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Overview of Google Applications Web site
Welcome to my final project for YouTube for Educators, EDTECH597! My project is about Google applications administrators, teachers, and students can apply to the classroom, and schools in general. Google has created a number of major applications like Google Sites, Google Docs, Google Knol, Google Calendar, and many other Web-based applications that have great potential for improving education. This Web site features discussions about each of the Google applications I've included in this site, plus educational tutorials captured from YouTube or Google Video, and finally, different ways to apply the featured Google application (for each page) in the classroom or schools.
To give Google justice for what they have accomplished with their software tools (as they apply to business, families, and education) is simply impossible in a 10 or 11 page Web site with 30 - 40 video tutorials. Given the time, this project could be expanded 10 times or more to effectively address all the applications and their potential for use in education. In fact, given the resources, time, and commitment, a school could virtually use Google for a high percentage of its applications except learning software like drills, games, simulations, and specialty software. If you leave those types of applications out, I would encourage schools to analyze its software and Google's software to see if this is a better program than their current ones. Given the flexibility of Google's approach to software - making it Web-based and providing tools for sharing, permissions, collaborating, and publishing - Google's software program would provide many new opportunities at every level of education. Students could use it for research, assignments, and communication. Teachers could use it for administration, communication, and assignments, and administrators could use it for managing their office and communication. Even parents could benefit if schools use it for communication, plus the fact their students have a better learning environment, which all parents wish for.
When comparing Google's applications with others, there is a strong argument that Google's products are a better value for schools on a budget. One reason is most of Google's applications are FREE! For example, Microsoft Office could be replaced with Google Docs, teachers could track attendance and grades using Google Docs, Google search engines provide tools for research and finding products for managing the school, Google Sites could be set up as both a school Intranet site, class Intranet sites, and general school Web site. Google Groups could help organize groups like the school board, academic groups within the school, and teacher groups that work together on projects. With other tools like Gmail, Sketchup, Google Maps, Google Earth, Blogger, YouTube and Google Video, Picasa, and Orkut, IT specialists in the school could create a comprehensive plan for using Google products, and work with teachers, administrators, and students to get the most out of Google's program. I encourage you to check out this site and watch the tutorials, and you will see for yourself how Google is changing the way the world communicates and uses software in general. I'm a big fan of Google, and the information in this Web site explains why. And since it's free, what do you have to lose by giving it a try?
It's All About the Advertising!
But...... why is most of Google's software free? How's this possible when Microsoft is charging, in some cases, exorbitant rates for its products. Even the comparable software to Google's costs in the hundreds of dollars for most applications. In some ways, the fact Google's software is free might be a deterrent to many people giving it a try because they might believe the software is inferior. Plus, Google's approach to providing Web-based software clearly is not what people have been used to for the past 25 years. What we are seeing is the future of software with Web-based applications versus client-based ones. So how can Google create dozens of software programs and purchase YouTube for 1.2 billion dollars, and YouTube had no income? The answer is advertising! When people use Google products, many of them feature advertising somewhere on the page, and Google's biggest money maker is all its different search engines two geniuses from Stanford University invented. Google is just as much a software company now as it is an advertising agency because Google designs nearly all of its applications to allow for embedded advertising. Some of its advertising is very subliminal;however some of its advertising programs are very aggressive. As I mentioned, Google paid around 1.2 billion for the rights to the video giant YouTube, even though Google had its own video site of its own, but with the popularity of YouTube capturing nearly all the market share in the rapidly growing video industry, Google identified YouTube as a potential gold mine for advertising. Until Google started adding advertising to its videos and individual channels, YouTube had virtually no income and was losing millions of dollars. Google was the perfect buyer for YouTube because of its ability to turn a popular, but financially unproductive Web site into and advertising powerhouse. Just since this class began, Google has added a number of advertising programs on YouTube pages and in videos too. Google's goal is to generate as much traffic as possible to its applications in order to generate advertising dollars when people either view or click on the links to Google's advertisers. And, obviously Google's advertising program works for its paying customer because Google continues to generate strong revenues during tough economic times.
Although Google is a fairly young company and has created many new products over the past five years, Google is Microsoft's number one threat to maintaining its dominance in office software, browser, and Web building tools like FrontPage. In my opinion, out with the old and in with the new! There's no better price for purchasing great software applications than FREE! This is especially attractive to school districts and private schools also. The biggest challenge is finding people who can train teachers, develop learning projects, and maintain a comprehensive software program using Google applications on school computers. With budgets low, and costs up, plus the fact Internet and computer security has become one of the biggest issues in education, Google has many built in security features to help prevent unauthorized access to documents, or malicious attempts at altering or even stealing software from a teacher's computer. And finally, Google is not standing slowing down. Google is aggressively addressing different ways to improve its existing software, and developing even more software. Check out Google Labs! Google is definitely on the move, and making Microsoft very concerned about losing the market share it has dominated for years.
Videos Tutorials - Google Overview
Google Apps for Educators (PIP)- By Mark
The Lost Google Applications (PIP) - By Mark
Google and Education
Although Google has created many great tools that apply well to education, Google needs to focus on marketing its software to schools and creating a nationwide training program to certify Google experts to ensure schools have the resources available to utilize Google's software effectively. The opportunities right now are very limited for teachers to learn and become certified as official Google experts. Google has a teacher certification program, but it is so limited there is no way Google can properly train and provide the certification necessary for teachers to be able to educate its students unless they learn Google's Applications on their own. Because of the number of Google applications teachers need to learn, Google should provide programs and colleges should offer classes so there are plenty of ways for people to learn Google's Applications. The problem is: Google needs to reach the masses and to accomplish this will take a major investment in time and resources, and training of its own. Since Google has been busy adding new applications and improving current applications, it's easy to understand why this area has been neglected, but given Google's track record to a proactive approach to solving problems, I think we will see training programs like this across the country (and online!) very soon so Google can be confident it will continue to penetrate Microsoft's formerly untouchable market share in the world of the PC.
Search Engines
Google has around a dozen specialty search engines including its famous Classic Search engine. Google's the most popular search engine in the world, which has made possible the ability for Google to create these great applications. Google's search engines are widely used in education for searching the WWW for finding the right Web site for learning, projects, or information necessary to complete a class project. With specialty search engines like Google Scholar and Google Books, the possibilities are much better using Google Search engines to find that Blog or Web site you need for your class project. I have listed Google's different search engines on every page of this Web site.