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Google Classroom

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Re: Google Classroom

#121

Post by cviedmai »

I never quite understood why everybody thinks storage should be in the local server and cannot be provided by a private company.

IMHO, storage is a commodity.

Would you argue that schools need their own power generators because otherwise they'll be submitted to private companies? Should schools also have their own satellites and internet connections?

If the data is sensitive why not just encrypting it when is stored the same way we do when we need to transmit something over the wire?

Now, from the school POV I think if they go for a private solution they should demand open standards (avoid being locked in) and appropriate SLAs.

Re: Google Classroom

#122

Post by shortstuffsushi »

ticviking wrote: post #114
nacho2sweet wrote: post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was just saying it off the cuff as sort of a comment on giant waterfall departments that never create anything great or effective. I don't really have any hate for Java and there is a lot of great software created with it (J2EE was my intro to IS development), just the kind of culture and staff it attracts in this sector. Everyone is in their cubical doing java never innovating anything with no care in the world to…

Yeah, you hit the nail on the head with this explanation though.

You both raise fair points. I do think the community is typically construed that way, and it's probably accurate to say that a lot of the older Waterfall devs would be a part of that community (or C/C++).

Re: Google Classroom

#124

Post by Curmudgel »

seanflyon wrote: post #107
giardini wrote: post #48

Why tie yourself to the current state of technology (keyboard, pc, printer), which may be defunct in 8-15 years? Let the kids learn to use computers but limit it specifically to that. In the classroom emphasis should be on teaching the subject (and let them use pencil, pen and paper). And I'm appalled that public schools now teach computer skills but have abandoned cursive writing.

Why should schools spend time on cursive? Does it add value for the students? The last time I used cursive for something other than a signature was in elementary school.

Cursive handwriting, when done with proper technique, is faster than block and does not cause hand cramps or wrist pain.

Re: Google Classroom

#125

Post by sjy »

ChicagoBoy11 wrote: post #31
acbart wrote: post #29

I got into the demo over the summer, and I was pretty underwhelmed. They list the features on the front page there, and that's exactly what they have. So in other words, you can manage a feed of assignments ("X is due on Tuesday", "Here is a link to a video!") and some very simplistic google docs control. I really expected something on the level of Canvas or Moodle, but it's clearly just a few convenience features fo…

My thoughts exactly. I am in charge of Canvas at our school, and we are deploying Google Apps for Ed. next year. Not thinking of using Classroom at all - at least not with the current feature set.

What are the missing features that your school needs? I'm not sure how things work at primary and secondary level, but I used various LMSes at university over 7 years and never found any use for features beyond the ability to download lecture notes.

Re: Google Classroom

#126

Post by Grazester »

judk wrote: post #84
Grazester wrote: post #23

Damn it Google. Over the summer I approached the government of my country to build a simple learning management system since they were about to start using tablets at the secondary schools here. Nothing has been finalised yet but I have a working model. If they go with what I am working on for them they would be able to run analytics across all secondary schools and they would own their data.

Send a resume to Google. That's life in business.

Funny. When I lived in the U.S. I was called by a Google recruiter.

I don't see Google besting me here where it comes to the tailored needs.

Re: Google Classroom

#127

Post by personjerry »

nacho2sweet wrote: post #55
sagischwarz wrote: post #14

I think the public educational IT system should not be outsourced to the private sector, where schools completely lose control of the data and depend more or less on the good will of the company. University courses should not be organized by Facebook and pupils should not be forced to use IT systems of non-trustworthy companies like Google, which earn money by profiling their customers. Maybe my view is too German, b…

I work in IT at a major Canadian University. I hear what you are saying, but the solutions provided by universities IT departments are usually sub-par to completely not useful. There have been attempts in the past to partner with other schools and develop solutions jointly but are often cost over run disasters. It is really hard to attract any top development talent, or even try and convince current employees to stay…

Maybe this is asking too much from Google but maybe they could provide some accounts which only back up data to Canadian servers?

Re: Google Classroom

#128

Post by dkarapetyan »

sagischwarz wrote: post #14

I think the public educational IT system should not be outsourced to the private sector, where schools completely lose control of the data and depend more or less on the good will of the company. University courses should not be organized by Facebook and pupils should not be forced to use IT systems of non-trustworthy companies like Google, which earn money by profiling their customers. Maybe my view is too German, b…

Came to say pretty much the same thing. This is extremely creepy given the nature of Google as a data munging operation that converts data to ad revenue. On the other hand mikeleeorg makes a good point. In the past competitors where sued out of the water by Blackboard. If Google puts some pressure on them and makes the data easy enough export then a more agile company can have a shot at improving things. That's a pretty long chain of extremely happy accidents though.

Re: Google Classroom

#129

Post by dkarapetyan »

nacho2sweet wrote: post #55
sagischwarz wrote: post #14

I think the public educational IT system should not be outsourced to the private sector, where schools completely lose control of the data and depend more or less on the good will of the company. University courses should not be organized by Facebook and pupils should not be forced to use IT systems of non-trustworthy companies like Google, which earn money by profiling their customers. Maybe my view is too German, b…

I work in IT at a major Canadian University. I hear what you are saying, but the solutions provided by universities IT departments are usually sub-par to completely not useful. There have been attempts in the past to partner with other schools and develop solutions jointly but are often cost over run disasters. It is really hard to attract any top development talent, or even try and convince current employees to stay…

You really don't need a lot of horsepower to set up a reasonable cloud solution. In fact these days it is so simple that you can do it in an afternoon with the help of tools like https://yunohost.org/.

Re: Google Classroom

#130

Post by snogglethorpe »

GeneralMayhem wrote: post #78
scourge wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

google voice. google browser sync. google send to phone. google wave. then there's a list of things that are STILL around but have stifled competition anyways: gmail (hopefully people might get behind mailpile but i doubt it), gtalk (again, we have to wait another decade at least before a sensible IM standard is used), G+ (how many in the tech community have moved from one company (facebook) to another (google Plus).…

>gmail How does this stifle competition? If people use Gmail, it's because they think it's better than the alternatives. There aren't even network effects in play, since it's just email. >gtalk ...is now called Hangouts, and is a flagship product. >G+ (how many in the tech community have moved from one company (facebook) to another (google Plus) Um... not me, for one, and certainly not for non-professional contacts.…

> G+ is a ghost town.

G+ is very much not a ghost town....

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