All building and room management features are consolidated into one location aptly named Buildings and resources within the Admin console.
What exactly does this mean for K12 Admins? I’m glad you asked……
In short, schools can use this feature to not only manage rooms but also Chromebook carts, lab materials, and basically any shared resource. Teachers can book/reserve these items through Calendar and in order to ensure rooms don’t go unused, the shared resource will automatically be released if only one person has accepted the invitation. This means less chance of a cart or lab materials going unused because of a change in schedule or plans.
As an admin, you will be able to enable this new feature for shared resources within buildings in the Admin console by navigating to your resources and selecting the shared resources you wish to enable for release. After you’ve designated the resources you wish to activate for Calendar-based releases, you then click EDIT and you’re ready to go!
There is also a new insights dashboard. The dashboard allows for a high-level view of what resources are most popular and which ones are not. The dashboard can provide the visibility and data around resource usage which can support more strategic deployments and purchasing of materials.
The vast majority of Google Workspace school districts have not been utilizing buildings or resources for the most part because historically it wasn’t easy to manage and lacked insight into usage.
However, with these improved updates, I highly encourage Admins to take advantage of the “Buildings and Resources” feature. Using insights to make decisions about resource deployment is essential to utilizing devices and rooms to their maximum capacity and Google is working to help you strategically deploy these resources in your environment.
Need additional assistance with your Google Workspace Admin console or interested in a quick consultation? Our team is here to help.
About the Author |
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| Kendal Shomura, Google Consultant | |
| Kendal Shomura joined the CDW Amplified for Education team in 2018 after 7 years working in Public Schools as an educator, Instructional Coach, Technology Integration Specialist, and as a Professor in the Masters of Educational Technology program at Touro University. He spent 3 years as a Google Administrator while training staff on how to integrate Google Workspace tools into their classrooms. Kendal’s wide array of experiences with Educational Technology allows him to understand the important nuances of technology in schools. Today, he is a Google for Education Consultant who works to help schools better understand their Google environment and empowers them to configure Google Workspace in the most optimum way for student safety while still allowing for robust usage of the tools. |