Google Workspace for Education is a cloud-based suite of productivity and collaboration tools designed specifically for educational institutions. It includes a range of tools such as Gmail, Google Drive, Google Docs, Google Sheets, Google Slides, Google Meet, Google Classroom, and more. Tools designed to help students and educators communicate, collaborate, and be more productive in their work. It also includes powerful administrative controls, which enable schools to manage and control access to their digital resources.

Google Workspace for Education offers multiple options to meet your organisation’s needs:

• Google Workspace for Education Fundamentals: Gives you tools to aid teaching and learning, such as Google Meet, Google Docs, Google Forms (can be used to create surveys and quizzes), Google Chat and Google Classroom (an easy-to-use platform for creating and managing assignments).
• Google Workspace for Education Standard: Same tools as Education Fundamentals but with advanced security features and enhanced administration controls.
• Teaching and Learning Upgrade: Adds enhanced video-communication capabilities, Classroom add-ons like Originality reports, Practice sets, and other features and tools to your Education Fundamentals or Education Standard edition.
• Google Workspace for Education Plus: Includes all the features in Education Standard and Teaching and Learning Upgrade with additional features for certain services, such as attendance tracking in Google Meet, and enhanced security and privacy features.

Education Fundamentals is free to all qualifying institutions. To qualify for Google Workspace for Education, formally-accredited educational institutions delivering nationally or internationally-approved certifications or diplomas at primary, secondary or tertiary levels must submit an application.

Google Workspace for Education Standard, Teaching and Learning Upgrade, and Education Plus have additional features and are all paid subscriptions. Please get in touch with Radical Cloud Solutions if you would like to learn more.

If your school has sophisticated IT needs and prefers to have additional privacy and security features, then you should consider Google Workspace for Education Plus. 

Going further with Google Workspace for Education Plus

Google Workspace for Education Plus provides enhanced security and privacy features, which are essential for protecting student and staff data. It also has additional enterprise-grade capabilities, such as advanced controls for administrators and enhanced analytics. 

Security and privacy features are essential for educational institutions because they help protect sensitive student and faculty data from unauthorised access, theft or exposure. Schools and universities collect and store large amounts of personal data, including student records, financial information, health records and more. This data is highly valuable and can be targeted by cybercriminals.

Furthermore, security and privacy breaches can also cause significant disruptions to academic operations, leading to loss of productivity, delays and other negative consequences. For example, if a school’s database is compromised, it can lead to the loss of critical student records, causing significant delays in enrollment, grading and other essential functions.

Here are some of the ways in which Google Workspace for Education Plus enhances security and privacy:

• Data Protection

Google Workspace for Education Plus provides robust data protection features that help keep student and staff data safe and secure. This includes data encryption, which helps protect user data while it is in transit and at rest. This ensures that sensitive information is not compromised in the event of a security breach. 

Google Workspace for Education Plus includes client-side encryption. Google Workspace Client-side encryption (CSE) is a way of encrypting your data before it’s sent or stored in Google’s cloud. This means that your encryption keys are kept private and secure, and only you and the people you choose can access your encrypted content. Once you’ve set up CSE, you can decide who can create encrypted content and share it both inside and outside of your organisation.

• Threat Detection

Google Workspace for Education Plus includes advanced threat detection features that help identify and respond to potential security threats. For example, it includes phishing and malware protection, which help prevent malicious attacks that could compromise user data. In fact, according to a Total Economic Impact study conducted by Forrester Consulting, schools using Education Plus actually experienced a 95% reduction in phishing attempts thanks to the security and email filtering.

Google Workspace for Education Standard and Education Plus has a security feature in Gmail called “sandboxing”. This feature checks attachments for new and unknown malware by testing them in a secure environment, or sandbox. Each attachment is tested in the sandbox before being sent to the user’s inbox. This way, the attachment can be checked without the risk of infecting the user’s computer. 

• Compliance

Google Workspace for Education Plus meets a variety of compliance standards, such as ISO 27001, SOC 2 and 3, and FERPA. This ensures that Google has implemented industry-standard best practices to protect user data and comply with relevant regulations.

• Admin Console Controls

The Admin Console in Google Workspace for Education Plus provides powerful control and management features, which allow administrators to easily manage user accounts, devices and access permissions. This helps ensure that only authorised users have access to sensitive data and resources.

• Enhanced Privacy Controls

Google Workspace for Education Plus also provides enhanced privacy controls, such as privacy mode in Google Meet, which allows users to blur their background during video calls, and the ability to turn off chat history for Google Meet, which helps ensure that sensitive conversations are not saved or shared.

• Advanced Security Features

Google Workspace for Education Plus includes advanced security features, such as two-factor authentication, which adds an extra layer of security to user accounts. It also includes data loss prevention (DLP) tools, which help prevent sensitive information from being shared or leaked outside of the organisation.

Google Workspace for Education Plus includes Enterprise endpoint management, such as iOS data protection, Mobile device certificates and Context-Aware Access allowing you to control security policies for apps based on attributes such as user identity, location, device security status and IP address.The protection of information on mobile and desktop devices can be a key concern. With this feature, if a device is lost or stolen, corporate accounts can be remotely wiped from mobile devices and users can be remotely signed out from desktop devices. 

You also have access to Security Dashboard reports. You can use the Security dashboard to monitor and address suspicious emails, irregular file sharing, access to third-party apps, and more.

Take Away

By implementing these security and privacy features, Google Workspace for Education Plus helps schools keep student and staff data safe and secure. It provides robust data protection, threat detection, and compliance features, as well as powerful admin console controls and enhanced privacy controls. With these features, schools can rest assured that their students’ data is being protected while they use the powerful tools of Google Workspace for Education Plus to enhance their learning experience.

Radical Cloud Solutions is a proud Google partner. We offer not only the licensing and implementation of the Workspace, but support and training as well to ensure that you and your colleagues can take full advantage of the productivity suite.