Google apps for Ed setup?

[boomish]

I'm setting up our new Google Apps for Ed, any tips?

 

There seems to be a few old instructions on the web on how best to operate Google Apps, as a UK Primary School all we need to get started is to be able to post homework that the children can do from home and in the class. Some seem to mention getting the children to create a folder and share it with the teacher, but then doesn't Google Classroom do this? Others seem to setup have the teacher create a classroom folder they share with the whole class. Is this because some were google Apps for ed before Classroom came out so they used the shared folder? I presume we can just use classroom. I'm still playing about with it today but as I keep getting dragged into other things be great if there is any Google apps expert out there that could list simple setup plan or link to any good guides.

 

Some schools seem to have made a homepage for the children to get to google apps Homework folder but if we use classroom do we need that?

 

We have iPad's coming so the use of Google Drive seems to be the solution for storage.

 

Appreciate any help..

[RyanMcClean]

As you are new to Google apps for Ed, I would say introduce your staff to Google Classroom from the outset.

 

We were a Google school before Classroom came along so a lot of our staff were very much used to setting up a folder and sharing it and some created Google sites for their classes etc.

Don't forget though to set your Classroom settings to 'Verified teachers only' so the students can't create classes.

 

As you mentioned Google Drive great for storage and also a good 'go between' the iPad and your LAN. However if they are shared iPads you will have to educate staff and students to make sure they log out of the Google Drive App at the end of the lesson, which is oddly named 'Remove' (under Manage accounts > Edit > Remove)

[boomish]

Thanks Ryan, yea I have a home page, classroom link and have gone through the shared folder alternative, I think it's good for a teacher to be able to have a central storage share anyway. Looks good so far, have yet to work out how to add students as contacts to teachers, but it's nearly all up & running.

[RyanMcClean]

We have also found that Drive is a good place for staff to store them files that they think they might need but haven't touched in 5 years and are taking up storage on the LAN. Take advantage of Googles free storage

[boomish]

lol yes we definitely have lots of LAN storage being eaten by old files. I store lots myself on there already.

[CapnPugwash]

We are also looking into Google Apps / Classroom... how did people manage their roll outs? Did you start with a target / test group first? Did you buy in training? what 'humps' did you have to overcome?

[NotSoFast]

We had Gmail for a couple of years through the LA. We set up our own domain and let people get used to it for a few months, with several getting into calendar too. Next, we bought a set of Chromebooks (couldn't afford a Windows refresh) and changed the KS3 computing curriculum to be delivered largely through drive and docs, so all the kids knew what they were doing. The balance is now moving steadily towards more ChromeOS devices and fewer Windows devices but we won't be rushing it.

[CapnPugwash]

We currently don't use any Google apps. How easy is it to set up a trial group and what might the pitfalls be?

 

We have an ICT teacher who would like to start using Classroom with one class - I know I can sync AD/Google, but can I restrict google login to a certain OU/Users?

 

Anyone started off in in similar fashion? what were the problems you encountered?