Moving Along in Google Apps

I know that I said I would provide updates on our progress and I've been doing that through emails and social media sites, but have neglected my blog....

One exciting thing that has happened since my last post is that I finished the 6th and final exam of the Google Apps for Education Certification process! Hooray!! I am officially Qualified and now I move onto the application part of the process and have been working on gathering together materials that I have used to teach Google Apps to groups both in my school district and around the state. The application is quite intense so I hope to have that submitted in the next few weeks. Once it is submitted the waiting game begins on acceptance of the application--or not. I am fearful of the "or not" part, but am moving forward anyways.

We are making great progress in our whole district roll out of South Milwaukee Apps Powered by Google! Our first Early Adopter Team is still working in GAFE and has been making incredible progress in learning the ins and outs of features of Apps. They are working with other staff members on getting ready to "make the move" and have been the loudest, most positive voice through all of this.

On March 15th, we start our second Early Adopter Group with a half day training on Mail, Calendar, Chrome, and Docs. This is where we get into the groups that are not necessarily "tech comfortable". This second group was put together by asking for volunteers and then extending an invitation if we were missing any grade level, content area, or school. The fun part about this second group is that we had originally thought it would be hard to get up to 40 interested in being trained and into our GAFE domain. By the end of this school year we will have close to 100 staff members using South Milwaukee Apps!

As I mentioned in my previous post, I really do believe that we have a very supportive, challenging roll out plan. On February 8th I updated the school board on how that process was going and provided our roll out letter to them in case they had questions.

In addition to our Second Early Adopter group starting on the 15th, we have begun to get our students in and will have small pockets of kids using Docs later this month. I am excited about this opportunity! Our students will have access to the greatest collaboration tools available today. I can't wait!

Stay Tuned....