Marketing Pilgrim

What do the University of North Carolina Greensboro, Clemson University, University of Texas San Antonio, Kennesaw State University and Arkansas State University all have in common? Yesterday they announced the launching of Google Apps Education Edition on all of their campuses. Web-based applications on their university domain will allow students to have access to school-related information on any device, anytime they need it.

Google Apps Education Edition includes the Google Docs & Spreadsheets Program, Gmail, Google Calendar shared calendaring, Google Talk instant messaging and the Google Start Page for a customizable home page on a specific domain.

In an effort to increase awareness, Google kicked off Google@School, which allows educational leaders and IT professionals to hear from other universities that have already made the switch on their campuses.

“Google has always had a close relationship with higher education,” said Jeff Huber, vice president of engineering at Google. “Google Apps Education Edition is a groundbreaking option for universities, and we want to work closely with them to implement smart use of technology for education.”

Hebrew University in Jerusalem, Trinity College in Dublin, Nihon University in Tokyo, Macquarie University in Sydney, and Universidad Panamericana in Guadalajara are also beginning to implement Google Apps.

Another important feature of this program is that it will allow students to keep all of their university contacts and information after the graduate. I would have loved to have had this option when I was in school.

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