Google Apps for Education & Office 365 for NSW DEC Schools

Well, the wait is over, staff and students in NSW DEC schools now have access to both Google Apps and Office 365 learning tools, linked to their @education.nsw.gov.au account.

Google Apps for Education is a mature, web-based environment that enables teachers and students to collaborate and share their work. 

Docs, Sheets and Slides provide a rich cloud-based version of traditional office suites (such as Microsoft Office, or Apple Pages, Keynote and Numbers) with easy sharing options to invite others to work with you on your documents.  You can gather results from your class during an experiment, an excursion or fitness test.  It's simple to collaborate in a 'Doc' for an english writing task, or research a topic in HSIE.  Students can create and share a group presentation with 'Slides'.

Google Sites is a web publishing solution that can be edited right in your web-browser.  Everyone can now publish easily.  Our 'Design a Digital Unit' workshop walks you through how to transform your units of work online and share them with your students.

Don't forget that as this is all "in-the-cloud", available over the Internet, so it can be accessed from home as well as school.  This makes it easier for you as a teacher when students take their devices home and you want to check their progress.  You don't need to collect their books to mark them anymore!

Resources to get you started:
– Staff can explore these tools, by looking in "My Learning Tools" in the portal.
– Warren McCullough has created some 'QuickStarts' which you may find helpful as you get started.
– Attend a hands-on workshop to help you get started and see the potential in the classroom