Google Apps for Education.

Innovation and Learning Technology will be launching the integration of Google Apps for Education.  The intent is to start assigning Gmail accounts to some year round students by the third week of September 2012. Our school has decided to be one of the early adopters of this new service.  Once all required technical and operational support elements have been tested and verified, Gmail accounts will be systematically deployed to all remaining schools using a phased approach.  The Innovation and Learning Technology website will also keep up to date information about the Google Apps and Gmail launch.  You can visit http://bit.ly/QfrA5T for more information.

Your child’s privacy is important to us. We would like you to know that some personal information about your child is being sent to Google Education. This includes their full name, what school they attend, and of course the CBE provided e-mail address.

Your child will be able to login to their Gmail accounts by using their current email @educbe.ca and the SAME password.  For example: If their current email is JonD587@cbe.ab.ca, they will now use JonD587@educbe.ca. 

Students will eventually have access to their files, calendars and collaborative tools to create documents, presentations and sites whenever they have access to the Internet - at any time, from most types of devices. It is important for parents to know that with cloud computing applications of any kind, that student data will not necessarily be housed in Canada. This means that data could be located on Google servers throughout the world, and subject to US legislation. Private information such as IPP's and other secure data will remain on CBE servers. Any other privacy concern you may have about Google can be found at:  Privacy and Security EDU Site http://bit.ly/qCWD9t.

Having access to Google Apps for Education requires responsibility on the part of student, teacher, and parent.  Understanding the importance of Digital Citizenship and having these conversations with your child will help prepare him/her for safe and successful online collaborations.  For more information on Digital Citizenship, please visit http://bit.ly/OBrwgb.

If you would like more information, please feel free to email me via email (kjtailor@cbe.ab.ca).

Regards,

Kaushik Tailor

Learning Leader, Midsun School