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Google Owns the Classroom (axios.com)
An anonymous reader writes: The NYT's Natasha Singer has a fascinating, provocative look at "How Google Conquered The American Classroom." "[M]ore than half the nation's primary- and secondary-school students -- more than 30 million children -- use Google education apps like Gmail and Docs... Chromebooks, Google-powered laptops that initially struggled to find a purpose... account for more than half the mobile devices shipped to schools."
Out my way, that is very true. All of my kids were initiated into the Google system since 5th grade. My older kids talked about how slow and terrible the windows PC's were, there are a few left. Then they started getting Chromebooks, complaints gone and for $100 they have a machine dedicated to them and they're pretty fast.
They charge the machines maybe twice a week and the biggest complaint now is broken buttons, screens.
My two sons are in high school. They use Google Docs, Android phones, and gmail for all school related work. They even submit papers using Google Docs and share using various Google tools.
I have mentioned to many co-workers that Microsoft should be very worried about their hegemony in the office when this generation comes out into the workforce and doesn't demand Office or Windows on the desktop.
The Kai's Semi-Updated Website Thingy
Not to mention simpler security.
The machines update themselves automatically. And the user can't install applications that run in the background and slow the entire thing down. So this essentially means very little support on your end when you give one of these devices.
Now, don't get me wrong, you may still have grandma call to tell you that she hates Google Photos because it forces her to upload all her pictures online and it's lousy at editing pictures. And that she'd rather you install the PC photo editing software she bought out of the bargain bin at Best Buy.
To which, you tell her that can't be done. And that's it. And if for some reason, she does break her Chromebook, or it gets stolen, she'll actually be able to recover her pictures, because they will all be online. So that's one more thing you don't have to worry about.
We've been using G Suite for Education at our school for a few years now, and it has been fantastic. It's exactly what schools need.
Google clearly publishes a privacy policy here:
https://edu.google.com/trust/
Does Google sell school or student data to third parties?
No. We don’t sell your G Suite data to third parties, and we do not share personal information placed in our systems with third parties, except in the few exceptional circumstances described in the G Suite agreement and our Privacy Policy, such as when you ask us to share it or when we are required to do so by law.
Sometimes charity really is nothing more than charity - this seems to be the case here.