Connecting educators through Google Apps Regional K-12 User Groups

Posted by Dana Nguyen, Google Apps for Education Team

One of the best parts of working on the Google Apps for Education team is talking with teachers and hearing the incredible ways they are using Google Apps to enhance classroom learning. Kern Kelley and Rob Dominick, teachers based in Newport, Maine, use laptop cameras and Google forms to grade math quizzes. Aida Awad, a science teacher in Park Ridge, Illinois, instructs students to use a motion chart to plot and contrast plant growth in different environments. In the UK, Ian Addison's elementary school students create impressive websites about their hometown.

With millions of students and teachers moving to Google Apps, we want to make it easier for teachers around the world to connect and share these kinds of examples with each other.

Today we're excited to announce eight Google Apps Regional K-12 User Groups across the United States and Canada. These groups are designed for educators to learn and collaborate through community discussion forums, shared resources, events and webinars. In addition to showcasing creative instructional uses for Google Apps, we hope these groups will help teachers and administrators to identify other schools in their region that have "gone Google."

If you live in the United States or Canada, check out the list below to find and join your Google Apps Regional K-12 User Group (International user groups are coming soon, stay tuned...)

States:

• California: k12california.appsusersgroup.com
• Texas: k12texas.appsusersgroup.com
• Illinois: k12illinois.appsusersgroup.com

Regions:

• East (US and Canada): k12east.appsusersgroup.com
  Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, Vermont, West Virginia, Quebec, Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Prince Edward Island
• Great Lakes (US and Canada): k12greatlakes.appsusersgroup.com
  Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Ontario
• South (US): k12south.appsusersgroup.com
  Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia
• Central (US and Canada): k12central.appsusersgroup.com
  Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Minnesota, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Wisconsin, Manitoba, Nunavet, and Saskatchewan
• West (US and Canada): k12west.appsusersgroup.com
  Alaska, Arizona, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington, Wyoming, British Columbia, Alberta, Yukon, and the Northwest Territories

We can't wait to hear more great stories and discussions about Google Apps!