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Google Classroom

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Re: Google Classroom

#131

Post by dkarapetyan »

cviedmai wrote: post #121

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…

Because if all the computation is still happening on the remote server then that remote server has access to whatever encryption key was used. That defeats the whole purpose of what you're suggesting. Which means you have to shuttle the encrypted data to some private server, decrypt it, and then operate on it which means you might as well just host it locally. The only way this works is if we get practical homomorphic encryption at which point storage truly becomes a commodity and that's when Google loses all interest in hosting that data.

Re: Google Classroom

#132

Post by newuser88273 »

kbenson wrote: post #70
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…

Non-trustworthy seems a fairly harsh assessment. I've not seen evidence to ever make me think Google isn't trustworthy. I may not be happy with what they do with my data, but it's not like they've somehow broken their promise to me in any way, we have an understanding. I get use of their services, they get information about me. Why the distinction is important is because if they stated publicly that they weren't gath…

Do you trust Google to remain just an adware company forever?

Or will they (a) sit on your children's data for all of their life and (b) within a decade or two break out of the adware niche with Google Services for Health and Life Insurance, Google Services for Banking and Credit, Google Services for Human Ressources, and Google Services for Law Enforcement?

Re: Google Classroom

#133

Post by danellis »

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…

Are you suggesting that schools develop their own solutions, over and over again? Some school districts centralize their IT solutions provision, but that's nothing compared to a private company providing a solution nationwide.

Re: Google Classroom

#134

Post by scourge »

icantthinkofone wrote: post #73
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).…

Google Voice is still around. Browser sync is built in. Send to phone, I don't recall what that was. Wave is built into the browser, too, iirc.

gvoice is still around but it was axed a few times (talk with google voice users in canada, it was start and stop and start again)

send to phone was a firefox feature. it was axed. the functionality is now only available in chrome.

wave isn't built into the browser, it was axed. but as others have pointed out it wasn't my best, most shining example

Re: Google Classroom

#135

Post by scourge »

yincrash wrote: post #86
icantthinkofone wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Google Voice is still around. Browser sync is built in. Send to phone, I don't recall what that was. Wave is built into the browser, too, iirc.

I believe the GP meant Chrome to Phone which was one of Google's first examples of using push messaging. It's still around and usable. [1] [1] https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.google.and...

the firefox version of it was axed. you have to use chrome. perhaps chromium can be hacked to work with the service, idk, haven't tried.

Re: Google Classroom

#136

Post by pelasaco »

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…

ah, as german, searching always for people here, i can say. we form good computer scientists, but most of them unfortunately cannot work as software developers.

Re: Google Classroom

#137

Post by pelasaco »

cognivore wrote: post #85

Well, I can't even take it seriously, because I fully suspect that 3 to 5 years down the road Google loses interest in the product and decides to drop it. Then all the investment the schools and teachers have made is lost. If Google didn't have a habit of killing their own products I'd maybe take the time to actually think about their products.

a good point.

Re: Google Classroom

#138

Post by MrBuddyCasino »

ticviking wrote: post #87
nacho2sweet wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

I work at a medium US university and I can say that the thick java stacks and waterfall is a huge part of the sources of headaches in my job. I've got my team quite agile for a Uni development team but we still face lots and lots of problems with FERPA(US student privacy rules), and trying to work with much less agile internal teams. Most of the rest of the local developers are 40-60 and very resistant to any kind of…

> seriously using .net instead of java was hugely controversial

Was this for a server app or the client side? Because for a server app, I can't imagine any circumstance where this would make sense, since the two are so similar anyway.

Re: Google Classroom

#139

Post by bitJericho »

giardini wrote: post #83
tnorthcutt wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This reads like "technology will change, so don't let kids use modern technology in the classroom". Why not just keep up with the changes?

If I were selling computers/computer technology then I would want to sell them to millions of children over and over endlessly and make billions of $$. With each new gadget, I'd want to sell all over again. Schools and the current malfunctioning education systems are an infinitely deep money pit for computer vendors/technologists to dip into: parents will toss $$ into the pit so that their children can "keep up with…

Trade schools are a great place to learn about modern computing if it's needed for your job. I try to focus my children on whatever their interests are at home. I expect their school to focus them on various general subjects.

In fact, I would argue that children have more to learn on a commodore 64 system than a modern PC. First, it's still a cool piece of tech. Second, it throws you right at an interpreter where you can learn basic computer commands that nearly all PCs share. Thirdly, it isn't going to take up an entire class day to get it operational.

What do kids need to learn on modern systems? How to use office? That can be learned at a trade school or on the job. Teach them how to read a manual and computer fundamentals. Computer fundamentals might include a semester on how to use a mouse and how a computer works, not how to use Google Drive.

Re: Google Classroom

#140

Post by josefresco »

ben1040 wrote: post #50
josefresco wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Speaking of... I saw this on the Chromebook page "Chromebooks start at just $249 with a $30 management fee per device." Does Apple or other vendors charge a similar "management fee" to this? Unless I'm missing something, the fees will surpass the per-unit pricing before the first year.

It's a one-time fee to enroll the device in their MDM service, not an ongoing charge.

It appears you are correct, but it seems it was a change from early pricing models:

"It's a big change from the pricing model Google offered with Chrome OS in the past: The first generation of Chromebooks came with monthly fees for business and school accounts -- $28 a month per device for businesses and $20 a month for schools. With the new plan, organizations pay only the single flat fee for the lifetime of each device. "

http://www.computerworld.com/article/2471845/cloud-computing...

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