Google believes that its products could play an important role in schools across the UK.
The company plans on expanding its presence in British schools in a big way with ‘Google Play for Education’.
Schools will be able to opt for affordable tablets such as the Nexus 7 and the Samsung Galaxy Tab 4 Education and use Google Play for Education to access apps created specifically for the classroom and customised to the UK curriculum.
Google is not entering an untapped market though. Microsoft already has a huge presence in UK education and Apple has had success in the market as well.
Liz Sproat, Google’s head of education in Europe, said:
“The first step is the technology itself. But in the keynote I gave to launch the service, I think I shared a vision of a classroom in which children were collaborating with each other using devices, using books, with the teacher also in the background.
“Technology is an enabler but it’s the whole culture of the school that has to reflect that and incorporate it at every level.”
Sproat added:
“Technology was hard to deploy in schools and we’re making the solutions we supply very easy to manage.”
“With a management console, setting policies and pushing out content at the touch of a button means it’s also very cost effective.”
“It’s really important that these solutions are equitable and very affordable. And we have to be very flexible. Schools have often made significant investments already, for instance.”