Posted by Cyrus Mistry and Ope Bukola, Product Managers, Google for Education

Editor's note: We’re writing to you today from Google I/O, our annual conference for developers. Over 7,000 developers gathered for the three day event at the Shoreline Amphitheater in Mountain View, California —right down the street from Google. If you missed the live-stream this week, don't worry; we've got four highlights so far for education below.

Even more apps for Chromebooks
Earlier today we announced that Android apps are coming to Chromebooks, which means teachers and students will have access to more content on their Chromebooks, including a large amount of offline and touch-optimized apps. From Google’s Admin console, administrators will be able to deploy Android apps such as Skype, LightSail, Open eBooks, Office & Explain Everything to students. This feature will be available to administrators during the 2016/17 school year for use on supported Chromebooks. Learn more, including when you can preview some of the apps, in the blog post.

More than one million students have gone on an Expedition
When we look back on our favorite memories from school, many of us think of field trips. Last May, we introduced the Expeditions Pioneer Program, which lets teachers take their students on virtual reality trips to over 200 places using Cardboard. This year at I/O, we announced that over one million students from more than 11 countries have taken an Expedition through the Pioneer Program, to places like Buckingham Palace, the polar bear capital of the world—and in seventh grader Lance Teeselink’s case—Dubai’s Burj Khalifa, the tallest building in the world.

Lance, aspiring architect, takes an Expedition to the tallest building in the world with his seventh grade class

Our team is hard at work to make Expeditions more widely available. Stay tuned to our blog for the latest information. And if you’re ready to bring your class on their first Expedition, sign up for the beta here.

Stronger integrations between Classroom and other apps

Teachers use Classroom as mission control for their classes, launching assignments & discussions across subjects and topics. We announced on Wednesday that we added new coursework integrations to the Classroom API, which lets reporting systems like gradebooks and student information systems sync assignments and grades from Classroom, so that teachers don’t need to manually transfer the data. It also allows learning tools to create assignments, turn in work, and send back grades to Classroom. See how developers like Tynker, GeoGebra, and OpenEd are already using coursework in the Classroom API to strengthen their integrations.

Expanding coding resources to younger students
On Monday, at I/O Youth (our third annual conference for Bay Area students and teachers) we announced a new collaboration with Scratch, MIT’s programming language and community for children. The new partnership will enable developers to design creative coding and learning experiences for kids. We took the first step this week, releasing an early developer preview of Scratch Blocks code. We hope that developers will use Scratch Blocks to create consistent, high-quality programming experiences for kids everywhere.

Keep exploring
Watch the live stream or recordings of this year’s events in full on the Google I/O website. And for more behind-the-scenes looks at Google, from self-driving cars to Project Loon, check out Nat & Lo’s YouTube channel.

Posted by Karen Greenleaf, Google for Education

Today at Google I/O, our annual conference for developers, we announced that Android apps will be coming to Chromebooks. That means you’ll be able to do things like edit photos in Photoshop Mix, make a Skype call, open up Office files and work offline -- or take a break with games like Minecraft.

In 2015, US K-12 schools purchased more Chromebooks than all other devices combined (source) and adoption continues to increase in classrooms around the globe. To add even more flexibility to these fast, secure and easy-to-manage devices, we will be bringing Android apps to select Chromebooks, offering access to more content, increased offline options and additional touch-optimized apps for touchscreen models.

Android apps for Chromebooks
A few popular Android apps are already available today on Chromebooks through the App Runtime for Chrome program.

LightSail, an adaptive literacy solution for schools, is one example. "Fostering a love of reading among my English Language Learners has been an ongoing struggle in our class. After introducing LightSail on our school's Chromebooks, I have witnessed a true enjoyment of reading, with students reading for up to 40 minutes at a time on a regular basis. That type of stamina is something I have not seen before from these formerly reluctant readers,” says Christina Di Pietro, an ESL & Humanities Teacher at the James P. Timilty Middle School in Boston, MA. Since LightSail’s Android app became available, students have had another tool in their digital backpack to help them build reading comprehension skills.

For schools with supported touchscreen Chromebooks, touch-optimized Android apps like Explain Everything open up a world of possibilities for students. “The touchscreen on the Chromebooks allows students to enhance the content they create using Explain Everything, making their thinking visible and interactive,” says Jennifer Schlie-Reed, a Digital Learning Coach at Eisenhower Middle/High School in New Berlin, WI. "It provides students opportunities to demonstrate their learning in unique ways.”

The Android app Open eBooks will be available on Chromebooks soon, and is part of the White House ConnectED Initiative. Stacy Kinney, a Librarian and Media Specialist at O.A. Fleming Elementary in Freeport, TX, used Open eBooks to “put otherwise costly books into the hands of our children.” Stacy’s school is a Title One campus. “I value the Open eBook app because it makes quality, appealing books accessible to my students and their families.”

Open eBooks app running on a Chromebook

Android app management for school administrators
School IT administrators will have full control over selecting and managing the Android apps made available to their managed users on Chromebooks. They’ll manage Android apps using the same cloud-based Chromebook content controls they love today, through Google’s Admin Console.

We can’t wait to bring more Android apps to Chromebooks, which will come to supported devices in the 2016-17 school year. In the meantime, you can learn more about bringing Chromebooks to your school.

If you’re an Android app developer looking to bring your app to schools, you can learn more here.

Posted by Ed Kupershlak, Google Classroom Software Engineer

Last year, we launched the Classroom API to make it easier for administrators to manage classes, and for developers to integrate their applications with Classroom. Since that time, hundreds of applications have integrated with Classroom to help teachers gamify their classes, improve students’ writing skills, build interactive presentations and more.

Do more with coursework in the Classroom API 
Today, we’re introducing new coursework endpoints that allow developers to access assignments, grades and workflow. Learning tools can focus on creating great content and, in turn, use Classroom to manage the workflow for assignments created with this content. Gradebooks and reporting systems can now also sync grades with Classroom, eliminating the need for teachers to manually transfer grades.

Several partners have been helping to test the new functionality, including:

• OpenEd, which provides a library of open education resources for K-12 teachers 
• Tynker, a creative computing platform for teaching students to code 
• GeoGebra, a visual mathematics platform that allows students and teachers to author interactive mathematics content

Access course Drive folders, groups and materials 
In addition to the coursework endpoints, we’ve added new functionality to our existing course and roster API endpoints. Developers can now access course Drive folders, groups and materials. Applications can use this new functionality to store files in the same Drive folder as the rest of the resources in a class, or use course groups to manage file sharing permissions.

In the coming months, we’ll be adding more coursework management capabilities. When we do, we’ll post updates to the developer forum and issue tracker. We look forward to working together to make it even easier for teachers and students to use the tools they love with Classroom. Developers, please review the documentation, the FAQ and ask questions on Stack Overflow. Also, don’t forget to let us know what you’re building using the #withClassroom hashtag on Twitter or G+. And teachers, check out this list of applications that already work well with Classroom today.

Posted by Pavni Diwanji, VP of Engineering - Kids and Families

Google I/O is all about bringing creative coders together to imagine what’s next. And who better to build for the future than kids, the developers of tomorrow. That’s why we launched I/O Youth - inspiring kids to imagine, invent, and explore through the power of technology.

Today, we’ll celebrate the third anniversary of I/O Youth by hosting 120 students from Bay Area schools at Google I/O. Over the course of the day, kids and their teachers will be inspired by hands-on activities like designing a custom robotic monster and 3D car, bringing them to life using the power of code, directing a digital cartoon, and creating a personalized water bottle design through Made with Code.

Over the course of the day, kids will hear from speakers who use technology to do amazing things every day - like Ryan Germick, head of the Google Doodles team, who’ll talk about the beauty of art and technology coming together; Brent Bushnell, CEO of Two Bit Circus, who’ll take them on a virtual field trip to his workshop, and Anika Cheerla, 13-year old Google Science Fair finalist who built a way to accurately diagnose Alzheimer's disease, who’ll share how she discovered her love for science. They’ll also get to hear about how technology helps to bring some of their favorite things to life from a producer of Design Squad Global by PBS Kids and WGBH, a Nickelodeon creator, and a Pokémon game designer.

We’re also excited to announce our collaboration with Scratch, enabling developers to design creative coding and learning experiences for kids. Today we take the first step in this collaboration with the release of an early developer preview of Scratch Blocks code. We hope that developers will use Scratch Blocks to create consistent, high-quality programming experiences for kids everywhere.

At I/O Youth, students will get early access to a prototype built with Scratch Blocks

I/O Youth is just one of many ways we’re focused on helping young people to imagine, invent, and explore through the power of technology. Beyond today’s event, we also have year-round programs to help inspire and train our engineers of the future, including:

Google Science Fair - an international competition inspiring teenagers from all over the globe to ask questions about their world and solve them with science. The deadline to submit projects for this year’s competition is today, so stay tuned to see who will win!






Made with Code - our initiative to inspire millions of girls to learn code, and see coding as a means to pursue their dream careers.

CS First - increasing elementary and middle school students’ access and exposure to Computer Science with a focus on girls and underrepresented minorities.




If you’re not joining us at Shoreline Amphitheater for I/O Youth today, follow along on Twitter at #io16 and #ioyouth as we share updates along the way. Here's to celebrating and inspiring our future engineers today, and every day.

Posted by Carol Frieze and Jeria Quesenberry, Carnegie Mellon University

(Cross-posted on the re:Work blog)

Editor's note: Carol Frieze, PhD, is Director of Women@SCS and SCS4ALL, Carnegie Mellon School of Computer Science. Jeria Quesenberry, PhD, is an Associate Teaching Professor in the Information Systems program at Carnegie Mellon Dietrich College.They are the authors of a new book, Kicking Butt in Computer Science: Women in Computing at Carnegie Mellon University which tells the positive story of how one school developed a culture and environment in which both women and men could thrive and be successful in computer science.

For over ten years, Carnegie Mellon University has been successful at enrolling, sustaining, and graduating women in computer science at a much higher rate than national averages. Here are six ways we made it happen.

In 2014, the incoming computer science (CS) class at CMU comprised 40% women at a time when the national rate for female CS graduates was around 14%. We set out on a ten-year long research endeavor to understand the story of how CMU got here. We tell that positive story in our new book, Kicking Butt in Computer Science: Women in Computing at Carnegie Mellon University, and here we’ll share the six primary takeaways that contributed to this success, which we believe are applicable to other organizations and workplaces.

1. Women do not need a “female-friendly” curriculum. Curriculum should depend on what we are trying to teach and learn, not on prioritizing one gender over another. Changes to improve the curriculum should be for the benefit of all students. Basing coursework on what people think interests women can perpetuate stereotypes. This approach can also be applied to the workplace. Women do not need “soft” or “female-friendly” roles -- career opportunities should be based on organizational needs, not on what we think we know about women.

2. Cultural change is the key. If the culture of a computer science program is dominated by “geeky stereotypical” archetype research shows that women and minorities (and even other white males) may feel excluded from the field. Data show that, in the case of CS, it is usually women and minorities and people with disabilities who are poorly represented. Efforts should be directed at being more inclusive of a wide range of personalities enabling all to have opportunities including leadership, visibility, encouragement, networking, mentorship, and advocacy. For example, in 1999, the CMU School of Computer Science dropped the programming admission prerequisite, resulting in a more diverse set of incoming students.

3. Culture can be changed at the micro level. Evidence for culture as the key also comes from other countries where girls are well represented in CS. In the US, there is a strong cultural belief that men and women are very different, so different that they are suited to different fields of study and careers. We need to change these perceptions and show that women can be successful in CS. We’ve witnessed cultural change within the CS department at CMU. For example, our student organizations, such as SCS4ALL and Women@SCS, promote diversity, which continues to be part of the larger CMU strategic plan.

4. Cultural factors are more important than gender differences. Men and women may not be so different after all. Our studies with CS majors at CMU show that men and women relate to computer science through a spectrum of attitudes and with more similarities than differences. Indeed, at CMU we’ve not seen the familiar, simplistic gender divide in attitudes to CS. We’ve seen similar attitudes even extend to identifying with the image of a “geek--” a word once shunned. In our studies, the only real gender difference centered around confidence levels, with men showing much higher rates of confidence than women. This is a cultural issue that reaches many areas, not just CS.

5. Institutional support is critical. Institutional support, such as administrative help, funding, and an explicit leadership vision, can signal the authorization and influence to show that diversity is an essential part of an organization’s value system. Support for the creation of a women’s group (or a group of shared ethnicity), can be valuable for building community and for increasing and sustaining the pipeline.

6. Success stories are important. Lots of people have documented the problem of low female enrollment in CS and women leaving the technology industry. But there is less sharing of the success stories. We need to hear more inspirational stories of success like CMU, including our approaches and recommendations. By showing more women how they might succeed in CS, we will help more programs -- and ultimately the profession -- become more inclusive.

Editor's note: This post is part of our series for Teacher Appreciation Week. Look for more content on our blog and social media throughout the week. Don’t forget to add to the conversation using #ThankATeacher. 

This post comes from Anela Arifi and Ilda Ismaili, 2015 Google Science Fair global finalists who are high school students from Bosnia-Herzegovina. Their teacher, Mrs. Aydan Meydan, won the 2015 Inspiring Educator Award, which acknowledges an educator who goes above and beyond in encouraging her students to achieve great things. In honor of Teacher Appreciation Week, Arifi and Ismaili wrote a letter to say thank you to their teacher and mentor, Mrs. Meydan.

Dear Mrs. Meydan,

You inspire us to be confident and to always challenge ourselves. Throughout high school, we’ve turned to you as our mentor and inspiration. When we decided to apply for the Google Science Fair, you supported us every step of the way. You showed us that our science fair project wasn’t just another assignment — it was an opportunity to show the world what we can do.

Some people ask us how a math teacher could be our science fair mentor, and we explain how you put so much time and energy into understanding our project. You learned about chemistry and biology during your free time, so you could guide us. You taught us the importance of being lifelong learners. You’re constantly curious to learn more, whether it’s about our project or a new way of working.

When we reviewed our research paper, we enjoyed teaching you about the properties of biodiesel and explaining the graphs and results, while you taught us the correct format for a research paper. We’re so thankful to have you teach us the principles as we share our knowledge of natural sciences with you.

Thank you for teaching us how to persevere. Whenever we came across a challenge, you told us everything would be okay. Two and a half years ago when we started the project, we reached out to university professors in search of a laboratory to use for our project. Professors responded skeptically — they thought we were too young and pointed out that we didn’t know anything about biodiesel or hydrogen storage. We felt rejected and discouraged. You lifted our spirits by assuring us we’d find the right laboratory. Many students are missing someone who will tell them everything will be okay — and everyone needs that. We all need moral support.
You gave us the confidence to believe that we’re smart and capable. Here in Bosnia-Herzegovina, we don’t always have the chance to pursue every idea, but with you as a great mentor, we had every opportunity to show our talent and passion. Even if we’re in a small country and don’t have as many women in STEM, we can be part of the best science competition in the world.

When we applied for the Google Science Fair, you told us we already succeeded by representing Bosnia-Herzegovina. We’ll never forget when you told us that the most important thing is to be inspired, and to inspire others. The most important part of the competition is to present our project, and if we inspire at least one person, we’re winners.

Thank you for all that you do,
Anela and Ilda

There are only a few weeks left to submit a science or engineering project to the 2016 Google Science Fair. Students that submit a project can nominate their teacher to win the 2016 Inspiring Educator Award.

Posted by Michael Frederick, Google Slides Engineer 

(Cross-posted on the Google Docs Blog.)

Public speaking can be intimidating — even for veteran speakers with phenomenal ideas and experiences to share. Take Shree Bose, for example.

At just 17 years old, Shree took home the top prize at the first ever Google Science Fair for her research on drug resistance in ovarian cancer. Now, a senior at Harvard, she’s met with President Obama twice, crowdfunded a Minecraft computer program to support STEM education, and has given talks across the globe. But she still gets nervous every time she’s asked to speak at events.

When Shree recently visited our New York office to present to 200 middle school students, we invited her to try a new feature in Google Slides: Slides Q&A. This update—rolling out globally today—helps speakers connect with their audience and collect real-time feedback. With a simple link displayed on a Slides presentation, audience members can submit questions from their phones, laptops, and tablets—and vote on those they want answered the most. Hear what your audience has to say 

Slides Q&A is great for audience members, too. During Shree’s talk, students submitted more than 170 questions and voted 800 times. They enjoyed being able to submit questions online the moment they thought of them instead of having to remember them until the end of the presentation. Some students also chose to submit questions anonymously.

At the end of her talk, Shree left time for Q&A, but she couldn’t possibly answer all 170 questions. So, she sorted the questions based on audience votes—and responded to the top ones. The question with the most overall votes was submitted by a seventh grader named Leila. She says, “I was so surprised when I saw my question was the most liked. I probably wouldn’t want to stand up and ask the question because I’m kind of shy.” Focus on your ideas, not set up 

Slides Q&A makes it easy to interact with your audience—without having to worry about mics or moderators. Slides also helps you get your big ideas and stories on screen—without having to worry about wires or set up stress. Starting today, we're improving this "Show up, don't setup" experience in two ways:

• You can now present your slides to a Hangout from your iPhone or iPad. So with just your phone or tablet and the Slides app, you can present to any screen using Chromecast, AirPlay or Hangouts. 
• And for those of you who like presenting from a computer, we're introducing a new laser pointer on the web. Just in time for May the 4th (be with you). 

Today’s Slides updates are rolling out globally on Android, iOS, and the web. So go on, share your stories and present with confidence.

And for a little inspiration, check out Shree’s full talk, #HowCanWe Make the World Better with Science? on the Talks@Google channel.