Going to school with Google

Posted by Andrew Mitchell, Google Apps Team

As an organisation that began life in a Stanford University dorm room, Google has deep roots in the world of education. In addition to providing a range of tools that support teachers in their effort to empower students, encourage creativity, and build confidence in computing skills, Google is committed to delivering solutions that facilitate students and teachers sharing information and ideas.

As you may have heard, a number of schools and universities in Australia have signed up recently for Google Apps Education Edition. Last year, Macquarie University signed up 68,000 students for Gmail, followed in February of this year by StudentNet and the Rudolf Steiner school. Most recently, the NSW Department of Education and Training announced that it will be rolling out Gmail to 1.3 million students across NSW.

We're happy to see now that educators in New Zealand are also setting their sights online. Earlier this year, the University of Waikato successfully deployed Google Apps to their 25,000 students, and yesterday, you may have heard that the largest university in New Zealand, The University of Auckland, also rolled out Google Apps to 50,000 students, staff and alumni.

I'm always interested to talk to schools and universities in Australia and New Zealand, and had the pleasure yesterday of attending QUESTnet 2008, a conference on the Gold Coast focused on IT in education. It was inspiring to hear how open schools are to online tools, and to the collaborative possibilities of online applications like Google Apps.

To learn more about Google Apps Education Edition (which is free to accredited K-12 or higher educational institutions) check out the overview video below or get in touch with us here.