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| http://www.dodigital.co.uk/education/google-apps-for-education/ |
Last week was a looooooooong week. Granted, I only had myself to blame; I had been burning the candle at both ends. By day I was K-5 Instructional Technology Specialist. By night, I was channeling my inner Bob Villa as I was finalizing my family room built-ins project. But that's neither here nor there. The point I'm trying to make is that by Friday, I was dog tired. That is, until I received the news that I had been longing to hear since the onset of my career at Valley View: we were going to begin piloting Google Apps for Education beginning second semester!
Now to some of you, you might be thinking, "Big whoop...we've been using Google Apps for Education for [insert duration of time here]." Well, you see, for us, considering to pilot Google Apps is equivalent to my family room built-ins project--it's gutting the outdated system, designing the new infrastructure, and then planning and executing the installation process (how's that for coming full circle?).
As far as I know, Valley View has always been a Microsoft Windows/Exchange environment...which has been a bit frustrating when attempting to propel our district forward in its endeavors to incorporate emerging educational technology integration models. Since TechCon October 2012, we recognized the role Google Apps could play in our efforts to move towards BYOT, but it wasn't until the Leyden HS Dist. #212 1-to-1 Summer Symposium (and countless subliminal messaging opportunities in between) did we (and by "we" I mean "they") embrace the idea of "Going Google".
Frankly, I don't care how we got here, I'm just glad we're here. Our journey has begun. It won't be too long until we're sprinting to the finish line. I'll be here to keep you updated along the way!
