Google Apps for Education is a set of online tools offered to current OU students: those who are new, or currently on a module or awaiting their exam results. The tools include an email account with an OU address (e.g. a.n.other@my.open.ac.uk); document creation, storage and sharing; and web space.
The use of Google Apps is entirely optional for personal, self-organised use. Google Apps cannot be used for submitting assessed work to the OU.
It will be available for as long as the OU has an agreement with Google. The OU is making use of this educational service because it guarantees consistent access to services, securely held data and removal of advertising to current students.
It is not essential for OU students to have a Google email address. You can provide us with any email address, as long as it is an address that you regularly check for correspondence.
Google Apps for Education has some known accessibility issues and so may not be suitable for all students, especially those students who use a screen reader or do not use a mouse. You do not currently need to use Google Apps to study with us but we are working with Google to improve the accessibility so that it is available to all students.
If you wish to take part in this pilot phase and you use assistive technology, accessibility settings in your browser or in Windows, or you cannot use a mouse, then you are likely to encounter difficulties with one or more Google Apps. We advise that you have access to a helper who, when necessary, can read from the screen and use a mouse as you direct.
There are key resources and links for further information in the Computing Guide.
This situation tends to occur when a Google personal account is set to automatically load as the web browser homepage, or the browser has been set to always remember the password and automatically log in. Google are aware of this issue and are improving the account switching capabilities (via Google Accounts). We advise you to log out of any personal Google account before use of OU Google Apps, or to use separate web browsers.
Some users have reported that Internet Explorer takes longer to display content and preview. Firefox may then provide the most suitable experience supported by both the OU and Google (and is available cross-platform).
If access to a Google account is blocked by your workplace, this issue would need to be discussed with your internal IT department.
See more detailed information on StudentHome Help – Google Apps for Education.
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