Google is extending its services in to school classrooms with its Google Play for Education. This provides K-12 educators in the U.S. wider access to educational apps, videos and other content for their students.
Tablet PCs are rapidly making their way in to school classrooms, bringing a revolution in standard educational system. With the growing trend comes greater competition and Google cannot stay away for long without marking its presence in the new growing field of education.
Google officially launched tablets Wednesday, loaded with Google Play for Education , an extension of its Google Play Store designed for K-12 schools in the U.S. The move comes into effect after the company revealed its plans of launching a dedicated Play Store for school teachers and students at its I/O developer conference in May. After passing the beta phase with thousands of students and over 50 schools for several months, the new educational offering has been finally released.
Google offers three "classroom ready" tablets that include the newly launched Nexus 7, 10-inch Asus Transformer Pad and 8-inch HP Slate 8 Pro, due to launch early next year. The tablets retail for $299 with an additional $30 for each tablet for management capabilities.
The Google Play for Education will allow schools to buy educational apps, videos and other content for students, and bulk purchasing.
"With more than 30 million people using Google Apps for Education already, tablets with Google Play for Education easily plug into many schools' existing technology," product manager for Google Play for Education, Rick Borovoy, wrote in the company's official blog. "This is an affordable, 1:1 solution that puts greater power in the hands of teachers to find the best tools and content for their classrooms. We're continuing to evolve the Google in Education offering and are happy to bring even more choice in devices and content."
The apps are subject to review by a third party network of educators before they go live on the new educational store. They are evaluated based on the educational value, overall experience, and most importantly the apps must avoid collecting students' information for unrelated purposes. App developers can submit their educational apps in the Google Play Developer Console, where they will be queued for approval.
While it is not new for the web giant to be among the first to add new inputs in any field, Google's expansion of educational services definitely comes with a motive. Besides helping students and teachers access the wide array of its apps and services, the Mountain View, California-based tech company is pushing its tablets sales and generalizing its services in all domains.
