Google Apps: The Next Big Thing?

I'm certainly not the first to tout the advantages of using Google Apps. It has already been around for a number of years in various forms and has only gotten better as Google continues to add features and functionality. There is a commercial version that will appeal to businesses and free versions for small-businesses, nonprofit organizations and even government agencies. I'm going to focus on the educational version.

There are even two flavors of this service available, one for the K-12 market and one for higher education, although the differences are negligible at this time. At the time of this writing, the educational version gets you the standard offerings: email and calendaring through Gmail, file collaboration through Google Docs (Google's version of word processing, spreadsheet and presentation software), and website hosting. So far, pretty standard fare.

The really neat thing about all of this is how Google enables them to work together. Once you understand the basics of how it all works, you could easily create an online form, tie it to a spreadsheet and embed the results in a web page. All of this is accomplished mostly through a point and click interface that takes much of the complexity of this form of web programming out of the equation. Google simplifies things greatly by using wizard-like components called gadgets. There are a number available right from the menu while you're working and access to a host of Google Gadgets is always just a couple of clicks away. Thanks to a vibrant community of gadget writers, it's a pretty good bet that a gadget exists to do virtually anything you'd want, from simple things like including clocks or calendars to embedding minigames, slideshows and newsfeeds. The fun doesn't end there, either.

Along with all of the above, Google offers access to Google Video. Google Video can be thought of as a YouTube-like video storage and streaming solution. Users can upload video content and leverage Google's search engine to find other clips. I tend to view the real value of this type of service offering as a means of sparing what is likely limited local network bandwidth, by allowing the video to be streamed over Google's high-speed network to the viewer.

Finally, let's not forget that you also gain access to using Google Earth, Google Maps, and Google Enterprise Search capabilities. Each of these can enhance the online learning experience, by offering richer related content for lessons or homework assignments.

That should be enough of an overview to give you ideas on how all of this could be used in and out of the classroom setting. Next time we'll look at some specific applications.