Google Workspace & Google Tools for Education Standard
Purpose
The purpose of this document is to establish and document approved use and support guidelines associated with the BYU-Idaho implementation of Google Workspace for Education. This implementation is not related to the Google Search, Analytics, and Google My Business products. If you have questions regarding Google Ads, Search, Analytics, or My Business, please reach out to the BYU-Idaho University Relations department (see below).
Background and History
The Google Workspace implementation project was initiated in 2019 and was completed in early 2020. The project included the following purposes:
- Teacher Education Student Training
Students majoring in Teacher Education need to learn how to use Google Workspace tools, because professional teachers typically use them in the normal conduct of their work.
- Improve data protection
A second purpose for implementing Google Workspace is to improve protection of data through integrating Google Workspace with BYU-Idaho user accounts and SSO, instead of people using personal Google accounts.
- Google Meet for remote meetings
Zoom is the official tool for remote academic and administrative meetings. During the final weeks of the Winter 2020 Semester, the university quickly transitioned to entirely online and remote classes and meetings, due to the Covid-19 pandemic. There was concern that Zoom could become overloaded and fail. University administrators decided to quickly implement Google Workspace to provide Google Meet as an additional method for remote meetings. Zoom is still the standard and first choice for remote classes and meetings.
Features Implemented
Following is the full list of Google Workspace features that were approved and implemented:
- Classroom
- Drive
- Docs
- Sheets
- Slides
- Forms
- Photos
- Chrome Sync
- Vault
- Groups for Business
- Hangouts Chat
- Hangouts Meet and Google Hangouts
- Jamboard Service
- Keep
- Earth
- Currents
- Sites
- Tasks
(Canvas is the official LMS. Classroom is not to be used instead of Canvas, the currently approved University LMS.)
Levels of Support
Google Workspace: IT will provide support for authentication for all university employees and students accessing Google Workspace. Google Workspace features will be self-supported. Users that need support for the use and features of Google Workspace applications will need to reach out to Google support directly. The use of templates or other features that require administrative access to enable are not supported by BYU-Idaho. Only the standard (regular) use of the Google Workspace products, listed above, is allowed. Microsoft Office 365 tools will remain the officially approved and supported standard for collaboration and managing data.
Other Google Tools: University Relations will provide limited support for the following Google tools, Google Ads, Analytics, Search, and Google My Business. Please reach out the following employees for assistance with these tools.
Google Ads: Arnold Thiebaud and Sam Williams
Google Analytics: Sam Williams
Google Search & Business Listings: Daniel Holliday
BYU-Idaho Information Technology Employee Use
BYU-Idaho Information Technology employees are not authorized to use Google Workspace for official business purposes. This includes using them for sub-departments within Information Technology.
Additional Feature Implementation and Support Requests
Organizations and employees desiring implementation and/or support of additional features will request them through their Portfolio Manager.