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Google Apps for Education (GAFE) has played a major role in creating a fully-immersive and interactive classroom environment. While a little lesser known, Android Apps have played a roll in schools for the past few years as well. Google Play for Education was rolled out quietly in 2013 and is currently used in schools across the country on Android tablets aside Chromebooks, traditional PCs and iPads. With the tablets currently in use, teachers and administrators have control over what apps are pushed to the devices.
Now, with the coming of Android Apps to Chromebooks, educators must deal with a whole new level of security and monitoring if they plan to leverage the Play Store on these devices. The good news is, Google already has them covered.
As reported earlier today by our good friends at Chrome Story, Google has added an option for managing Play Store apps directly to the Admin Console. This feature will allow users to easily enable or disable access to the Play Store by simply logging into the Admin Console. From there you will navigate to Device Management>Chrome>User Settings>Google Play Apps. Android apps will be disabled by default in the console. One of the major advantages to this is that it saves the IT department of having to disable the Play Store on a domain level.
Additional features include the ability to allow the installation of apps from unknown sources much like on an Android device. This, too, is disabled by default and should probably stay that way. Administrators can also prevent access to the Play Store with any account not managed on their network.
The development of the Admin Console is always ongoing. But, this will allow educators to take advantage of the Play Store now with a good sense of control and security.
You can read more about Google Play for Education at the Android Developers site. For more information about Chrome Management and the Admin Console head over to the Google for Education blog.
If you’re institution does not currently have a Google Certified Educator or Trainer and you would like to find out more info on becoming one, head to the link below.
