Podcast of this blog posting: Podcast.mp3
Introduction:
I implemented a small portion of Google Apps into my school district recently. I added users from our network into the Google Apps directory, and gave a few Central Office staff members a brief tutorial and lesson on how to use it. This is what I found out:
Surprise: For surprises, I was surprised how well it was to add and create/modify a user. The Google Apps directory can look very similar to that of Novell eDirectory or Microsoft Active Directory, so I could easily manage and control users in groups. I found the Google App Gmail very similar, if not the exact same as regular Google Mail. I was surprised it was very easy to manage and create users and groups within the Google Apps directory.
Unexpected Bumps in the Road: One thing that I found hard was the e-mail implementation and password implementation. Teachers/users had to have a different password than their regular Novell passwords, which I would try to find a better way synchronize those passwords for a single sign on. It was also hard to forward e-mail from our GroupWise server to the Google Mail server, I had to create a rule in each GroupWise account for forwarding e-mail. It would probably be better to fully move to Google Mail instead of forwarding, because I noticed that confused some users. Also, getting to Google Apps was confusing for some. I'd have to create a desktop link for users to understand how to access our schools domain on Google, otherwise I don't think it will be used as much because access to the address is long and hard to remember.
Delights: I think what went well is I had a few people who were already used to Google Mail and somewhat used to Google Docs, so that helped my training and their understanding of the application a bit better. This is only a small group of people, but I believe that once a bigger group is trained I won't be so lucky. The users really seemed to enjoy it and could see it being a beneficial addition to the school district operations and used among staff and eventually students.
Pictures: Included in this blog are pictures of what the tree looks like for our Google Apps account and our Novell eDirectory account – I find the two pictures and tree like structure very similar and therefore easy to explore and navigate.
Sounds like a good start. I had a similar experience when I did an interactive presentation using Google Docs. There were very few that had g-mail accts and had used the program before, which made it much harder. But everyone was willing to give it a try. Although, we kept getting an error when everyone was logged on, where people would have to type a few lines above where they actually wanted to place their cursor...it was the weirdest thing and still happens every now and then.
ReplyDelete~Diana N.
Hi Andrew,
ReplyDeleteThat is really surprising to me that not more people have Google Accounts. It seems like I use all of the apps all the time, and I cannot imagine not having an account! Maybe once you introduce them to all of the other amazing features they will want to create an account. I hope that everyone is excited about using Google Apps in your school. We use Novell for our email server and I was wondering how to get around that.
I cannot wait to see what you figure out as you smooth out the bumps in the road. Thanks for sharing!
Sarah Boutwell
That was really great that you were already able to begin implementing your solution during the summer months and that your principal and administration were so willing to give it a try within the school district. It will be interesting to find out what happens as you progress through the rest of the groups at your school. Do you plan to take a survey before implementation and again, after to see if there are any changes in the amount of people who utilize this incredible tool? Good luck, you are coming along well.
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