One of my favorite hobbies is just sitting back and observing people - especially at the end of the school year.
Have you ever noticed... students are running around in circles trying to get that last assignment in, teachers are panic mode trying to finish their grades... Ah, the smell of fear, panic, and - depending on who you are - anticipatory glee!!
During this time of controlled chaos and mayhem, one of the items that many overlook is the closing out of their school Google Apps For Education (GAFE) email, calendars and docs. It might seem like a small thing, but in reality it can destroy a person's life... seriously!! Imagine the student who has spent four years in high school, organizing their life, contacts, calendars and so on with the easy to use GAFE suite of tools. They have graduated and It is now mid-summer and... suddenly... on the student's smartphone, the calendar disappears and all of their contacts are gone. When they open their email - nothing there!! Or, how about the teacher who used that same student to collaborate on a project of epic proportions that was going to be the cornerstone of a brand new curriculum for next year, and all of the shared Google Docs are gone!! DISASTER!!!
So, my dear reader, I implore you to do a few minutes of planning - right now - to save you hours of hassle, not to mention a week's worth of pay on bottles of Tums antacids!!
Step one: Remind all outgoing students and teachers that their GAFE accounts will be closed shortly after the school year! Not just once or twice - but at least three times!Step two: Have students who have shared documents with you to change the ownership over to you! (This is done by THE STUDENT right-clicking on the document, select share, advanced and then change "can edit" to "is owner.")Step three: Use the new GRAD GOPHER.... www.gradgopher.com to move all of the student's or teacher's files to their personal Gmail account. It costs $20.00 ($15 if you give GradGopher a shout out on Facebook) but it is worth every single penny! This program will move ALL OF YOUR DATA from your school account to your personal account. INCLUDING SHARED FILES!!!
Here is a quick video from GradGopher:
Yes, you can use takeout.google.com for free but, after archiving your data, it can take hours and hours to transfer everything to your personal Gmail account. Even then, it does not transfer docs shared with you! (Also, you may need the assistance of a CompSci major to reload the emails!!)
Well there you have it... Dode Yossie's (dode means uncle in Hebrew) advice for a smooth year end transition. Now, let's sit back together and... pass me another donut to eat as I sip my coffee.
As always, I solicit your comments on the blogsite.
Yossie
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