In Peques and Más we have the pleasure of making a interview with Valeria Torreblanca, Bachelor of Administration from the U.B.A (University of Buenos Aires), and that for more than two years has been part of the team of MDSystems, being in charge of the Google Apps implementation and training, in schools and SMEs. The objective of the interview is to learn more about the Google Apps for Education tools that are being implemented in schools around the world. In this case Valeria kindly explains the experience in Argentina that also has contact points with Spain.
Valeria Torreblanca works in MDSystems. It is a company that began supporting acquaintances in the implementation of Google Apps for your project or business, later in the Google Forums, it expanded the reach by helping any person or company in the world that had problems with the configuration and is currently a Argentina company that offers services to any part of the world, using the Internet. For two years they are specialized in the configuration, implementation, training and advice of Google Apps, for organizations of any type and size. The scope ranges from sole proprietorships, to SMEs, through Educational Centers. Its base is to apply the technological concept of cloud computing.
What is Google Apps for Education?
Google Apps for Education has the same tools as Google Apps for Businesses. It is a package of customizable and scalable web applications. It only requires that the establishment that implements it have good Internet access throughout the school and computers, netbooks, etc., distributed for a good use of the applications. Web applications are available from any device, anywhere. And they can start with few users and grow according to the need of the establishment.
It is an especially useful, economical and accessible resource. For a company, this same service has a cost per user, while Google offers totally free licensing, and without user limitations, for educational establishments. That is why we believe that schools should not fail to take advantage of this opportunity, right?
Of course there are other products on the market too. The closest, is Microsoft Live @ edu, which is a good product too, with many differences, and there will always be those who prefer one over the other, but it cannot be denied that the existence of both generates competition. This allows companies to strive to improve products, benefiting the end users of these products.
What characteristics must have the school in which it is implanted?
One of the main characteristics that an educational establishment must have for the implementation of Google Apps for Education is a positive look towards school improvement. Think of a current scenario, a possible one and an ideal. In this way, a future scenario is considered, contemplating future educational demands, taking into account their weaknesses and strengths. The opportunities and threats of its surroundings.
An essential condition to access the Google Apps For Education service, with free licensing, the establishment must be recognized by the government of your country, and be able to prove it, otherwise Google will not access the order. For example, here in Argentina, it is easily demonstrated by requesting the .edu or .ar extension. Also with the number of DIPREGEP (for private establishments) and the officialization in State schools, granted by the General Directorate of Schools of the Province of Buenos Aires.
The inclusion of Google Apps for Education, implies a radical change in different aspects of the educational center, administrative and fundamentally pedagogical, therefore it is essential that legal representatives and managers are fully convinced of this implementation. From the good use of the different applications, both the communication, the directive management, and the áulic management, inside and outside the school will be modified.
It is very important to always consult the expert in Google Apps For Education, to help in the configuration of the installation, in the definition of school policies for the correct use of the applications, and mainly in the training of administrators, teachers and students .
What is the technological trend in education?
Everything tends to be increasingly simple and simply work.
To do this, the applications we use for our daily activity must meet the following requirements:
- Available at any time
- From anywhere
- From any device
- With any team
And Google Apps complies with it, and is constantly updated, without the user noticing, without the need of a specialized technical team to update each computer or device. The end user will do it and it will be a normal and simple activity for him.
What does Google Apps for education include?
The licensing is completely free, and without advertising, for students, teachers and administrative staff of the establishment. It has the same security that companies have, and Google guarantees 99.9% of the operating time of the system. It allows the establishment to provide different services to teachers and students. For example, making the students can only communicate within the domain of the school, if that is the policy of the same, while teachers can do it abroad as well. Increase involvement and communication in real time through the calendar, shared documents, such as spreadsheet, word processor, forms, presentations, drawings, public or private sites, groups or discussion forums, among others.
How do you help parents and students work from home?
Train them to know very well the establishment's policies, to evacuate doubts, but the reality is that when using Google Apps they will be using applications that they already use in their homes, and it is all easier for the end user, since they will easily adopt the form of Send emails and communicate.
What successful experiences can you share with the readers of Peques and Más
We do not only implement Google Apps in Schools, but also accompany in the process of change (Change Management) and in decision-making for the definition of policies and training for teachers and administrators, since, in most cases , they did not have a computer system with similar characteristics. While in the implementation of companies, for the most part, they migrate from one system to another and only need implementation and tuning, since the training in many cases is self-taught and the use policies are already defined.
Currently attending schools in Argentina, Colombia, Spain, Mexico to manage your Google Apps For Education order and we provide online training and through videos and / or documents made for it.
We also advise small and medium-sized companies, from anywhere in the world, in the use of Google Apps standard or business edition, we manage the configuration and administration of the domain, and we train users who require it, in the same way that we do it with the teachers. As mentioned earlier, thanks to the Internet we can provide assistance without borders, and the customer only pays for the service provided and accepted.
In addition, Valeria wants to share success stories with us. The first of Anabella González, Deputy Director-Pedagogical Coordinator of the San Rafael Cultural Center of Buenos Aires in Argentina and that I summarize below:
“We are a team that deals with the current demands of Education. We are presented with economic obstacles to carry out different action plans towards the improvement of the learning of our students, the improvement in communication inside and outside the institution and in different administrative aspects. When they offered and showed us the Google applications for Education and told us that they could adapt to our needs, in addition to having free licensing, we did not hesitate to accept and start working. Yes, start working. This group of applications was at our disposal and fundamentally we had to configure them, with the help of MDSystems, according to our needs. This is how we started with the unification of emails, each person received an institutional user, example: [email protected]. From that moment on, communication began to establish clear, specific and common channels for all institutional actors. Simultaneously, and we are convinced it is one of the conditions for the success of the implementation, we began to train teachers in the different applications: Google Docs and groups (using predetermined templates, presentations, spreadsheets, etc.) The first one allowed establishing a collaborative, efficient and contextualized work, that is, teachers began to work in teams, simultaneously in the same document. They plan as a team and provide warm feedback on the work of their colleagues, always directing them towards improvement.
It also works with the implementation of technologies in the classroom. Soon, every 5th and 6th year student (11 and 12 years old) will have a user without email, which will allow the class to work in the groups so that the teacher is the one who can observe and supervise all the work of the students. Students and their comments. In groups the children will upload quotes, videos, information, graphics, etc. This is one of our objectives from the implementation of Google Apps: transcend the walls of the classroom and work collaboratively School-Family. ”
He also comments on his experience. Nora Reyna, Director of San Luis School of English, who has a Bachelor of Education:
"As part of the project of the Open School 2012 of the San Luis school, 'Me and Internet', I decided that in the English School there had to be a transformation in the way of doing our work. That is why we set out to learn to using Google Docs, an application that not only allows us to improve the communication of our projects and the intercom in the team, but also the online work of both teachers and students and mine in particular. MDSystems is helping us organize the presentation of our project through a website, which will be accessible to parents and members of the San Luis school on Open School day at the end of September 2012. The collaboration of MDSystems has exceeded all our expectations in what it has to do with professionalism, the creativity of their suggestions and the Google Docs of 23 teachers, through personalized meetings with them. This process is to enter the site that is being prepared using the electronic addresses and keys prepared by MDSystems and to manage the content autonomously. "
We give you the thanks to Valeria Torreblanca for sharing the experience in the use and implementation of Google Apps for Education. We leave the door open in Peques and Más for when we want to comment on more experiences and expand the offer to other companies that are making processes of change in schools to learn from other experiences.
