Google Apps and MS Office Suite - Austin ISD

Administrator’s Institute 2011
Mobility In Education: Google Apps and MS Office Suite – Web Version
Intro:
Our previous methods for saving and sharing documents could use a lake metaphor.
The boundaries are pretty set, standard, can be drawn on a map. The water is held
in the confines of the banks and you only have access to that water if you go to the
lake’s location and get what you need.
The AISD Cloud is more like, well, a cloud. It’s ethereal with no hard boundaries. The
cloud over your head can be seen by those on the ground for many miles around.
That same cloud could be here one day or be across the globe any other time.
Our Cloud structure gives the user secure access to their files and data from any
internet-connected computer, inside or outside the district. Students and teachers
can start working on something in third period, make changes in 6 th period, finish it
up at home later that day and send a copy to the teacher before school the next day.
Improvements are continually being made, including Adobe Connect training sites
soon to be available outside the district and Moodle, a dynamic online learning
environment, which K-12 and Higher Ed institutions across the globe are using to
improve communication between students and teachers as well as provide a digital
classroom for discussion and online classroom resources.
Part 1: The AISD Cloud
First off, teachers and students must become increasingly more aware of how to get
access to the Cloud and the resources available to them there.
● Accessing the AISD Cloud- http://my.austinisd.org . All staff can use their
network login and password to login to the Cloud.
● Single Sign On- Once logged into the Cloud, most of the links that take the
user to a secure site that requires district login access will automatically
enter the users username and password. No longer will the user have to
keep logging into different sites because the Cloud remembers your login.
● The Desktop- Much like your computer’s desktop, your Cloud desktop can
store a dizzying array of shortcut icons. Standard shortcuts already include
links to the S: and H: district server drives (My Files), Schoolnet, and the Help
Desk.
● Cloud Assistance: Another desktop shortcut is a link to the Cloud Frequently
Asked Questions (AISD Cloud FAQ), a short video called “Getting Started With

AISD Cloud”, and a comprehensive Technology Department overview video
found in the Start menu/Professional Development/Teacher Technology
Orientation.
Part 2: Google Apps
Already used in some departments for a couple of years now, Google Apps is an
online collection of productivity applications as well as online storage, email, and a
highly effective way of sharing or interactively collaborating on document editing. A
link for Google Apps can be found in the Cloud under the Start menu/Collaboration/
Google Apps.
Starting in the 2011 school year, all students 6 th – 12 th grade will be getting a Gmail
account through the district using the @stu.austinisd.org subdomain. Logging into
the AISD Cloud will automatically give them access to their Gmail accounts. The
student email accounts will be attached, via the scheduling system, to each class in
their schedule. Thus, a teacher will be able to email the specific class, (her 3 rd period
Chemistry class) with one email address and all students in that class will get the
email.
The latest plan (7/28/11) for teacher email is to phase out Lotus Notes by December
2011. Teacher email would then most likely transition to a Google-hosted email
account. No email addresses should change, but the way staff will access email
should change a bit. Also making the transition will be all of the Lotus calendars.
New calendars are being created for the current ones, but be warned that proactive
use of a non-AISD domain Google calendar will not transfer or interact with the new
AISD Google-hosted email and calendars. (This is still being developed, so definitive
explanations and training will be forthcoming.)
Also instantly available in the Cloud will be access to their private Google Apps
storage. Students can upload Microsoft-formatted documents to their storage
and continue to edit them online, start new documents using Google’s online
applications, or download copies of anything they have saved. Students can
peer edit by inviting others students (via Google sharing) to open and edit their
documents. Multiple users can even access the same document and simultaneously
edit the same document. Documents can be kept private, shared with individuals,
groups, or the entire world depending on what the user wants.
Google applications consist of a word processor, spreadsheet, presentation,
interactive form creators, and website design tools. Each are pretty full-functioned
applications providing creative templates, extensive formatting, and proof-reading
tools.
The user can upload many file types to their Google storage; videos, pdf files, photos

and more. At the current time, users can store up to 10 gigs of information.
Part 3: MS Office Suite – Web Version
A world-wide standard for productivity applications, MS Office has become the
go-to application for creating word processing, spreadsheets, presentations and
documents. Microsoft is taking advantage of the cloud-nature of the internet by
making their applications available online so users can create, even without the
application installed on their local computer.
Found in the AISD Cloud under the Start menu/Productivity/MS Office Web, the
web version of Microsoft Office works similar to Google Apps in that all of your work
can be created online without have any of the Microsoft software installed on your
local computer. This cloud link will take you to your SkyDrive, Microsoft’s online
storage place where AISD staff and students will have 25 Gigs of storage. Word,
Excel, Powerpoint, and OneNote documents can be created online and stored there
for later use. Each document can be shared with other users as well.
Documents can be started online or uploaded after initially created using the local
computer application. When editing documents located on the user’s Skydrive
(the name for the file storage save location), one has the option of editing via the
web browser interface or downloading directly into the local computer’s installed
applications.
Part 4: For More Information
It is very difficult to answer all questions or provide deep understanding and
practice in under one hour. However, there are many resources available online
that one can use to further their understanding. The links below should help AISD
administrators and teachers develop an effective understanding of how to use these
cloud resources and integrate them into the classroom instruction.
(Viewing this document digitally will allow clicking or copying of the URLs to go
straight to the websites)
Live Support
● Customer Support Services / Technology Department- Calling the Help
Desk (414-8324 or 4-TECH) will connect you to a live person who can
either provide immediate solutions or start a Heat Ticket to initiate further
technology or professional development support.
● Administrators have direct contact with the Instructional Support
Technology Specialist (ISTS) assigned to their campus. A list of the ISTS’s
(with phone number and email addresses) and their campuses can be found
on http://www.austinschools.org/techinfo/

Online Resources
This article can be shared and found on the Cloud at: http://goo.gl/aDVh1
AISD Cloud
● AISD Cloud- http://my.austinisd.org
● Frequently Asked Questions about the AISD Cloud- https:/
/docs.google.com/a/austinisd.org/document/d/
1uMaTq7cSIL6h9Vddu9GIKVFIm6b6wTpi40edZUmaAag/edithl=en_US
● CSS Technology Overview Video- http://www.austinschools.org/techinfo/
newTeachTech/
● Navigating the Cloud video - http://www.screencast.com/t/O23upUEUvS
● AISD Cloud training website - https://sites.google.com/site/
mylearningplatform/
Google Apps
● AISD Google Apps training videos (bottom of page) http://tinyrul.com/3vr5r7y
● Google’s training videos http://tinyurl.com/aisdgoogletraining
● Google Training on Atomic Learning
○ Documents - http://www.atomiclearning.com/k12/google_docs
cn=austinisd
○ Spreadsheets- http://www.atomiclearning.com/k12/
google_spreadsheetscn=austinisd
○ Presentations- http://www.atomiclearning.com/k12/google_present
cn=austinisd
○ Advanced Training - http://www.atomiclearning.com/k12/
google_spreadsheets_advcn=austinisd
MS Office Suite – Web Version
● Microsoft’s Web Apps Support (bottom left section, Help With Web Apps) -
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/web-apps/