As a former technology director, I was always looking for ways to find the ROI on the many initiatives and projects that we instituted around the district. Adding further complexity, Education IT tends to have different goals than a “traditional” IT department would. In education, we look for transformational changes in learning. Specifically, many schools […]
School is fast approaching and soon (if not already) students will be firing up Chromebooks in classrooms across your district. You can become the hero that your district didn’t even know they needed! Navigating websites, creating Google Drive files, accessing G Suite services will be a common task for students. So how can G Suite […]
So you’re going 1-to-1? With a new school year quickly approaching, I’ve been talking to a lot of people who are in the process of going 1-to-1 with Chromebooks, or are planning on doing so in the next year or two. In the conversation I always get asked, so what is it really like? I […]
As Technology teams get ready for the new school year and the annual rollover of moving users move from one grade to the next, it is easy to keep doing things the way they’ve been done year after year. After all, if it’s working, why change it? One major argument for change is the fluidity […]
Google has released new changes on how some Admin Console settings can be applied. Here’s a chance to catch up with Lead Google for Education Consultant, Tom Woods, to find out which ones you should know about and what flexibility these granular settings will provide. Google’s recent addition of granular settings adjustment by Group membership […]
For students and teachers, summer means time off, but school IT departments take this time to perform significant infrastructure changes. Minimal staff and students on site is a chance to do the things that they won’t have the opportunity to accomplish when school is in full swing. Management of end-user devices is often a focus […]
Way back in 2014, when Google first released the Google Classroom API, I was lucky enough to be featured on their ISTE stage as a launch partner — showcasing a manual Google Apps Script solution I had written for syncing Google Classroom rosters with SIS extracts. Since joining Amplified IT, I’ve had the honor to […]
Like a medieval city, the structure and options contained within Google Groups settings have clearly had to serve many masters and live through many different phases of redesign over their long and storied history, leaving behind a bit of a hot, tangled mess. As part of modernizing this somewhat-stinky corner of G Suite, Google […]
In more and more districts, we’re seeing a shift towards the adoption of Google Classroom as the Learning Management System, or LMS, of choice. Owing to its lightweight price tag (spoiler alert: free), its minimalist and effective user experience, and the fact that it streamlines a teachers’ management and feedback on Google Drive based student […]
Recently, Amplified IT’s Partner Manager, Catherine, and Go-Box’s Product Manager, Brad, spent some time chatting all things Chromebook enrollment. If your district is expecting to receive a large number of Chromebooks this summer, we urge you to take a peek at the benefits of Go-Box. Don’t miss the discount code from Amplified IT (promo code […]
Now that Google NEXT19 is officially in the rearview mirror and our twitter feeds are no longer inundated with constant photos, videos, and updates from the event, it is time that we consider the impact that those changes may have on our Google environments. Ultimately, like any live event, a lot of the excitement was […]
G Suite Calendars have a surprising variety of uses and types. When creating a new Calendar, you should consider the desired ease of discoverability, ultimate use case, and the desire to limit user ability to create new events. Each calendar type has advantages depending on the desired end-user experience. Let’s go through the options around […]