Sunday, September 19, 2010

Re: Google Apps in Schools

Well, I didn't disclose everything now did I :)

But, without anyone signing a non-disclosure/compete doc. let's just say =
disaster recovery was my experience at the Apollo Group. Project =
management was my experience at National Computer Systems - now Pearson. =
And being an all around geek I picked up at Intel & Honeywell - oops and =
a dotcom. LOL

It's the age old issue: buy vs. build. I had the experience, so it was =
easy for me to decide to build the solution, give it to my school, and =
build a business model for it including the LLC and a non-profit should =
I go that route some day.

There's nothing wrong with commercial solutions. Mine just keeps =
everything ours, privately, safely, training today's youth appropriate =
use of WEB 2.0 apps in a protected environment where teachable moments =
remain just that among families and administration instead of in front =
of everyone... =20

Soon enough, our students will intentionally voice themselves on the =
internet. Some will pay the price of free speech, limiting their future =
choices for success, while others will impact their sphere of influence =
grandly. My goal is to teach our younger students how, when, and why so =
as to release the leash sooner while their still under our wings.

It may not be a perfect solution, but it does what we want, for now.

Joe

-----Original Message-----
From: Derrel Fincher [mailto:derrel.fincher@graded.br]=20
Sent: Sunday, September 19, 2010 7:43 AM
To: ISED-L@LISTSERV.SYR.EDU
Subject: Re: Google Apps in Schools

How do you train your developer(s), and what are the contingency plans =
if your main developer gets hit by a bus? My goal has been to move all =
of our systems to commercial hosted solutions and get rid of all of the =
homegrown (and labor intensive) tweaks that grew up over the years. =
Most schools just have a really hard time spending money in order to =
keep their developers up-to-date and I've seen the results when the =
person who developed a system leaves. Maybe I'm missing something.
--
Derrel Fincher
Director of Information and Communication Technology Graded - The =
American School of S=E3o Paulo http://www.graded.br | (55 11) 3747-4800 =
x160


On Thu, Sep 16, 2010 at 11:38 AM, Joe Frost
<Joe.Frost@phoenixchristian.org>wrote:

> ZOHO is different, their api is on our site, we shell out only to =
their
> applications. All student data, when they click on save, gets
> immediately uploaded to our school site.
>
> We've implemented SSL, we've disabled auto-signup so there are no =
drive
> by accounts, it's invitation only and locked down, so all the data
> remains private.
>
> For our money invested, it was well worth it.
>
> For the safety of our students and their data - priceless :)
>
> Thanks,
> *******
>
> Joe Frost, MS CIS
> Director of Technology & Operations
> Department Chair Technology
> http://www.phoenixchristian.org
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Jason Johnson [mailto:jasonpj@yahoo.com]
> Sent: Thursday, September 16, 2010 6:27 AM
> To: ISED-L@LISTSERV.SYR.EDU
> Subject: Re: Google Apps in Schools
>
> I found this discussion very interesting because there is a bias
> expressed against Google when their systems appear to have worked. =
The
> person was identified and terminated. If anything this makes me trust
> them more. Put this in stark contrast to FaceBook, who despite their
> public professions have a CEO who has admitted (in writing) to =
accessing
> data in the same way
> (http://www.boingboing.net/2010/09/14/damning-zuckerberg-i.html).
>
> There are very few systems that make your data unreachable to internal
> staff and very few companies that could not modify their terms of
> service to do whatever they want with your data. Especially cloud =
based
> services. To get that level of security requires an investment beyond
> the reach and need of most schools.
> You bring up Zoho as being different from Google but it has all the =
same
> issues, though as a paid service you have a stronger legal foot to =
stand
> on in disputes. From the Zoho terms of service:
>
> "We assure you that the contents of your user account will not be
> disclosed to anyone and will not be accessible even to employees of =
Zoho
> except in circumstances specifically mentioned in this Privacy Policy
> Statement."
>
> That means someone has access to all of your data via Zoho (even if =
you
> are using local storage and their API). It is likely multiple people,
> in multiple countries (Just like google), and even if you deleted it =
now
> it would remain in their possession, likely for weeks or months.
>
> This is not to diminish Zoho, Google, or any other cloud service. I
> think they
> offer much better security and privacy than most schools can offer
> internally or even with the help of custom development and consulting,
> but every system is vulnerable and they are most vulnerable to those =
who
> administer them.
>
> _J
> ____________________________
> Jason at jasonpj@yahoo.com
>
> [ For info on ISED-L see =
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