G o o g l e A p p s
Starting in the 2011-12 school year, Allen ISD will offer Google Apps for Education to all staff and secondary students. As part of the Google Apps suite of applications, all staff and secondary students have access to Google Docs, Google Groups, and Google Sites. Students in grades 9-12 will also have email accounts using Gmail. All staff will continue to use Microsoft Outlook as their email platform.
How do I access Google Apps for Allen ISD?
Using any internet browser, go to http://google.allenisd.org Log in with your network credentials, the same you use to log on to computers in the district.
I am a student, what is my email address?
As a 9th grade through 12th grade student, you will be automatically assigned an email address based off your name. Log in to http://google.allenisd.org. Click on the Mail Tab in the upper left corner. This will take you to your Gmail account. Your email address is located in the upper right corner of the screen.
What is Google Apps?
Google Apps is a suite of web-based messaging and collaboration applications. To access these applications, you simply use a web browser on a computer that's connected to the Internet.
Here are some of the key benefits we think you'll enjoy:
- Lots of storage (for 9-12 students) -- You get a full 25 GB of online storage for your email so you can archive all of your email online.
- Easier calendar sharing -- Google Calendar lets you and your team members quickly and easily share your calendars with each other and specify the details you want to show. Calendar sharing is a great way for you and your coworkers to keep each other informed about your schedules.
- Better mailing lists -- With Google Groups, you can manage your own subscriptions to mailing lists -- called groups -- without the need to make requests to the Technology Department. You can even create your own groups for your projects, teams, special-interest groups, and more. Not only do groups make it easier to send email and calendar invitations to groups of people but they also simplify access management for your shared Google documents, sites, videos, and calendars!
- Real-time collaboration -- Using Google Docs, you can create documents, spreadsheets, and presentations, and you and your team members can view and edit them at the same time. You can still use your Microsoft Office products as needed, but now you'll have more options for storing and collaborating on your documents.
- Easy-to-build team web sites -- With Google Sites, your team can quickly publish a robust internal web site on which to gather all sorts of shared information, such as documents, spreadsheets, presentations, files, and videos. You can even embed Google calendars and other gadgets on your site!
What assistance is available to learn more about Google Apps?
To get you up to speed quickly, we will provide plenty of documentation and training resources. Several training links are included below, revisit this page often as it will be frequently updated as we learn to use Google Apps more efficiently to increase student collaboration.
What happens if I have trouble accessing Google Apps?
Google self-paced training page
Google Education Home - PDF examples of classroom activities