Anybody's kids been given school gmail/google accounts?

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Klipspringer

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#114411 19-Feb-2013 11:09

Just curious about this. My 9 year old daughter has recently been given a “Google Apps for education” account at school.

A while ago I wrote about Google services not being available to under 13year olds. This is googles policy which goes as far as including gmail, google drive, youtube, google+ etc ...

Now I found it odd that she came home the other day from school and has been given a google account.

As a google docs user myself I have no issues with this and I am actually very supportive of them using google drive for homework etc .. I am however not happy that she gets a google+ account. She can have one when she turns 13. Same for facebook.

Anybody know what the rules in NZ are around this. Is there a national policy that her school needs to abide by? Is her school breaking any rules by providing her with a google plus account (She is 9)

I have not contacted the school about this as yet. Don't really want to but just curious as to what others think about it.

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#765650 19-Feb-2013 11:21

I would have thought that the school would have communicated this to parents, and that there would have been a signed consent form required!!

gzt

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#765653 19-Feb-2013 11:30

I think you'll find this is a stuff up [aka oversight] and nobody has considered this.

They are more or less breaking Google's terms enabling Google+ for someone under 13:

http://support.google.com/a/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=1645514

Let the school know. I expect they will address it.

Klipspringer

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#765654 19-Feb-2013 11:31

keewee01: I would have thought that the school would have communicated this to parents, and that there would have been a signed consent form required!!

Yes thats what I would have imagined too.

sidefx

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#765668 19-Feb-2013 11:40

Google's (automated) approach in your original thread seems quite heavy-handed too! And a bit ironic if they will give all these services to 9 year olds anyway, albiet through a school. I suppose their argument might be that the school is taking responsiblity for policing it... but why not let parents do the same thing with private google accounts then?

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freitasm

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#765671 19-Feb-2013 11:43

Please let me know. Yesterday we signed an agreement regulating Bella's use of school ICT resources. While we did not give (and it wasn't anywhere in the document) rights to create an account, I suspect these will become more common soon.

Think about storing kids work in the cloud instead of schools having to manage a local network of servers, etc. Things get a lot easier, but an oversight is needed.

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Klipspringer

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#765672 19-Feb-2013 11:43

sidefx:I suppose their argument might be that the school is taking responsiblity for policing it... but why not let parents do the same thing with private google accounts then?

Exactly. As mentioned in my previous post I did not have an issue with her having a google+ account, actually wanted her to have one so that she can stay in contact with family in SA. One that I could police on our own domain.

Now it seems the school has allowed it, and I as the parent don't have any control.

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Klipspringer

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#765677 19-Feb-2013 11:48

freitasm: Please let me know. Yesterday we signed an agreement regulating Bella's use of school ICT resources. While we did not give (and it wasn't anywhere in the document) rights to create an account, I suspect these will become more common soon.

Think about storing kids work in the cloud instead of schools having to manage a local network of servers, etc. Things get a lot easier, but an oversight is needed.

Will do. I plan to sit down with her tonight, and see just what exactly she has been given access to.

graemeh

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#765679 19-Feb-2013 11:49

Edit: Doh! I just read your post properly, as it is Google Apps for Education the school manages it so there is no problem with kids having access.

Klipspringer

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#765681 19-Feb-2013 11:52

graemeh: Are you sure it wasn't Google Apps for Education?

http://www.google.com/enterprise/apps/education/

Yes thats what it is.
But just like the other enterprise products, other gmail services are also included.

graemeh

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#765683 19-Feb-2013 11:53

Klipspringer:
graemeh: Are you sure it wasn't Google Apps for Education?

http://www.google.com/enterprise/apps/education/

Yes thats what it is.
But just like the other enterprise products, other gmail services are also included.

Sorry, yeah, just editing my post to say I'd read your post properly now.

The school can control what other services are used so it depends how they have it configured.

They should have written policies on what the kids can and can't do and how they keep the kids safe. Most schools are pretty anal about these things.

hairy1

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#765684 19-Feb-2013 11:54

So all that heavy handedness by google in disabling the account is only if an under 13 year old is using Google+. If the Google Apps admin has disabled Google+ then any age can have an account.

Giving an account to kids without the parent permission is another story but is a parent school relationship issue.

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lxsw20

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#765724 19-Feb-2013 12:45

Just talked to a friend of mine who is Sysadmin for a school that uses Gapps Edu, and he has said the same as graemeh in that there are 100's of google services you can turn on or off including G+.

Klipspringer

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#765733 19-Feb-2013 12:54

lxsw20: Just talked to a friend of mine who is Sysadmin for a school that uses Gapps Edu, and he has said the same as graemeh in that there are 100's of google services you can turn on or off including G+.

Yes thanks that's what I thought. I guess though that they can't only enable for those over 13. Its either on or off?

Glassboy

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#765755 19-Feb-2013 13:36

keewee01: I would have thought that the school would have communicated this to parents, and that there would have been a signed consent form required!!

That would necessitate the school being good at communication. And you're talking about organisations that think that giving a child a photocopied piece of paper to put in their bag, carry home, and give to their parents is a reliable delivery method. Which all in all is probably less reliable and slower than RFC1149.

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#765772 19-Feb-2013 13:56

This is an interesting issue. If the Google accounts are managed by the school then I suppose the students lose them when they graduate. I wonder what the school policy for data retention is in this case.

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