Google Apps For Education Information FAQ's

What is Google Apps for Education?

Google Apps for Education is a suite of web-based software applications that allows for the creation of documents, spreadsheets, presentations, websites, email and much more. The benefits for teachers and students include the ability for students to collaborate on projects and assignments in real time online. They will also be able to access their files in Google Apps anywhere they have internet access at anytime on just about any type of device. As an added benefit to the district, Google Apps provides free, reliable online collaboration tools for teachers and students to use. Google Applications are virtually maintenance free and always updated, so our teachers and students are always using the latest versions of the software. 

What is the difference between a Google Apps for Education account and a personal Google Apps account?

Google Apps for Education accounts are unlike personal Google accounts as all student and staff accounts are controlled by the Norwood Public schools. With that, we have control over services that are accessible to students and all data created using Google Apps for Education is owned by the Norwood Public Schools. We reserve the right to remove our data off of Google’s servers any time we want as it states in our terms of service. Google Apps for Education services are free of advertisements and are governed by a detailed privacy policy that ensures personal information placed on their systems will not be inappropriately used or shared. For this initial rollout, we will only be allowing students to access Google Drive, which allows the students to create and collaborate on documents, spreadsheets and presentations. In the future we will be opening other services up, including email for students grades six through twelve. We will start with Google Drive and gradually roll out other services to students and staff. 

For more information on Google Apps for Education privacy and security, please click on this link:Google Apps Security and Privacy FAQ's

Do other school districts use Google Apps for Education?

There are hundreds of K-12 school districts, colleges and universities across the country that have been using Google Apps for Education for years. Specifically in Massachusetts there are many schools districts using the service with their teachers and students including Westwood, Walpole, Burlington, Dedham, Natick, Newton, and Wayland just to name a few.

Will Parents and Guardians have Google Apps for Education Accounts? 

No, parents will not be give their own accounts to access Google Apps for Education.  However, we encourage parents to ask their children to show them what they are doing in their Google Apps accounts.   

Students need to know:

Students will follow school policies for appropriate use when using Internet based services like Web 2.0 applications & Google Apps. These services are considered an extension of the school’s network. Students have no expectation of privacy in their use as school and service administrators have the right and ability to monitor user accounts for policy and security enforcement. Students should never share personal information online in public spaces.   In the future, Google Apps for Education will be included in the Norwood Public Schools Acceptable Use Policy and Social Media Guidelines that will be signed by staff, parents and students.

Parents need to know:

The student Acceptable Use Policy will be enforced. School staff will monitor student use of applications when students are at school. Parents are responsible for monitoring their child’s use of applications when accessing programs from home. Students are responsible for their own behavior at all times. Inappropriate communication and behavior will not be tolerated and may result in disciplinary action per the Norwood Public Schools Bullying and Harassment policies.

Do you have any resources where we can learn more on how to use these tools?

Yes, we have created some short video tutorials to get students and teachers started on using the tools.  These tutorials can be accessed at any time.  We have also gathered some video tutorials and other resources from around the web to help teach you how to use the different tools that are now available to our students and teachers.  Please visit our Google Apps Training page to access those resources.