LT students returned this year to a new school-sponsored Google G-Suite account that replaces the old Microsoft Outlook service. The account is now the official way for all students to communicate with teachers. The Microsoft 365 accounts are still active, but will no longer receive school announcements.

“What we want to do is make the most of the tools’ features and utilities, the programs that facilitate the collaboration and the use of Canvas that our teachers are looking to use more with the students,” Ed Tennant, Director of Technology Services, said. “That sort of collaboration was the weak element of our prior setup and the Google G-Suite products facilitate that collaboration through Canvas in a way that we didn’t have before.”

The G-Suite includes Google Drive, Gmail, Sheets, Slides, Calendar and allows sharing with Canvas, Tennant said. While Microsoft 365 had many of the same program offerings, the difference is the Canvas connectivity and the use of Google’s tools in LT’s feeder schools..

“We knew during last school year that we were likely going to make that switch over the summer, Tennant said. “It crystalized further as we used Canvas more, and as our TEC coaches had the opportunity to interact with other professionals that use Canvas in other districts and see what you can do differently, what would work better if we were using the Google Tools.”

The switch occurred as Google’s location tracking and privacy policies were publicly called into question. An Associated Press investigation found that Google’s services continued to track users’ locations even when the location tracking setting was disabled. The investigation sparked a lawsuit against Google for misrepresenting the privacy setting. The scandal happened shortly before the beginning of the school year, after the decision had been made to switch.

“Anything that will affect Google will affect us,” Tennant said. “If we are using Google tools, we can’t ever expect to be immune from the things they face, but we’re always looking to mitigate risks and protect our data and our students. We do have filtering in place, but that is always one of the concerns we have when we’re looking at any type of cloud or web services.”

LT still has some services in place to filter content for students, but it is ultimately up to them to take control of privacy settings for themselves in programs that offer such controls, Tennant said.

“That’s where efforts to bring in some education about digital citizenry come into play and getting some understanding about how to control privacy settings,” Tennant said. “It’s not just the school’s controls and it’s not Google specific – it’s important with any of the social media tools, too. They all have privacy settings and your ability to control that is equally important. I think there’s some natural inclination for your generation to share essentially everything. You live online and you need to understand what the ramifications of that are; that nothing you share across the internet is ever truly private.”

Despite the privacy concerns, some clubs have already begun taking advantage of the collaborative opportunities offered by the G-Suite, including Theatre Board. The club created a team drive to organize tech for the first scripted production of the year, “House of Blue Leaves.” The drive allows students to upload documents and share them with the whole crew, Laura Moore, Auditorium Tech Director, said. The system allows the club to organize backstage coordination in a more similar way to a professional model.

“That’s always been my goal, and it’s certainly happened in small ways,” Moore said. “What can we do that is more like professional theatre than what we have done? That doesn’t mean that we can do everything like professional theatre. But, I personally think that professionals do things a certain way for a reason for the most part. That is almost always the most efficient model, so it saves us some heartache and time if we can communicate more like professionals do. I’m excited about it. I think it’s going to help our communication a lot. But, I’m always worried with new technology because it’s only as good as how you use it.”

LT is also looking into Wi-Fi availability for students, Tennant said. While he didn’t share a specific timeline, once the equipment to manage the magnitude of access is installed, there will be a test period with a smaller number of staff members. After that period, access will be open for multiple devices for students. Student access availability will be well-announced through the school before it is open.

“Without getting into all of the complicated details, know that we are working on it,” Tennant said. “That’s a conversation that [Superintendent] Dr. [Timothy] Kilrea and I have on a regular basis and the Board of Education is very aware of the benefits as well.”