Google in Education

How has Google captured the education market? Let's take a look back at Google's history to really understand how they got to where they are today. In 1996, Larry Page and Sergey Brin created "BackRub" which later evolved into what we know today as Google Search. Right from inception, Google's mission statement was to “organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful". Slowly over the years, Google changed from being just a search engine to offering maps, email and more. Google has not been shy to purchase companies to bolster their current offerings and/or to help enter new markets. There have been key products and software developments that have helped Google capture the education market;

2006 - A company called Upstartle had two products based on web technology. Writely was a word processing software and XL2Web was a spreadsheet software. In 2006, Google acquired this company.

2009 - Three years after buying Upstartle, Google announced "Google Docs" which was an improved version of Writely. They also released Google Sheets which was an improved version of XL2Web.

2010 - Google bought a company called DocVerse, an online document collaboration company. This collaboration software was quickly built into Google Docs.

2011 - Chromebooks were released. These laptops were based on Linux with low specs to help keep the costs down.

2012 - Google re-branded Google Documents to Google Drive. One place for all your files.

2014 - Google introduced Google Classroom

Over a 8 year span, Google created software where both teachers and students could write documents, and crunch numbers on spreadsheets, all while collaborating in real time. They created a Learning Managing Platform that integrates their Google Suite software and is integrated with Gmail and their other products. They created a low cost computer that has low maintenance with really user friendly management system. Google effectively created a full complete platform for schools to adopt.

During this time, both Apple and Microsoft both focused on expensive hardware and software options. Google was a much cheaper option. For school boards who are always looking to save money, the low cost alternative allow schools to slowly convert over to the Google Suite. Microsoft Exchange is expensive compared to Gmail. The whole Google Suite was more cost efficient and offered features that teachers loved such as auto saving, collaboration and taking your work with you everywhere (work at school and continue at home). Microsoft never offered a web based solution, nor was any of their software offerings free.

Chromebooks are super attractive for education. Google offered a easy way for schools to manage thousands of computers. Chromebooks can remotely prevent students from searching the web during tests, cloud storage made sharing easier and they are quick to access. In under 10 seconds, a student can grab a Chromebook and have access to their data. They are also less fragile than iPads.

Since the release of Google Classroom in 2014, Google continues to improve it's whole suite of products makes Classroom more robust and useful. They continue to add features such as incorporating Google Calendar, Google Forms as well as Google Meet. School boards and universities continue to adopt the Google Suite at a fast rate. Through a combination of providing a great cheap way to create and store content, tied with a great learning management system and a low cost laptop, Google has effectively taken over the education market