Technology is something that is always changing. From Windows to Apple, everyday we see new forms of technology used in numerous ways. But how has technology changed in schools? How has technology at Canyon Vista specifically changed?

One way that Canyon Vista has experienced change is that all students received Google accounts this year. Through these accounts, students are able to take advantage of features such as Google Mail (Gmail), Google Drive, Google Calendar, and Google Sites. This package is called Google Apps for Education, which is a set of applications Google has made specifically for schools and universities.

“Google provides their Google Apps for Education accounts for educational institutions, unlike yahoo or other commercial vendors. They provide extra security for students and teachers,” said Mrs. Lind, the Instructional Technology Specialist at Canyon Vista.

Before, students only had access to netbooks and shared folders on the school drive. Now students have folders in an online drive that they can access at school and home within their Google accounts. This will make it easier for students to communicate with their teachers, as well as turn in assignments.  

Students no longer have to carry around bulky flash drives. Before, if you accidently saved your documents to the school computer, you couldn’t access them until the next day. Now, you can access your documents, projects, and folders anywhere at anytime, just by logging in at www.google.com.

Google accounts have been a new change not only for the students at Canyon Vista but also for the staff. The teachers have had to adjust and Lind believes, “It will take some time for everyone, teachers and students, to get used to our new tools. Both students and teachers need lots of training to understand how to best utilize the tools in our educational setting. Some teachers are already using Google accounts weekly in their classes.”

There have been a few challenges introducing the accounts. Lind thinks that more time is needed to get everyone trained. Students in the 7th and 8th grade have successfully logged into their accounts, however, 6th graders are still needing to be trained on how to work with these new resources.

Lind reports that so far, no problems or incidents of misuse with the new Google accounts have occurred and all the students are acting very responsibly with the access they have been granted.

Google accounts are being provided not just to Canyon Vista students, but to all students in grades 2 through 12 in Round Rock Independent School District.