Google For Education at PGS Middle School in Kahl

The middle school of the Paul-Gerhardt schools in Kahl is one of the first schools in Bavaria to use Chromebooks and Google Workspace for Education in the classroom. The flexible and easy-to-administrate devices enable the educational institution to train students with modern methods and at the same time teach them how to use digital media. In addition, the school remains well organised and connected with the tools of Workspace for Education, especially during the Corona period. We support the school from ordering the devices and introducing them to support questions related to device management.

The middle school in Kahl is part of the Paul-Gerhardt Schools, which also include primary and business schools. This private Christian school guides 500 students on their educational journey in small classes and an engaging, family-like learning atmosphere. The organisation also prides itself on its modern teaching methods and advanced equipment; it was one of the first schools in Bavaria to use Chromebooks and Google Workspace for Education in the classroom.

As part of the Bavarian support program 'Digital Classroom,' the school received the necessary resources for acquiring new digital devices. The goal was to find a straightforward, flexible, and cost-effective solution that was optimally suitable for classroom use.

Vanessa Wissel, the deputy head of the school and leading figure in the project, highlights the requirements: 'It was important to us that students could take their assignments and documents home if needed.' Additionally, she emphasised the importance of devices with minimal administrative demands: 'We didn't want to constantly perform updates. That was somewhat complicated with our previous devices.'

During the introduction of the digital solution, it was also crucial to involve teachers less familiar with technology. Hence, a prerequisite for communication and productivity applications was their ease of use and intuitiveness.

After several weeks of testing, the PGS Middle School in Kahl opted to deploy Chromebooks. Initially, the institution ordered 17 devices, and with the approval of additional funds, another 15 were added. For both sets of classrooms, the school utilises a mobile media cart, in which the devices are not only securely stored and transported but can also be charged.

Vanessa Wissel is particularly impressed with the central management features, which allow blocking of unwanted sites, as well as the speed of the devices: 'The Chromebooks are easy to manage and start in under 10 seconds. This is particularly convenient as we have timed class schedules.'

To organise the loan of individual Chromebooks, the school uses Google Calendar, which is part of Google Workspace for Education along with other tools. Through this, digital classes or teacher conferences are planned and then conducted using the video conferencing tool Google Meet. Also included in Workspace for Education are applications for collaborative creation of presentations and text documents in real-time. The PGS Middle School students, for instance, utilise these for their project assessments.

We assisted the school in procuring the devices and conducted a workshop on the settings available in the admin console. Furthermore, we served as a point of contact for all support inquiries.

The Chromebooks are used in the classroom for research purposes as well as benefiting students with learning apps like GeoGebra, which enables teachers to make lessons more interactive and engaging. This not only enhances the joy of learning but also contributes to academic success while fostering media literacy.

Additionally, students can develop programming skills in the newly introduced compulsory subject of computer science, a significant advantage in today's digital world. Vanessa Wissel is more than pleased with the new solution and aims to contribute to ensuring that other schools within the PGS also benefit from Chromebooks and Google Workspace for Education in the future.

More information

More information about why the PGS middle school relies on Chromebooks can also be found on the school's website.

• Go to the article "New Chromebooks" of PGS

Educational institutions and public cloud group? A success story. We would be happy to support you in the introduction of Chrome devices or Google for Education, so that you too can make your lessons more interactive and prepare your students for the digital world.

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