Google Apps communication and collaboration tools differentiate tech-focused start-up school and strengthens broad-reaching online community

The Institution

A partnership with Columbia University and the New York City Department of Education isn't the only factor that sets The Columbia Secondary School apart. The new, selective public school has a unique academic focus—math, science and engineering—that meshes particularly well with the needs of today's high-tech society. The school also wields technology as a competitive differentiator.

"Our technology and information systems are a huge selling point for parents who may otherwise have doubts about sending their kids to a brand new school," says science educator, Assistant Principal and Associate Director of Technology and Information Systems, Andrew Stillman. "As a startup operation, drawing a talented and diverse student population has required that we create an impressive online edifice that preceded our physical existence as a school."

Approach

To take full advantage of technology for collaboration, communication and learning, The Columbia Secondary School wanted to build a web portal with a public-facing side for community relations and a user-restricted space for course-management, user profiles and networking tools for parents and students. For the web portal, the school chose Drupal, an open-source content management solution. But the school also needed a strong email, calendar and document-sharing platform that would not require additional sign-ons or heavy back-end maintenance—one with an extensible API for unforeseen future needs. "As a teacher, technology coordinator and assistant principal, I can't afford to spend my days mired in server administration," says Stillman.

Stillman already had experience with various email and collaboration alternatives. They all had their share of costs and problems, and did not include all the collaborative features the school required. Stillman was set on several points: the school needed a solution that was robust and easy to use and would readily integrate with Drupal. And, it didn't want to host its own email solution due to cost, hard disk space limitations and portability. "As our user community expands, we need to keep an eye on expenses and give portable accounts to all parents, students and alumni without having to impose draconian quotas and handle all the technical issues that inevitably arise," says Stillman.

Solution

With the school principal's support, Stillman made the decision to implement Google Apps Education Edition. "As a startup organization, there were not a lot of organizational politics to navigate," he recalls.

Stillman notes that Google Apps was easy to deploy, and its integration with the school's online portal helped to build parent and student community half a year before the school even existed. "From summer reading discussion forums to parent and student list-serves and online interest groups, the strong, flexible, and user-friendly solution provided by Google Apps provided the glue to hold together our online community," says Stillman.

Results

Today, 230 students, parents and staff members use Google Apps Education Edition. Gmail in conjunction with information on the portal keep everyone apprised of events and help the school manage institutional memory. Quick Gmail searches make it a snap to pinpoint old information in a new context. "In schools that don't do much internal correspondence by email, or whose email solution isn't search-driven, it becomes difficult to capture and find vital details," says Stillman. "For us, Gmail is a giant information reserve where contacts, memos and mission-critical information can be instantly recalled. The best part is that we don't need to spend hours filing paper because Gmail is search- and filter- driven."

Since deploying Google Apps, students are learning and communicating in new ways. In a 6th grade philosophy course run by cognitive science researchers at Columbia University, Google Talk serves as a platform for structured student debate. Transcripts are sent to a common email account and used for research.

With Google Docs, the school can share student rosters, manage grade books and enable easy information exchange in the learning environment. "As the engineering teacher, I am using shared Google spreadsheets to teach my students budgeting in their engineering projects, and our English teacher uses shared documents to manage the peer editing and revision process," says Stillman.

In other respects, Google Docs has allowed the school to streamline management of common information such as school policy documents and student information. The ability to access and modify information from any web-connected computer boosts productivity during evenings and weekends, when the bulk of course planning and grading occurs. The school's course-planning and facilities management calendars, handled by Google Calendar, are also available on the portal for faculty and staff.

In the long run, the school expects to be able to reach all of its alumni using the Google Apps accounts created for them as sixth graders. Says Stillman, "Google Apps is a phenomenal solution and a huge asset for a grade 6 through 12 school seeking to measure how it has affected the lives of its students. Everyone has expressed nothing but awe and delight at being part of a school that has such powerful online tools."

About Google Apps Education Edition

Google Apps Education Edition is a free suite of hosted communication & collaboration applications designed for schools and universities. Google Apps includes Gmail (webmail services), Google Calendar (shared calendaring), Google Talk (instant messaging and voice over IP), Google Docs (online document creation & sharing) and a Start Page for creating a customizable homepage on a specific domain, as well as administrative tools, customer support, and access to APIs to integrate Google Apps with existing IT systems.


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