Google Resistant

[Michelle Russell]

Sorry for the cross-posting...
I am looking for tips, suggestions, advice on working with Resistant Google users. 
Some additional information:
-We are a Google District (Google Mail, Docs, etc.)
-About 50% of teachers in my building still use OS X Mail (Postage Stamp) w/Google Mail
-Around 70% of teachers do not use Google Docs on a regular basis.  (They prefer Word.)
-Some teachers feel Google is "unprofessional"  They do not understand using Docs?  They are "nervous"/do not like having their documents "in the cloud".
-Currently, for website building they are using iWeb, with iWeb no longer being supported by Apple, Sites seems like the next step... 

Thank you for taking the time to offer suggestions.

--
Michelle Russell
Technology Integration Coach
Lincoln Middle School

700 W. Lincoln Street

Mount Prospect, IL 60056
(847) 394-7350 x5070
mrus...@d57.org

All e-mail correspondence to and from this address is subject to the Acceptable Use Policies of District 57, which may result in monitoring and disclosure to third parties, including law enforcement.  Any views or opinions presented in this e-mail are solely those of the author and might not represent those of Mount Prospect School District 57.

[Andrew Kohl]

Michelle:

For our district, I can point to three things that really moved our implementation along and accelerated change.

1.  Enabling Google Chat.  Once that started and teachers realized that it could be used to catch up with colleagues and also contact the tech department, we say teachers abandoning Mail very quickly.  

2.  Google Sites for our curriculum review process.  We set up curriculum maps in Google Sites and continue to use those as organizing documents for the curriculum teams.  For some content areas, we've completely abandoned the idea of a paper binder.  You are absolutely correct that it quickly advances itself as a replacement for other tools. Plus, the learning curve is really quite shallow.

3.  Administrative Buy-In.  Probably the biggest thing was when our building principals started using Google Calendar and Google Docs for most of their sharing with staff.  This made the tools unavoidable.  Plus, it gave some very specific and practical reasons to get to know the apps.

The other constant factor is time.  I don't think there's any district that hasn't gone through what you're seeing in your district.  Some of it seems to be finding a hook.  Some of it also seems to be a matter of giving your staff space to discover everything.  I know that we had a lot of frustration over here, until people suddenly started catching on.  It's great now, but it definitely took a while.

Good luck.

Andy

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Andrew Kohl
Director of Educational Technology
Northbrook / Glenview School District 30
2374 Shermer Road
Northbrook, IL 60062
847.400.8971

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[Jimmy Anderson]

I have similar feelings with Andrew... Specifics listed below...

On Apr 10, 2012, at 8:26 AM, Michelle Russell wrote:

Sorry for the cross-posting...
I am looking for tips, suggestions, advice on working with Resistant Google users. 

You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink... That being said, if admin has made the push, then they have no choice, but that comes across as rude.

It has to be something they (the users) see value in...

Some additional information:
-We are a Google District (Google Mail, Docs, etc.)

We use it, but it's not the primary. I tried to institute it but it didn't really take off. Then the new superintendent wanted the principals to use Google Docs for the calendar function, knowing it would draw people in. It hasn't yet, completely, but we also added student email and I have several teachers that are using Docs for classroom work. 

It will take time, but more and more will see the benefit. 

-About 50% of teachers in my building still use OS X Mail (Postage Stamp) w/Google Mail

About 90% of my staff still use the webmail interface with our ISP. In the six years I've been here I've managed to convince several of the joys of Apple Mail, including the fact that they can check multiple accounts at once. I, for example, check my school email, my personal gmail, THIS account, etc. all from the same inbox. I don't see that as a negative.

-Around 70% of teachers do not use Google Docs on a regular basis.  (They prefer Word.)

Same here. Before Docs I tried to ween them from Word and migrate them to Pages. The ones that did love it - the others? Still on Word. Now Docs is just another alternative for them, and will be until we quit buying Office (not my call). We get so much from the state department in Word format that they raised a ruckus when I suggested it before. :-)

-Some teachers feel Google is "unprofessional"  They do not understand using Docs?  They are "nervous"/do not like having their documents "in the cloud".

My younger teachers have no problem with these things, but the older ones do. It's just something that will have to happen over time, IMHO.

-Currently, for website building they are using iWeb, with iWeb no longer being supported by Apple, Sites seems like the next step... 

Agreed, and we use iWeb as well. We have a server locally that they can publish to via FTP. With Lion Server removing FTP though... For them to continue using iWeb after I have to replace the server with a Lion only server, they will need to publish to a folder and copy it manually. That will make some of them move automatically, plus with multiple devices, etc. I'm ready to drop iWeb for Sites right now...

Thank you for taking the time to offer suggestions.

Not sure I have any suggestions, but am happy to offer support and understanding. :-)

I must ask, though, why the big push? Is something broken about the old way? Who is doing the pushing? You, as technology personnel, or administration? I've found that I can push, but without admin buy in it ain't gonna happen... Even then, until admin takes away the old toys they'll have no reason to change...

Example - when I got here the old TC still had teachers on OS 9 because - get this - he didn't understand OS X and couldn't figure out a way to lock it down like he could OS 9 with Foolproof... Sheesh... First thing I did was start taking all that crap off and give the professionals access to the tools...

Anyway, they were using Works on OS 9. When I started migrating them to OS X, Works "worked" in Classic only. I warned them that there would come a time that Classic would no longer work with new equipment. Then Intel processors hit and Classic was bye-bye. When it came time for new equipment, they had to make a choice... Migrate their Works docs to Word and use new equipment, or keep old equipment and keep Works but lose all of the new toys and software. Only a couple thought they wanted to keep the old, and they quickly changed their minds when their peers were zooming with the new stuff...

I still had TWO holdouts to the old equipment because they were retiring and didn't want to learn anything new. Two years later and they were gone, and so was the old equipment. Yes, I had MANY times during those two years that they would ask why they couldn't do this or access that and I told them why, and that it was their choice. "Ready for me to upgrade you then?" They replied each time with, "no I'll keep what I have." :-)

Again, you can lead a horse to water...

--
Michelle Russell
Technology Integration Coach
Lincoln Middle School

700 W. Lincoln Street

Mount Prospect, IL 60056
(847) 394-7350 x5070
mrus...@d57.org

All e-mail correspondence to and from this address is subject to the Acceptable Use Policies of District 57, which may result in monitoring and disclosure to third parties, including law enforcement.  Any views or opinions presented in this e-mail are solely those of the author and might not represent those of Mount Prospect School District 57.

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Jimmy Anderson

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[Curts, Eric]

Lots of great ideas have been shared, so I'll just add a couple things...

Collaboration has been a big factor in getting buy in from teachers and get them moving away from Word.  With Google Docs the staff can work together on lesson plans, grants, newsletters, meeting agendas, meeting notes, and more.  They really like that.

Another good move has been to go through the students to get to the teachers.  Although we do not plan to take Office away from our staff, we did take it away from our students K-8 (the HS students still need Office for some business classes).  Now that the students only have Docs to use, they are now sharing all their work with their teachers through Docs and pulling their teachers into Google Apps that way.

And of course as always focus your time and energy on those who are willing to learn and change.  They will be better as swaying their reluctant colleagues anyway.

Eric

* Eric Curts

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[HEBDave]

If you are trying to move users forward and they are reluctant, you need to find out their specific concerns and address them. The strategies shared so far are great, but if they don't match with the actual reasons why your users aren't moving forward, then they won't solve your problem.

Ask them to elaborate on why specifically they think it's unprofessional, and then address any concrete concerns they have. If they don't understand Docs, that's a training issue. If they're nervous about having their documents in the cloud, explain why they shouldn't be.

---

In general, I'm not totally clear on what you're trying to accomplish. You've mentioned several different transitions (OS X Mail, Word, iWeb) that could each be their own project. In your situation, I would want to outline specifically what problems I'm trying to solve by transitioning, what the timeframe is, milestones, etc, and generally plan out the whole process. Have you done that? 

[Jimmy Anderson]

On Apr 10, 2012, at 11:11 PM, "Curts, Eric" <elc...@northcantonschools.org> wrote:

>
>
> And of course as always focus your time and energy on those who are willing to learn and change. They will be better as swaying their reluctant colleagues anyway.
>
>

This.