Google Apps for Education is a free software suite provide by Google.  When used in an educational institution, Google gives the software away completely free to an unlimited number of users. The Google Apps ecosystem includes several applications in a suite including an online email client (based on the companies very popular gmail); an online word processor which has the ability to create, edit, and share documents/spreadsheets/presentations; online calendar; a website creation tool (this can be used to create internal websites or public websites); instant messaging; and a customizable portal.

The great thing about Google Apps for Education is the power and features that you get in a free package.  A school that signs up for a Google Apps account can re-brand the interface to match their logo or mascot and the email system includes more that 7 gigabytes of data for each user (as well as Google’s industry level spam protection). Once you give your users an account through Google Apps, their email address becomes their username and anyone in the organization can share documents, information, and calendars with other people in the organization, or anyone in the world with any Google or Google Apps account. Read the rest of this entry »