How I set up a small progressive school on Google Apps for Education (K-12)

I’ve made four screencasts about my experience successfully setting up a small progressive PreK-6 school with Google Apps for Education (K-12).

• Done! Now, slow adoption by early adopters drives others and we train on demand.
  
• Key Document: Integration Plan from Google for Education Apps, K-12. How to set up an account for your school or district in 6 weeks. Pay particular attention to the three links in the first major step’s third bullet.
• Key migration info: Email Migration Options
  

1. Starting an account

Shows how to start an account and prove you own the domain (blah.com) that you want to use. Be able to edit, or contact those who can, the Web site of the domain you want to use before you start. If you have a Web master, give them a heads up that you’ll be contacting them for help with putting a single HTML file on the Web server.

2. The Education Upgrade

Shows how to get the free upgrade to the education edition to get the full power of Google Apps Education, K-12

3. Why free?

Talks about why Google Apps for Education (K-12) is free.

4. Ubuntu donated computers

Shows how a school can to use the free Linux operating system Ubuntu to use any “cloud” applications, and how Ubuntu helps companies more easily donate computers.

5. Ubuntu donated computers

Got MX records all set, full steam ahead, sneak peak of new school site.

Lesson learned in a nutshell

1. Don’t wait if you’re considering it. Just try it out with a few staff or students and see if it spreads.
2. Moving an organization to Google Apps for Education, K-12, is mostly about TRAINING and CHANGE MANAGEMENT. If a few people in your organization  are excited about technology and fearless, the move will spread naturally from email use only, to the early adopters nudging others with gentle pleas of, “why don’t I just share that doc with you? Here, I’ll show you how.” If your organization is full of tech excited people, it will spread effortlessly. If you’ve got a lot of people resistant to change, plan a LOT of training and time.
3. Security is an issue for some. I believe with so many schools going to Google the US dept. of Ed. will step in if Google starts to do bad things.