This popped up in my email, and it’s interesting.
In the Google Educators Discussion Group (did you even know it existed?) an educator asked this question..
Is there a way to use tools such as google docs without an email address?
To which a Google employee replied…
Great question! Currently, you do need an email address to use Google Docs and Spreadsheets.
If you need an email address, you’re welcome to create a Gmail account at www.gmail.com . Â You’ll get over 2,500 megabytes of free storage (so you’ll never need to delete another message), plus the power of Google search in your inbox!
To which I added…
I think the problem is so many of our students, especially the younger ones, do not have email addresses and signing all of them up for a gmail account would possibly be a violation of the TOS.
Can you clarify?
Thanks…
Chris
To which the Google employee responded…
Great point, and one that likely affects many teachers. One easy way to bring Google tools such as Gmail and Page Creator into the classroom (or your entire school district) is through our Google Apps Education Edition.
Using Google Apps, you can give each of your students, teachers, and administrators their own Gmail account, plus access to Google Docs and Spreadsheets, Calendar, Page Creator and Talk. And best of all, it’s free!
For more info, feel free to visit http://www.google.com/a/help/intl/en/admins/edu_benefits.html
. Also, learn how other schools, from K-12 to college, are using
Google Apps in the classroom at http://www.google.com/a/help/intl/en/admins/customers.html#edu
Reading through the Google Apps for Education TOS it doesn’t seem to mention age. Even so, is this a good idea? Is Google correct that this is ok? Isn’t there a law here?
There is a law… sort of. Many parts of COPA have been struck down by the courts in the past couple of years, but it’s still a good idea to follow it just in case.
The key thing here is not that kids under 13 aren’t allowed to use the tools under COPA – they’re just not allowed to use them without parental consent. If you collected signed permission slips from the students (“Kids, we’re going on a field trip to the information superhighway!” “Yay, when?” “Any time you want!”) that said the parents were OK with it, you would be following the letter of the law.
Most businesses don’t want the hassle of managing written parental consent forms, though, which is why so many businesses added disclaimers saying kids under 13 weren’t allowed in the pool.
At least … that’s my understanding. I’m waiting for a legal wiz to correct me.
I don’t have a clue about the legal questions, but I’ve recently blogged about a different way of dealing with similar problems. My students obtain temporary email addresses:
http://larryferlazzo.edublogs.org/2007/05/18/temporary-student-email-addresses/
Could this work??
If you have a gmail account you can use your email to add multiple students under your email by generating and assigning a separate email address for each student. To do this, just add a + sign and the students first name after your gmail address. (youraddress+student1@gmail.com) Each student’s username and password will be emailed to you. This from the forums of EduBlogs, but I am wondering if it would work with this…afterall it is gmail.
It looks like there is at least one company that is offering additional CIPA protection to Google Apps. Learn more here: http://gaggle.net/googleaps.html
Chris,
Did you ever try Google gears and work offline? I tried to go back through your posts to find where I read about this and I can’t find it. I didn’t figure out how to “star” my posts in google reader until after I read your post:):):):) Tell me what your thoughts are about google gears.
Melinda
If you use the Google Education Edition you can set the students up with an account, but disable email.
That is what I did and it works great!
They can still share, access docs and sites using an account name that looks like an email, but it is disabled.
Sheila — how do you do that? Our scenario is, Google Apps Education for all staff and most students, under one domain; now one of our schools wants to know if we can create and designate certain accounts, for 6th graders, such that they can do Docs/Sites but NOT email; or, email but only within the Apps domain. Without setting up a separate domain and a 2nd instance of Google Apps, can this be accomplished, and if so, how? Thanks, — MB