Google+

[rogerdnixon]

Don't know if anyone else has noticed, but Google+ has just become available for Apps for Education. Have had it enables for staff for a few day. People seem very excited about the possibilities of hangouts (virtual classrooms, life YouTube broadcasts and so on) and circles. Will be enabling for students (must be 13+) Y9+ in due course. I post a bit about Apps on my blog at wpsit.blogspot.co.uk and will update this with uses and progress on the use of G+ in the coming months if you are interested.

[elsiegee40]

Hello and welcome to edugeek. Why don't you take the time to introduce yourself? This feels like a salesman's pitch and were it on another subject I'd be reporting it as spam.

Forgive me for reticence, but social networking has been available via other channels for that age group for a ling time. I cannot directly see how it is any better or worse than the alternatives for use in education.

They all provide opportunities for good, but they also provide opportunities for not so good too. I have spent a lot of time dealing with the not so good. This doesn't necessarily mean I think social networking is bad or must be blocked... it just makes me very cautious

[rogerdnixon]

Sorry - just thought it was interesting - been waiting a while for this (only appeared as an option for us on Friday). Not selling anything as there is nothing to buy! Any ways - I'm Roger, work at Wheatley Park School - watched this forum for a long while thought it was about time I contributed something..... Obviously there are lots of ways of doing these things - just seems to be a good way if you happen to use Apps.

[elsiegee40]

Sorry - just thought it was interesting - been waiting a while for this (only appeared as an option for us on Friday). Not selling anything as there is nothing to buy! Any ways - I'm Roger, work at Wheatley Park School - watched this forum for a long while thought it was about time I contributed something..... Obviously there are lots of ways of doing these things - just seems to be a good way if you happen to use Apps.

No problem.

Interesting it is. As a network manager who also happens to be a CEOP ambassador, I get both sides of these things.

I have a duty as a NM to ensure the security of my school's network, its data and the people who use it. I never take anything at face value. I have spent some time fiddling with Google+ to see what it does in conjunction with other eSafety people.

The excitement of new ways of working needs to be balanced with those of ensuring that Teaching & Learning is not compromised and ensuring that everyone concerned understands how to work well and safely with it.

For every enlightened educator there is at least one other who hasn't a clue, sadly. That leaves 50%+ of staff who need thorough training and guidance to ensure they know and understand the implications.

Google+ is different to other social networks in some ways, but there are still pitfalls and the safety one in particular must never be forgotten.

What I'm saying is that not every school should jump right in like you.

[CyberNerd]

Importantly, Administrators can use Google+ in a walled garden and not share with people outside of the school . Although there is potential for bullying (as with email,chat) this could be a good opportunity to educate students in the way of social networking,

With Google+ premium features, Google Apps administrators can:

Prevent posts from being shared outside your organization by default. Learn more
(Note: Currently, if you restrict posts, users can't use the Google+ mobile app.)
Restrict hangouts to your organization only. Learn more
Restrict access to Hangouts On Air. Learn more
Correct the age of users who accidentally entered the wrong age when signing up. Learn more
See which users in your organization have Google+ profiles. Learn more
Additionally, all Google+ users in your organization can:

Override the default sharing setting for individual posts. Learn more
(Note: Users can override the default sharing setting even if premium features are not enabled.)
Overrride restricted hangouts to invite people outside your organization. Learn more
Start hangouts with up to 15 people (instead of the normal limit of 10).
If you activate or deactivate premium features, it can take up to 8 hours for the change to take effect for users.

About Google+ Premium features - Google Apps Help

Set a default sharing restriction for posts
If you've activated Google+ premium features for your organization, you can control whether your users' posts can be shared outside your organization by default. If a post disallows external sharing, anyone in your organization who received it can't share it with people outside your organization.

Note that although you can set a default sharing restriction, users can override this restriction for individual posts.

Currently, if you choose to restrict posts by default, your users can't access their Google+ account from the Google+ mobile app.
To set a default sharing restriction:

Sign in to your administrator control panel.

The URL is https://www.google.com/a/cpanel/primary-domain-name, where primary-domain-name is the domain name you used to sign up for Google Apps.

Go to Settings > Google+ > Org Settings.
Under Sharing posts, choose one of the following:
Unrestricted, meaning users can share posts with anyone.
Restricted, meaning users can share posts only with members of your organization.
Click Save changes.
Note: If you later deactivate Google+ premium features, sharing restrictions on existing posts will remain. However, the default sharing restriction will not be applied to new posts.

Set a default sharing restriction for posts - Google Apps Help

[rdk]

I noticed this the other day and thought it interesting as we use google apps widely and most people will be logged in most of the time. We have a lot of our curriculum delivered via websites with embedded presentations and documents that are common for subjects/year levels. We've been looking at edmodo for teacher specific pages/info but hopefully google+ can do that for us - save having another logon etc. I'll have to do a bit more research but if we can have everything walled then could be what we're looking for. The 13 age restriction may be a problem for our year 7 groups whereas most kids will be 13 by yr 8.

[elsiegee40]

The 13 age restriction may be a problem for our year 7 groups whereas most kids will be 13 by yr 8.

Actually, no. Year 8s turn 13 at some point during the year... some of them may not do so until the day before they start in year 9.

You should not be using this until they start in year 9 when all students will be able to do so legally.

[rdk]

Actually, no. Year 8s turn 13 at some point during the year... some of them may not do so until the day before they start in year 9.

You should not be using this until they start in year 9 when all students will be able to do so legally.

Well actually in Victoria, Australia, most kids turn 13 in year 7, with the legally youngest kids turning 13 on 30 April when they are in year 8 (school year starts end of January).

But yes, I know to be careful. It is even more important as google says they will suspend the accounts (including gmail, docs etc) of any kid who tries to register for google+ but is not old enough and it seems a pain to get it back.

[elsiegee40]

Well actually in Victoria, Australia, most kids turn 13 in year 7, with the legally youngest kids turning 13 on 30 April when they are in year 8 (school year starts end of January).

But yes, I know to be careful. It is even more important as google says they will suspend the accounts (including gmail, docs etc) of any kid who tries to register for google+ but is not old enough and it seems a pain to get it back.

My mistake.I can't see nationality flags when posting from my iPhone

In your case, should the school decide to to use Google+, get it in writing that you will never activate it for Year 8 until May 1st