NEW YORK: Google Play for Education started in the US in November 2013 and then expanded in the UK in January of this year and Google has just announced that the program is now being pushed to our Canadian brethren. Canadian schools will have their choice of five classroom-ready Android tablets. They are already working with some schools in Canada and if you are interested in getting your school involved, just contact their Google for Education website. Schools in Canada that are already using Chromebooks can activate Google Play for Education at play.google.com/edu.
The program is designed strictly for schools and educators, and offers a “one-stop-shop” for the education field, with thousands of approved applications, books and videos for Chromebooks and Android tablets. For teachers and administrators it offers a free suite of productivity tools for classroom collaboration Classroom, Gmail, Drive, Calendar, Docs, Sheets, Slides and Sites. For instance, with Classroom you can create, share and grade assignments with ease…saving the teacher time and helping to organize their classes as well as improving communications with students.
Google claims that it does not matter how big your school is or your budget. The program consists of the free Productivity Tools mention above, as well as Class Content where you can find thousands of teacher-approved apps, books and videos. Children of today may not want to pick up a physical book to read, but may be more than willing to read a book on a tablet, especially when they can interact with other students and the teacher. Google provides Chromebooks and Tablets that are “affordable and easy to manage.” The program also allows teachers to connect with other educators for ideas and to provide help, answer questions and offers 24/7 help.
