OldMillPS Cloud

During the last few weeks I have been busy setting up Google Apps for Education as our school’s learning platform and with a few more tweaks it will be ready for staff to use when we start back after our half term holiday. It has been a straightforward set up compared to a previous Local Authority pushed learning platform that I had the displeasure of using last year. But going Google still requires fine tuning especially if you want to use more of the apps that are available for educational use.

Here are my 10 steps to take after you have applied for your Google Apps for Education domain and you want to set it up as a learning platform for your own school.

1. Draw a map of your learning platform. Yes, draw it it. It helps a lot. If you start off blind you will end up going round in circles. Think about who will use it and what they will use it for.
   

   site map

2. Create a csv file of users and their passwords, you will need to upload this to your GApps admin account before you can start thinking about handing out user names an passwords to staff or students.
3. Create groups and organisations from your newly imported users. I’ve created staff and students groups which are then sub divided into class groupings, senior management team, activities and support staff.
4. Set up Postini to filter email depending on organisation groups you have created. This is an example of how I have set it up for my own school domain.
   

   Setting up Postini

5. Create test accounts to help iron out any issues. Log in as a test account to see if your domain works the way you want it to.
6. Before uploading resources into your domain, create a resource user for each year group. Log in as that user then create folders within Google docs for each subject area you want to upload resources for. When you upload your resources it’s much easier to put them into those folders.
7. Collaborating is a great learning tool but ensure you share uploaded resources with only those groups or individuals you choose. If not, every resource will be freely accessible by everyone on your domain.
8. 

   Crystal Clear png

   If you are designing an environment for primary school then definitely consider using freely available icon sets to use throughout your domain. They provide not just an aesthetic function but younger children, and some of your staff, will find it easier to navigate your domain than purely through a link based environment.

9. Start off using google docs, email and/or the calendar rather than adding as many market place apps you can find. I really want to use aviary but I’m holding back until my school tries the domain for a few weeks before adding new apps. However, if you can’t hold back, you can turn apps and services on or off for groups and even individuals.
10. You can control what gadgets users can use on sites by installing the Domain Gadget Directory Manager

There is a further step that is available to users with limited or no technical experience but still wish to set up and use Google Apps for Education with their educational establishment and that is to employ the services of a company to do so. For this I would thoroughly recommend getting in contact with Mark Allen of EdintheClouds.