Students, Schools To Benefit From Google Apps For Education

A collection of well-known applications will make accessing education and collaboration easier for students and educators.

Google Apps for Education, which includes applications such as Gmail and Google Drive, is being tested in school boards across the province to support Nova Scotia's Action Plan for Education.

It will allow students to collaborate, share, and access files anywhere, anytime, on any Internet-connected device through cloud-based storage.

"Google Apps for Education is about providing students with a 21st-century learning environment that puts the needs of students first," said Education and Early Childhood Development Minister Karen Casey. "As this becomes available, no matter where they are or what device they use, students will have access to these tools, all at no additional cost to them or their parents.

"This is an example of how we can embrace new trends in technology and harness them to support our action plan to create a better education system in Nova Scotia."

"We want educators and students who use Google Apps for Education to be able to focus on the learning experience, not the technology that supports it," said Jaime Casap, Google Global Education Evangelist. "The Nova Scotia Department of Education and Early Childhood Development inherently understood this, and we're excited to see them join the more than 40 million users worldwide who are already using Google Apps for Education."

The Gmail, Drive (Docs, Sheets, Slides, Forms, Drawing), Sites, Calendar, Contacts and Groups applications have been approved for use by all school boards in the province. How and when the apps are made available to students, educators and school board staff will be determined by each school board.

"I am very excited about Google Apps for Education," said Brad MacNeil, the project lead at Cape Breton-Victoria Regional School Board. "The sharing and collaboration capabilities are a game-changer for our classrooms. This is a great step forward."

About 40 schools have been identified as part of the pilot, which began this month and will run 30 to 90 days, depending on feedback and school board implementation plans.

The Nova Scotia public education system will have its own domain to properly manage users and help address privacy and security.