Google has a very cool looking service called "Google Apps Education Edition" that they are making available for free to non-profits (such as Graham Hill PTA). This product is basically a compendium of several of Google's existing free services with a couple of twists.
Basically, this service could provide us with:
- Custom e-mail addresses (e.g. JohnDoe@GrahamHillElementary.org) with service provided by a specially branded version of Gmail
- A common place to store and collaborate on documents (i.e. meeting minutes, flyers, budget spreadsheets, presentations, etc.)
It seems like we could leverage the custom e-mail to provide more permanent, generic type addresses (e.g. PTAPresident@GrahamHillElementary.org) which could simplify communication and facilitate more seamless transitions when responsibilities change. Mail can be set up to forward automatically to another address if someone doesn't want to have another e-mail account to manage.
The other thing that we could do is create distribution lists. For example, we can create a PTABoard@GrahamHillElementary.org that would forward to everyone on the board. Another example of where this could be incorporated is a the classroom level (e.g. Room101@GrahamHillElementary.org).
Does anyone else feel that there might be some value in this type of service? If so, I'd be happy to pursue it further.
