Google Play for Education Offers Thousands of K-12 Books
Google has made thousands of books available for use in K-12 classrooms
through Google Play for Education. The
announcement was made at the SXSWedu
conference taking place this week in Austin, TX.
The books in Google Play for Education range from classic works of literature
to recent textbooks. Teachers can assign the books to their students, and then
the students can use the Play Books reader to access the books on their Android
tablets, Chromebooks or other devices. According to information on the Google
blog, Google Play for Education offers access to the books for periods of 60,
180 or 360 days, so teachers can change their book selections as needed.
Some of the digital textbooks available include GO Math and Journeys
Common Core from Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, and the literature includes books
such as Bridge to Terabithia, Lord of the Flies and The Giver.
Google has also made some changes to the apps in Google Play for Education.
The online store now includes additional information about each app, including
the target grade levels, subjects and supported
Common Core standards. The goal of
this change is to make it easier for teachers to find the apps best suited to
their students' needs.
Effective April 2, Google Play for Education will also make it possible for
schools to reassign teacher-approved apps to different students. Currently, when
a student transfers to a different school or changes grades, the schools can't
reassign that student's app licenses to somebody else, so the school loses its
investment the student's apps. With this new policy, schools will be able
transfer licenses between students. The company is also adding the ability to
uninstall school-owned apps from student devices remotely through Google Play
for Education.
Further information about the updates to Google Play for Education can be
found on the company's site.
About the Author
Leila Meyer is a technology writer based in British Columbia. She can be reached at [email protected].