Google, Google, Google--Omnipresent And Now In The Classroom

Awesome Helper or Big Brother?

More teaching, Less tech-ing: Google Classroom Launches

http://googleenterprise.blogspot.com/2014/08/more-teaching-less-tech-ing-google.html 

One of the first schools to use Classroom was Fontbonne Hall Academy in Brooklyn, New York. Sister Rosemarie DeLoro, who has been teaching for more than 60 years, had never used computers with her students before Classroom was introduced at her school. Classroom made it easy for her to assign digital worksheets to students in her Italian class and provide direct feedback to help them learn. In fact, after just a few weeks, Sister Rosemarie was showing the other teachers how to use it. “You can’t stay in teaching and keep going to the old ways,” she said. 

I say, "Go, Sister Rosemarie, go!" Everyone has a learning curve here, and it is grand to know Google isn't too tricky to implement.

Google's Classroom tool open to teachers worldwide

http://www.cnet.com/news/googles-classroom-tool-open-to-teachers-worldwide/ 

The goal is to help teachers "spend more time teaching and less time shuffling papers.

The communication potential is mind-boggling, and the writing apps are pretty good, too. 

Google Apps for Education - Common Questions

https://support.google.com/a/answer/139019?hl=en 

Google Apps for Education is free. We plan to keep the core offering of Google Apps for Education free. This includes user accounts for future incoming students. As you may know, Google was founded by a research project at Stanford University, and this is just one way we can give back to the educational community.

It's all free. That is a great selling point.

Google Apps for your iPad

http://www.educatorstechnology.com/2012/10/a-list-of-great-google-apps-for-your.html
 
So you are looking for Google best apps for iOS ? Well you landed in the right place. I have just finished compiling and reviewing a bunch of Google apps that you can use on your iPad. All of these apps work perfectly well and can have some educational value as well.

Apple devotees can join the conversation. Google is negotiating a truce between the PCers and the Apple enthusiasts. Goggle isthe Henry Kissinger of tech.

10 apps that make Chromebooks feel like a real desktop

http://www.techrepublic.com/article/10-apps-that-make-chromebooks-feel-like-a-real-desktop/ 

While critics initially wrote off the Google Chromebook as a curiosity, Chromebooks are gaining traction with consumers, in education, and in the enterprise.

And we get to check it out.


Teachers Are Worried Google Will Data-Mine the Classroom

http://motherboard.vice.com/read/teachers-are-worried-google-will-data-mine-the-classroom 

A Canadian teacher’s union is worried that Classroom will allow for the progressive ideas that proliferate in academia to be tracked and mined for data, potentially causing professors worried about becoming targets of government surveillance to self-censor. In other words, they claim Classroom is a limit on academic freedom.

Ah, there's the rub. I've been reading that all classrooms, including Special Education classes, are going toward Google Classroom. How much confidential data will be spilled--who knows? How much thought policing? We should be vigilant.