Posted on October 15, 2013      Edited September 9, 2017

Written by Andrew Willems

The position of this post is not to pit WELS Lutheran elementary schools against one another, but as the title simply states, to ask the question, “Why should schools move to Google Apps?” Traditionally, human nature resists change. No doubt many people will push back and resist the change to Google Apps. It’s different. Today it offers many features but it isn’t the same as Microsoft/Adobe/whoever. While many high school and colleges across America use it and there is a Google Apps for Business, it’s not industry standard in all institutions. It’s free and sometimes you get what you pay for.

The positives must outweigh the negatives before an institution adopts something new. Below you will find 11 reasons, with proof and evidence, to use when you take up the conversation to move your school to Google Apps for Education (GAFE).

1. Security and Privacy First: Redundancy on backups is done by Google. Google pledges security and privacy first with encryption and authentication (Google Apps Documentation & Support). The data belongs to you so your school owns and controls the data (Data Liberation Front). Security encryption happens between browsers and Google servers. Google has some of the most advanced spam and virus protection in the industry (Google Apps Marketplace), along with phishing protection and physically secure data centers (Google Apps for Education).
2. GAFE Is Ubiquitous: Stay connected anywhere there is an internet connection with GAFE cloud storage up to 30MB and mobile device access. A GAFE account works the same at home as at school. With the popular Chromebook a staple in WELS Schools, there is seemless integration. Also, there are no incompatible conversions such as Microsoft had with .doc to .docx.
3. 21st Century Communication and Collaboration: Google is the industry leader in having multiple people work on a product at one time with no awkward saving and closing or emailing back and forth (Google Apps for Education). Study together in real time and across distance with Documents, Presentations, Spreadsheets, Drawings, Hangouts, and more. With the introduction of Google Classroom, you now can easily have all your education resources in one place and communicate with parents at the same time.
4. Get Stuff Done Faster and Easier: Setup for email and Chromebook Management Console takes a fraction of the time a Windows server environment takes. Many different tools – used by millions to search, share, and streamline tasks – are automatically at your disposal (Google Apps for Education).
5. Invisible IT that Works:  If you are not only a teacher but also the principal and the technology expert at your school, you will love GAFE. All Google products are made to be up and running quickly. Give a student an e-mail address through GAFE and they can have up to 64 related products immediately available. Save time and money with no downloading of updates and software patches. No time spent on maintenance. No cost for an Exchange or Outlook server. New features are rolled out in real time (Google Apps for Education). This means less time spent on maintenance and upgrades.
6. Mix and Match Products to Aid Education: No more paying full price for software only to use a fraction of the features. You can control which features are accessible for your institution through your GAFE account (Google Apps Marketplace). The Google suite is easily scalable.
7. Uptime: The most recent numbers available are from 2013, but Gmail and Google Apps customers had a 99.978% uptime (ZDNet). That compares favorably to all web servers’ uptime of 99.89% (Web Hosting Stuff). At these percentages, most users never realize a site is temporarily down.
8. Cost Savings: GAFE is FREE! All the GAFE hosted communication and collaboration applications are FREE! (Google Apps Marketplace) Did I mention they are FREE?
9. Boost Student Motivation: Principal Jason Levy, who helped usher in Google Apps for New York’s Intermediate School 339, finds that 47% of students now perform at grade level for math, up from 27% before GAFE usage (PBS Frontline).
10. Preparation for the Real World: More colleges and businesses are using Google Apps every day. At Notre Dame, for instance, engineering students keep a running e-portfolio of their classroom projects with Google Sites. The digital accumulation of their college efforts will likely mean more to future employers than the bullet points on a résumé (Fernstein).
11. The Future of Education and the Workplace; Virtual Reality: From virtual field trips to the Caribbean, to Carnegie Hall, to the human body, Google Cardboard and 360 degree cameras such as the Ricoh Theta S© are reinventing education much as the printing press did 500 years ago.

Andrew (Drew) has a MS Ed with an emphasis in integrating technology. He is the director of technology for Shoreland Lutheran High School. He has 25 years experience teaching in WELS elementary and high schools.

Resources:

Become a Google Apps Certified Trainer. Retrieved August 10, 2012, from http://www.google.com/enterprise/apps/education/resources/training-programs.html

Clark, Holy; Avrith, Tanya. The Google Infused Classroom. 2017. EdTech Team Press. Irvine, California.

Clark, Duckworth, Heil, Piercey and Thumann. The Google Cardboard Book: Explore, Engage, and Educate with Virtual Reality. 2017. EdTech Team Press. Irvine, California.

Data Liberation Front. Retrieved August 23, 2013, from http://www.dataliberation.org/

Fernstein, Greg. Why Schools Are Turning to Google Apps. Retrieved July 28, 2013, from http://mashable.com/2010/04/28/schools-google-apps/

Google Apps. Retrieved August 23, 2013, from http://edutraining.googleapps.com/

Google Apps Documentation & Support. Retrieved August 23, 2013, from http://support.google.com/a/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=139019

Google Apps for Education. Retrieved September 1, 2011, from http://www.google.com/enterprise/apps/education/benefits.html;

Google Apps End User Agreement. Retrieved August 19, 2012, from http://www.google.com/apps/intl/en/terms/education_terms.html

Google Apps Marketplace. Retrieved August 20, 2013, from https://www.google.com/enterprise/marketplace/viewListing?productListingId=4013550+18178585076820084427&pli=1

Google: Official Enterprise Blog, Disaster Recovery by Google. Retrieved August 23, 2013, from http://googleenterprise.blogspot.com/2010/03/disaster-recovery-by-google.html

Google Security White Paper: Google Apps Messaging and Collaboration Products, Retrieved August 22, 2013, from https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B5Y-fwYJF2hLOTVmMzQ1MjAtMDFmNS00YjFhLWI3MmUtZjI5MD

Q5Mzc3NmMz/edit?hl=en_US

PBS Frontline. How Google Saved a School. June 3, 2009. from http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/digitalnation/learning/schools/how-google-saved-a-school.html

Web Hosting Stuff. ISP Server Uptime. Retrieved July 31, 2013. from http://www.webhostingstuff.com/uptime/ISPServer.html

Wlodarz, Derrick.10 Reasons Why Google Apps for Your Tech Business. Retrieved June 12, 2013. http://www.technibble.com/10-reasons-to-consider-google-apps-for-your-tech-busines/

ZDNet, Whittaker, Zack. http://www.zdnet.com/blog/btl/unlike-microsoft-google-can-claim-99-9-percent-cloud-uptime/59104