Google Technology Use in Schools Emboldens Student-Teacher Interaction

Now, Google isn't just a household word, it's a classroom word.  

School has been in session in Westwood for well more than a month now, and during that time administrators and students have been utilizing .

Students are now fully embedded in the use of Google Apps for Education this year, a tool administrators have been using and researching for some time. 

"Two years ago we did a big push for teachers to embrace Google Docs and Wikis," said  Sean Bevan. "We really prompted teachers to use technology to enhance teaching and learning."

The cloud-based platform is similar to the free Google accounts and services that many people use, but this education version is not public and closely administered. It also comprises 72 applications that administrators now have access to. 

"It's kind of a closed, privately-managed system," said Steve Oulette, Director of Technology, Learning and Innovation for Westwood Public Schools. "It has the features of the consumer version, with a lot of other options to it."

Now, all students and teachers in Westwood have their own school-based email accounts, in the same way many college students and professionals have designated emails that are separate from their own, personal email accounts. 

But instead of the emails ending with "@gmail.com", the accounts all end with the standard "@westwood.k12.ma.us".

Currently all students at Westwood High Schcool are using the system and email accounts; has been rolling it out at a slower pace and will eventually have all students on board as well. 

"Really, what we're doing is saying, 'Okay, we're living in a technological environment,'" said Westwood Assistant Superintendent Emily Parks. "I think adults realize that technology is certainly impacting the way we live. We want to make sure that school doesn't feel different from life. We want to make sure that our classrooms still reflect the world."

Parks recently spoke with Westwood's elementary faculty about how to use technology as a teaching and collaboration tool. One topic that came up was how many of them actually remember the days when there was no internet. 

"Most of us do," she said. "We have to think hard about how we function without it, but we certainly do remember that. If we were to ask that same question of our kids from (kindergarten through (Grade 12), we thought about it and thought, none of them."

But the focus, in this case, is on how to use technology to create a more powerful and effective form of teaching and learning. And the concept of using the Google platform is not a foreign one to neither staff nor students, said Oulette.

"When I think about how we used to use technology, it was kid of an add-on to a traditional class," Oulette said. "This is really different. It does change relationships. What I really see is that the kids, they're kind of doing more of the work. They're writing, they're collaborating with one another. It has become a natural extenstion of what they've done in class."

Starting in Grade 6, students could accumulate and access all school-related materials and work up through Grade 12, simply by logging into Google. The simple steps could also assist students who have issues keeping organized, Oulette said. 

Administrators are also currently using the tool to survey students on how they feel about using Google Apps in the classroom. 

"We've already seen some benefits," Bevan said. "So we're able to send messages out to students in a way that's more targeted than ever before. It has enhanced our ability to communicate with the kids."