Approach school administrators

Gaining the support for Google Apps from all the school level administrators is a practical first step in rolling out Google Apps.

Plan for 3 weeks to complete the following tasks:

Communicate benefits

Compose an email addressed to administrators that communicates the availability of Google Apps and the benefits for their schools. Things to include:
  • Emphasize that administrators play a critical role in the successful implementation of the program
  • Highlight 3 features that have potential for curricular, instructive, or administrative impact (for example: Sites for e-portfolios, forms for tracking student behavior, docs for department notes)
  • Outline the request and need for individuals, departments and/or grade levels, at the school who will help with the training and transition to Google Apps - “Google Apps School Guides” 

Introduce useful features

Seeing is believing - start introducing some Google Apps features to school administrators to show how the tools can be used in everyday life. 

Some examples:
  • Create a shared agenda and minute taking document for running meetings
  • Email a form to admins and show the automatic summary data at a meeting
  • Share a Google Doc with admins that outlines the vision of Google Apps at the school that they can 
  • Share Google Sites as a dashboard or one stop shop for staff and administrators. Post useful updates, links, resources and calendars.
  • Set up Picasa for back-to-school night
  • Collect information from parents via Forms
  • Work with school secretaries to make one key school process paperless by using Google Apps (i.e. send weekly announcements only via email)
  • Use a form to have teachers use single words to define the culture of the school or the goal of the school. Use the Word Cloud gadget in Spreadsheets or Wordle to display the information.

Request recommendations

Ask school administrators to recommend at least one individual to be their schools’ Google Apps School Guide. Be sure to communicate the expectations of being a Guide and some ideal qualities.