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Posted by Bram Bout, Director of Education

Earlier this week we announced the release of the Google for Education Learning Center, an online portal that helps educators learn about Google tools for teaching and learning. The Center is a one-stop-shop for hundreds of best practice how-to videos, cases studies and guides. It also includes links to online communities and our newly revised exams. By passing 5 exams teachers can become qualified as Google Educators.

We wanted the bulk of the content in the Center to be made for teachers, by teachers. So we worked with some of our Google Certified Teachers to create it. Today we’ll hear from three of those educators to get more information about their tips and tricks for teaching and training.
Bram: What are your top tips for running successful professional development with educators?

Jennie: My tip for training is to leverage the same best practices you’d use with students. Focus on differentiating for your (teacher) learner, engage them in active learning and allow them to collaborate with one another to make the experience social.

Jay: I have two pieces of advice: start small and give it a go. Pick just one part of your course to enhance with technology or just one tool to use more effectively. Learn something new and give it a go. Get support from your peers, school or PLN. Failing is okay, that’s how we learn.

Kevin: Whether you are teaching or training, clear communication is essential. The best slides have the least amount of text. Make images on the slides focused, keeping words to a minimum, to emphasize the point made in the actual presentation. No one wants to “read” a presentation.

Jennie: It is important to practice what you preach. If you're training people on Google Apps, use Google Apps. If you’re leading a session, create a Google Site to share information. Share a collaborative Google Doc so participants can take notes together and exchange ideas.

Bram: What are your most effective training activities?

Jennie: I have a professional development opener I like to call the "Gripe Jam." While I play the song “We’re Not Gonna Take It” teachers write down their gripes and I compile these into a Google Doc. The teachers then vote on the most important ones. This is how we decide where we begin our exploration of digital learning. Crowd-sourced PD is a huge buy-in generator. Many teachers respond better to new ideas when we first listen to their current issues.

Jay: I advise people to keep a YouTube playlist for “Stuff I’ve Learned.” I learn a lot from YouTube videos. As I’m looking up videos and learning new things I add the videos to a playlist with other things that YouTube has taught me. This not only serves as a great repository I can come back to for review, it also helps me to model how and what I am learning. This could be embedded on your professional portfolio site to help demonstrate how you are a contemporary learner.

Bram: What is a top piece of advice about Google tools for teaching?

Kevin: The number one recommendation I have for teachers who assign projects using Docs and Drive is to turn the hand-in process upside-down. Rather than having students turn-in their work at the end of the assignment cycle, have them turn it in at the beginning. The first step in any class project is to have students create their document, presentation, or spreadsheet, and have them share it with you as the teacher immediately. This allows teachers to monitor and support students through the entire process.

Bram: Have any recent professional development experiences really stayed with you?

Jay: Recently I was working with a teacher named Rick, a master teacher with decades of experience who wanted to use technology to improve student writing. We started small with the prewriting process and brainstorming with Google Drawings and Docs. I pushed him a little more. He was amazed when we looked at the Comments feature, which allowed him to provide better feedback to his students and they blossomed. He was so energized and excited about teaching writing again. Even with his vast experience and being so close to retirement, Rick demonstrated my two recommendations: start small and give it a go. He was able to rekindle his own passion and effectively integrate technology. We can all do this.

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Posted by Jaime Casap, Senior Education Evangelist, Google

In 2013 there was a tremendous amount of innovation in education — from new tools to increased access to more content. Throughout the year we had the opportunity to get to know more and more schools that decided to Go Google. To look back on the year, we compiled a few stories that people shared with us. You can find more stories in our refreshed website for schools.

One thing we’ve heard loud and clear from educators and students across the globe was that they want more choices. They want a wider selection of devices, content and resources so they can choose the right tools for their particular needs. So to kick off this new year, we’ve worked with our partners to give schools more options for devices, classroom content and training resources.

K-12 Books in Google Play for Education
Google Play for Education makes it easy for educators to find and distribute apps and videos that unlock student potential, and schools have told us that access to a wide selection of books is just as important. That’s why soon we’ll add thousands of K-12 books to Google Play for Education, from digital textbooks like “GO Math!” (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt) and “Journeys Common Core” (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt) to classic literature like “Bridge to Terabithia” (Harper Collins), "Lord of the Flies” (Penguin), and “Things Fall Apart” (Random House). Once a book is assigned, students can read it from their Android tablets, Chromebooks, or any other device through the Play Books reader. Affordable access periods of 60 days, 180 days, and 360 days help schools ensure that materials stay fresh (and classes stay interested) — it’s easy to change curriculums from year to year, or even customize reading materials for individual students. We're rolling out to a few schools today, and will make K-12 books fully available to all schools in the coming weeks.
Greater choice of devices
Technology is one tool to help teachers create innovative learning models. With devices that are affordable and manageable, the technology can get out of the way so that teachers can do what they do best — help students accomplish their goals. We’re hearing great success stories from schools using both tablets with Google Play for Education and Chromebooks. And analysts such as Futuresource report Chromebooks continue to grow, accounting for 1 in 4 devices shipped to U.S. K-12 schools according to preliminary data for the final quarter of 2013.

Today at FETC, our partners announced they’re making even more options available to schools:

• New Chromebooks: Toshiba announced that their new Chromebook will be available for education customers. This 13-inch device has a battery that lasts up to 9 hours and is built for productivity, and is available today starting at $299. Lenovo announced the new ThinkPad 11e Chromebook series, available as a 360-degree touchscreen Yoga or traditional laptop this spring starting at $349. Educators at FETC will see demos of all the latest Chromebooks in the Google booth, including the new Dell Chromebook and LG Chromebase (available in April).
• New tablets: Samsung announced their Galaxy Tab as part of tablets with Google Play for Education. It’s a 10.1-inch tablet designed exclusively for education, available in April 2014. At FETC, we’re also demoing the previously announced HP Slate 8 Pro tablet for the first time.

Helping educators share with one another
Teachers around the world are using Google tools in the classroom, and we aim to help educators learn from and share ideas with their peers. This week we launched the new Google for Education Learning Center, created in close partnership with educators who successfully use Google Apps and devices in schools. On this new site educators can learn about Google tools and how to use them for teaching and learning. It’s a one-stop-shop for new online courses, best practice videos, guides, and updated exams and certifications. Educators can demonstrate proficiency with Google tools by taking a Basics Exam or they can show advanced knowledge by taking exams to earn the Google Educator official qualification.

Learn more
If you’re attending FETC this week, visit us at booth 701. Educators will share ideas in our teaching theater throughout the conference. If you can’t make it to Orlando, you can learn more about how to Go Google by visiting our site: google.com/edu/gogoogle.

Posted by Danny Attias, Chief Information Officer for The Grass Roots Group

Editor's note: Today's guest blogger is Danny Attias, Chief Information Officer for The Grass Roots Group, a U.K.-based global performance improvement company. See what other organizations that have gone Google have to say.

Grass Roots helps brands increase sales, improve customer service, build loyalty and grow productivity. We have over 2,100 clients globally, including major brands including Asda, BMW, Canon, Ford, McDonalds and Vodafone. Our 1,000 employees work in 26 offices across 15 countries, and need to share best practices and knowledge with each other regularly. Communication is at the heart of Grass Roots’ success. It helps us gain a deep understanding of our clients’ needs and become their trusted advisors.

Our five on-premise legacy Microsoft Exchange email systems were a constant challenge to maintain and a real barrier to collaboration and communication in our organisation. We had trouble finding contact details and reaching out to others in the business. Also, our aging data storage hardware infrastructure experienced regular outages that disrupted internal and external communications. We realised we could make the case for an overhaul, so after a comprehensive review of the market we decided to move to Google Apps for Business with the help of our Google Apps deployment partner Appscare. They became an extension of our own team and helped us understand how to get the most from all the features.

We decided to make the move to Google Apps rather than any competitive offering because Google provided the complete and comprehensive range of communication tools that met all of our company’s needs. We have email available online from laptop and mobile with vast mailbox space, online access to shared documents and calendars in the cloud, instant messaging, online video conferencing and a BYOD offering with integrated solutions that working brilliantly on both iOS and Android. By moving to a mobile, cloud, consumer platform with all the enterprise controls Google provides, we eliminated the costs and disruption of on-site maintenance, and the hefty licence fees of our on-premise email systems.

For many of our employees, Google Apps is revolutionising their team and project work. Teams are more organised because everything – including timelines, budgets and progress reports are stored transparently with the latest updates available for all to see online. Also, our employees no longer need to log on with a VPN to get to the resources they need to do their jobs. They can just log on securely using two-factor authentication with their mobile device into their Google Apps account.

A great example of the transformation we’re seeing with Google Apps is at Cyclescheme, our subsidiary that specialises in supplying bikes for employees of enterprises. Real-time collaboration with Google Docs became the epicentre for information sharing when the company redesigned its website. The rich, real-time collaboration capabilities of Google Apps reduced the time taken to design, approve and take the site to production weeks ahead of schedule. At the core of this process was the Cyclescheme team project plan which shared a central Google Spreadsheet with everyone involved with the project, including external suppliers. Everyone added updates on plans and progress, making the whole process more transparent and streamlined.

We are inspired by how our new tools are producing changes to the way our people organise and collaborate, and we are impressed with how Google Apps is proving to be a catalyst for organisational change. Based on the journey so far, we’re confident that Google Apps will support Grass Roots as we become an even more united, efficient and collaborative business.

I've blogged about my first wearable device the Pebble Watch, and now I've gotten a chance to try out an accessory for it. Slickwraps, the makers of protective skins for a variety of devices makes a Slickwrap for the Pebble complete with screen protector. Check out my initial impressions below along with the install process.



You can find more on Slickwraps at www.slickwrap.com 

I've gotten a chance to try out a couple of cases for my Nexus 5. Check out my review for the cases from Diztronic, Spigen and Caseology below! Links for each case on Amazon below as well.







Caseology LG Google Nexus 5 [Saffiano Hybrid Series] - Premium Matte Leather Shock Absorbent TPU Bumper Case (Black)

Posted by Posted by Prasad Vootla, Senior Director of Engineering Operations at Snapdeal.com

Editor's note: Today’s guest blogger is Prasad Vootla, Senior Director of Engineering Operations at Snapdeal.com. Read the full case study here, then see what other organisations that have gone Google have to say.


Snapdeal.com is India’s leading online retail marketplace. From home furnishings and fashion, to electronics and sporting equipment, we make sure there is something to delight every one of our 20 million subscribers.

As an online business, having efficient email and collaboration tools is critical for the success of our business operations. Most transactions require cross-team involvement, but before moving to Google it was challenging to coordinate this; some team members were on different email domains as a result of our legacy system and our teams sought a simple, single channel for communication. We also used to send lots of large attachments which took up our email storage.

Our search for a new mail solution began when employees told us they were spending most of their time clearing emails because of storage limitations. With the help of Premier Google Enterprise Partner MediaAgility, we implemented Google Apps for Business. Gmail stood out as the most reliable and easy to use option because we not only get 30GBs of space to cater for high email volumes, but it also offered the stability, high performance and cost-effectiveness we were looking for.

The collaboration features built into Gmail have proved to be a real bonus too. Google Hangouts — which give us a way to instant message one another and have multi-person video conferences — have expanded the tools we have to interact and collaborate. We now have group discussions within teams and across departments when people are in different places.

Teams also now use group emails to coordinate across departments, and instead of emailing files back and forward, we simultaneously edit and collaborate in Google Docs and Google Spreadsheets. These tools have actually reduced number of meetings we need to have, and because Google Calendar gives us visibility into team members’ schedules, the process to setup meetings and avoid clashing schedules has become faster.

The benefits of moving to Google aren’t just being felt by employees. Our IT team now has improved our overall security and efficiency of the IT infrastructure. Our email system performance can now be easily monitored through the analytics features in Google Apps, and we have much greater flexibility and control to monitor all the accounts.

We are happy with our decision to go Google. Its positive impacts are felt throughout the organisation. The teams can now focus on their work, like responding quickly to customer requests and around-the-clock product shipping services. This means we now deliver a fun and convenient shopping experience, keeping our customers happy and coming back for more.

Posted by Deborah Hsieh, Product Manager, Google Apps Vault

Google Apps Vault helps protect organizations of all sizes by enabling them to quickly find and preserve email messages that may be relevant to litigation, thereby reducing investigation costs. Vault also helps manage and preserve business-critical information for continuity, compliance, and regulatory purposes. Last year, the introduction of partial domain licensing allowed Vault customers to save money by buying Vault only for specific users or organizational units.

Today, we're going a step further by offering targeted legal holds, which give customers even more control over the emails they retain. While it's still possible to hold a user's entire mailbox, customers can also target the specific information they need to preserve for a legal hold based on any searchable criteria, including sent date, labels, content or search terms. Targeted legal holds allow Vault customers to preserve fewer emails and focus on the more relevant messages, helping reduce the costs and risks associated with managing and reviewing data.

Google Apps Vault helps thousands of businesses, schools, and governments archive, retain, and manage business-critical information. You can add Vault to an existing Apps account, or purchase it in conjunction with Apps, for $5 per user per month. If you purchased Google Apps online directly from Google, you can purchase Vault from your Apps Admin Console. If you purchased Vault from a reseller partner, please contact them to purchase additional Vault users. And, finally, please contact us if you are a Google Apps for Education or Government customer interested in Vault.

Posted by Michael de la Cruz, International Head of Education

January is a time for fresh starts and resolutions, and for the last 30 years it has also been the time for BETT, the world’s largest education technology conference. This year’s event will be attended by 35,000 headteachers, educators and learning professionals from across the world. BETT brings everyone together at ExCeL London to discuss and debate the future of education and how technology can help raise standards and tear down barriers in the classroom.

Google has been participating at BETT for the last four years and we are back again, representing the growing and healthy adoption of Google Apps for Education and Chromebooks in classrooms all over the world. More than 30 million students, teachers and staff use Google Apps for Education and 5,000 schools use Chromebooks globally. Whole universities such as Keio University in Japan, cities such as Chicago, States such as São Paulo in Brazil, and even countries such as Malaysia have gone Google in the classroom and lecture hall.

Closer to the home of BETT, we recently deployed 810 Chromebooks in the Isle of Portland Aldridge Community Academy (IPACA), a non-selective, co-educational state school for students aged 3-16, located across four campuses in Dorset.

“By using Chromebooks and Google Apps, we’ve been able to transform the learning experience for all of our students,” says Alison Appleyard, the school’s Principal. “This open access to online resources is key to students becoming successful independent learners, empowering them to use resources as they see best and giving them the skills they’ll need to be successful in the future.”

IPACA students collaborate on a project together using Chromebooks

IPACA students learning on the web using a Chromebook

For anyone keen to hear how Google is working with schools, we invite you to visit our BETT Google zone at E240. The zone will showcase the full range of Chrome devices, including the recently announced Dell Chromebook 11, Toshiba Chromebook and the LG Chromebase, all for visitors to experience firsthand. Every 30 minutes there will be lightning talks at our on-site teaching theatre (schedule here) where educators from the field will share their experiences of using Google tools for teaching and learning.

For those not at BETT, school leaders can learn more about Chromebooks for Education by visiting our website.

Posted by Ed Lecky-Thompson, Head of Digital at Charles Stanley Direct


Editor's note: Today’s guest blogger is Ed Lecky-Thompson, Head of Digital at Charles Stanley Direct, a leading online investment site and part of the Charles Stanley Group, which has £18bn of investments under management. To learn more, join our Hangout with Charles Stanley Direct on January 23rd. Register here: http://goo.gl/A23N59

As a direct-to-client investment service, our website plays an absolutely critical role in attracting and retaining customers. While we’ve won a number of awards for the quality of our customer service and online trading platform, we realized our site's search functionality was in need of an upgrade.
Clients use our site to search for and view information on funds and stocks to help them weigh their investment decisions. However, Google Analytics showed that between 35-45% of client searches on the site resulted in no matches at all, while 15% of searches came back with thousands of potential results, meaning the right ones were often buried. Search was one of the last tasks clients performed before leaving the site altogether, showing the frustrations they experience in being unable to find what they were looking for.

To tackle these problems in-house would have proved costly and time-consuming, so we looked at a number of hosted providers. When our Google partner Extended Content Solutions Limited demoed the Google Search Appliance (GSA) using our own data, we saw instantly how it would benefit us.
Features like Intelligent Re-Direct enable customers searching, for example, for a subsidiary company to be re-directed immediately to the name of its parent company, which is what you’d actually trade shares in. The Spell Suggestions feature makes searching much faster. The GSA’s Query Expansion feature also provides clients with additional relevant results when they search for certain products or funds, meaning that they are presented with more investment options. Best of all, the GSA was so easy to integrate with our existing systems that we were up and running within a month.

Since deploying the GSA, feedback from our customers has been fantastic. Now, only 5% of searches result in zero matches or an unmanageable number of results, compared with 65% beforehand. We have a 99% click through rate, showing us that users are finding the fund or stock they’re looking for on their first search, whereas previously only 20% of searches actually generated a click-through to view that share or fund. Calls to our contact centre relating to finding information on stocks and funds on the site almost disappeared overnight. The next step for us is adding the ability for customers to search for our videos, which give up-to-date and insightful information on market trends. It’s exciting to think though that we’ve probably only scratched the surface of all the potential the GSA has to offer and how we can use it.

In the months since we’ve deployed the GSA we’ve improved customer retention and acquisition and increased the conversion rates of website traffic to client registrations. As the site goes from strength-to-strength it has paid for itself a number of times over. It is no exaggeration to say that the GSA has completely transformed the role the website plays within our business.