With all DepEd’s content now in the cloud — 17 petabytes of storage devoted to teachers alone — staff no longer need to worry about keeping track of their data across multiple devices. They’ll now be able to access all the material they need from any device that has an Internet connection.


The days of physically sending reports or curricula across the far reaches of the archipelago and hoping for the best are gone too. Switching to cloud based collaboration tools means everyone, from the DepEd Secretary to teachers in Kalinga province, will be able to access whatever they need from wherever they are. What’s more, they’ll be able to work together in real-time using Google Docs, Google Groups and Google Sites.

As the nation’s educators, we understand the importance of technological literacy for our students and believe that teachers should lead by example. And moving to Google Apps for Education comes at the right time. Going Google gives us the technology we need to meet the goals of "GO! Education" – a national initiative designed to improve educational access and quality in the Philippines. We’re delighted to be joining 16 million teachers and students around the world who are already using Google Apps to work more efficiently and collaboratively, and to be bringing 7,000 islands into the cloud with us.

Posted by Ronen Lapidot, Senior Vice President of Information Technology, Perry Ellis International

Editors note: Today’s guest blogger is Ronen Lapidot, Senior Vice President of Information Technology at Perry Ellis International, a designer, distributor and licensor of apparel and accessories for men and women. Perry Ellis International joins other retail organizations in going Google. See what they have to say.

Far from a typical fashion house, our apparel spans a variety of categories including men’s and women’s clothing, accessories, children’s apparel, even evening gowns for the red carpet. In total, we manage a portfolio of some of the best known brands in fashion, including Perry Ellis®, Original Penguin®, Jantzen®, Laundry by Shelli Segal®, Nike® Swim, Callaway® and more. With 2,600 associates spanning across 65 store locations and 30 offices worldwide, we rely on technology to stay connected.


The increasingly fast-paced global economy of the past several years has made it even more important to be able to work together efficiently, act quickly and share information across the company to help us all understand the state of the business and act as one global team. We were using a popular, premise based email solution, but with so many offices around the world, we knew the only way to keep our brand fresh and our business agile was to move to the cloud.

With the help of Cloud Sherpas, we moved the entire company to Google Apps. Now our global teams are able to connect through Gmail’s video chat feature to meet “face to face” about upcoming projects, designs and merchandise. With so many offices in different time zones, it’s great to be able to give our associates the option to work where they’re comfortable, even if it’s just going home to have dinner with their families before a jumping on a video chat with colleagues in China or Indonesia. This has been especially helpful for offices with eight or ten hour time differences between them and has made us feel more like one cohesive team instead of siloed offices.

Being able to work together easily across offices not only brings the team closer together, it also saves significant time and costs. We recently opened two international offices in Indonesia and Bangladesh. Usually I travel to each location for weeks at a time to interview and hire employees and oversee the regional office openings. With Google Apps, we were able to interview job candidates via video chat and work with regional managers on important policies and resources that needed to be in place for these new offices and associates. I was elated to discover that what normally takes significant travel time and costs could be done right from my desk. I sat there amazed as I watched documents fill in with information from my colleagues across the world. I think that’s when I realized we were all going to be able to do things very differently, now that we were in the cloud.

Posted by Christina Wallace, Co-founder and CEO of Quincy

Editors note: Today’s guest blogger is Christina Wallace, Co-founder and CEO of Quincy, an online retail store for professional women. Quincy joins other retail organizations in going Google. See what they have to say.

At Quincy, we understand that every woman’s body is different. After years of struggling to find boardroom-appropriate clothes that really fit, my business partner Alex Nelson and I realized that typical size charts are often the root of the problem and decided to take matters into our own hands. That’s why we started Quincy. What sets us apart from the competition is that our clothing sizes are defined by height, bust, and hip-to-waist ratios -- three areas of the body that women have the most trouble with when purchasing clothing.

When Alex and I decided to go into business together, I was living in Washington D.C., while she was in London. That didn’t stop us, but we needed a simple and inexpensive communication solution that would help us stay efficient and organized while working in two different time zones. Using Google Apps for Business we were able to get our retail brand off the ground in less than a year. Today, Alex and I have built an office in New York and have grown to seven additional full-time staff and six interns.

Over the past year, Google documents and spreadsheets have become some of our most important tools. Docs makes it easy for us to write shared documents like our business plan together, and we can be confident we don’t have to worry about version control when we reference it later. We keep all product development information in spreadsheets, including the textiles, trims, colors and more. We’re able to easily keep track of each product in real time, and if we have a merchant issue, we know about it immediately. We also keep track of all our costs in spreadsheets, which makes it easy to manage and share with our accountant.

Google Chat has also become an important tool for the company. We work in an open-concept office, so Chat provides some privacy in conversations between Alex about sensitive business matters, for example. We also like the option to go "on the record", in case we want to go back to reference chats later. We also use Chat to connect with our customers. While browsing our website, shoppers are able to chat with someone from our team if they need help navigating our site or understanding how our size chart works. And what’s great about Google Apps is that we are able to chat with customers from our office, home, or mobile device.

While we are busy making the perfect fit for our customers, Google Apps has been the perfect fit for our young and growing business.