So am I the last one to know that Google has a ton of free education resources available to educators, parents, and organizations?  (I have no problem if you respond in the affirmative…)  Why do I find this exciting?  Because at a time when schools are cutting back, quality free resources seem like a great thing, right?

Begin looking at this plethora of possibilities by going to the main education sitehere.  Up front on top you see Teachers and when you click on that you’ll see:

• Google Apps for Education - free email and collaboration for schools
• Educator resources - educator guides for Google products, and other magical tools
• Chromebooks - laptops that bring the power of the web to students
• Lesson plan search - lesson plans and curricula
• Classroom videos - videos and channels including the new YouTube for Schools, education only content

Entire school systems and states have decided to use Google apps for staff and teachers.   And yes, I know that this is in some ways a “hook” to reel you in later, but think of all the money schools and everyone else spends trying to secure servers.  The latter is in fact supported by Geek factoids.

Did you know that Google has a Teacher’s Academy?  Lesson plans?  Really, you just have to go read for yourself.

The next section is for Organizations.  Look what they are offering to non-profits:

• Free or discounted version of Google Apps for your organization
• Free Adwords advertising
• Premium branding and increased uploads on YouTube
• Free licensing for Google Earth, SketchUp, and Maps API

You merely hit the “apply” button on the opening page and boom, you’re in!  (you did notice, “Free Adwords” right?  The section for Students is a great resource for aspiring geeks and creative kids:

Competitions

• Google Code-In - 13-18 yrs (Global)
• Google Code Jam - 13 and over (Global)
• Google Science Fair - 13-18 yrs (Global)
• SketchUp Model Your Town Competition - 13 and over (Global)
• YouTube Space Lab - 14-18 yrs (Global)
• Doodle 4 Google - 5-18 yrs (Global)

I love the science fair idea soooo much.  It brings back fond memories of helping my children create heavy and hard to move projects that my ex-wife would ultimately have to drag to school…(just kidding, they were only awkward…)  In any case you get the point.  Google is trying to engage the education world in the way a younger Bill Gates did.  We’ve come a long way from the days when I used to go to my kids schools and ask why there weren’t enough computers to go around.  Now we cool free education resources and there are probably a ton more that I don’t know about.  Let’s spread the word.  Our kids and teachers need the help.