CEDAR RAPIS (SPECIAL) – Iowa’s Area Education Agencies (AEAs) announced that they have entered into an exciting agreement with Google to provide all K-12 schools in Iowa with free access to Google Apps for Education. 550,000 students and educators will have the opportunity to be connected to a common e-mail, chat and calendar system (Gmail, Google Talk and Google Calendar), cloud collaboration tools (Google Docs, Google Sites, & Groups) and multimedia tools (Google Sites & Video) that will enable them to work together and learn more effectively. “Iowa’s AEAs are proud to work with Google to bring these innovative tools to our classrooms,” Brent Siegrist, Director of Iowa AEA Services, said. “As a former teacher, I can see how these tools will engage students, make the classroom a more vibrant place and allow teachers to work together more collaboratively.” Iowa is the third state in the country to form a partnership with Google to provide Google Apps to teachers and students. In addition to providing support to public schools, Iowa will be the first to provide support to non-public schools. Iowa AEA consultants will receive formal certification in Google Apps and participate in hands-on training. AEA consultants will then apply this training to help teachers in their local schools learn how to use Google Apps effectively in the classroom. In addition, the consultants will be just an e-mail or a phone call away to answer questions or to follow-up with implementation advice. Students and educators will be able to begin using their new tools as the 2010-2011 school year gets underway. Schools that choose to use Google Apps will see a significant savings in their IT budgets, and most importantly, will be teaching students the skills they’ll need to use these types of digital tools in the workplace. “This exciting initiative gives us the opportunity to work with a central organization that reaches thousands of teachers and students in Iowa,” says Jaime Casap, Google Apps Education Manager for Google Apps Education. “The AEAs bring support and resources that will allow schools to easily take advantage of the online communication and collaboration tools in Google Apps.” “Google Apps allows K-12 schools to provide a free suite of tools to staff and students that open the doors of collaboration and communication,” said Andy Crozier, Grant Wood AEA Coordinator of Digital Learning Technology and a Google Certified Teacher. “With the ever growing Apps suite, teachers can easily extend learning beyond the walls of the classroom. Google Apps allows school districts to truly create an environment that fosters and develops 21st century skills in students.” “Google Applications, such as Google Documents, have broadened the definition of collaboration for both students and teachers,” said Kristi Ferreter, Technology Teacher, College Community School District. “Students are using Google Presentations, Spreadsheets and Documents to work collaboratively with their peers on a single file while being in separate locations. This format is allowing students to share their work with each other, their teachers and community members who in return can provide the student with constructive feedback, praise and even new perspectives. Teachers are using Google Documents as a collaboration tool as well as an assessment piece. Google Forms allow teachers to create assessments and feedback surveys. Many students prefer this method of assessment as opposed to paper and pencil assessments. Students and teachers are even recognizing how Google Documents are allowing the education community to take part in the ‘Green Movement’ by sharing electronically!” “As a high school language arts instructor, Google apps have been very beneficial to me and my students in numerous ways,” said Christopher Klostermann, Language Arts Instructor, Literacy Coach, College Community School District. “For example, through Google sites, I was able to create two class sites that I could keep a Google calendar, Presentation notes, and Google docs for my students to access as they needed. In addition, Google docs has been instrumental in helping me teach revision strategies to my students as well as allowing us to go “paperless” on a number of assignments.” “We know this will be a great partnership between the AEAs and our local schools,” Siegrist said. “Our schools already have established relationships with our consultants and trust their expertise with technology. There may be many schools that are already using Google Apps, but they can now be formally trained to use them and have consistency across their districts.”