Android tablets with Google Play for Education come to schools in the UK

Posted by Liz Sproat, Head of Education EMEA 

So much of education is about unlocking potential — nurturing students’ desires to discover and explore, giving them tools that match their unique learning styles, and challenging them to work more creatively and collaboratively.

Great schools know to balance what’s possible with what’s practical. That means protecting teachers’ time, managing the workload for the IT department, and introducing new tools when they enhance a lesson (not disrupt it).

We built Android tablets with Google Play for Education to make it practical for schools to find and share tools that help students achieve their potential.

Today we’re bringing Android with Google Play for Education to UK schools, giving more schools access to hardware and apps designed for the classroom, many of which have been customised for the UK curriculum.

Students at Isle of Portland Aldridge Community Academy work together using Google Play for Education

When you buy Android tablets from Google for Education you get a solution designed for learning:  

• Your choice of affordable tablets, starting with the Nexus 7 and the Samsung Galaxy Tab 4 Education 
• Set-up and management tools that make it easy to get your school up and running (simply bump tablets together to set up a whole classroom in minutes) 
• Easy student access to Google Apps that encourage teamwork and critical thinking, including Docs, Drive, and Google Classroom 
• Access to Google Play for Education, a content store designed just for schools that puts thousands of educator-approved apps like Book Creator, Pocket Code and BrainPOP at teachers’ and students’ fingertips. 
• Google Play for Education also includes apps designed specifically for the UK market, such as a series of GCSE apps from Revision Buddies. 

UK schools who have been piloting Android tablets are seeing deeper engagement from both teachers and students as a result:

“Teachers are able to look up apps independently on Google Play for Education, tailoring the apps they share to the needs of the students,” says Luke Scott, the IT Manager at Barclay Primary School. “Students love how easy it is for them to access the application once it has uploaded to their tablet. They get excited by the fact that something has just popped up onto the screen – they are instantly engaged and want to use it.”

The Isle of Portland Aldridge Community Academy (IPACA) has seen the adoption of Android tablets and Google Play for Education drive a culture of sharing and collaboration.

Year 9 pupil Shannon said, "Using the Google Tablets has made learning fun, it's been great to connect with other children from around the world and compare and contrast our location with theirs."

“We can’t wait to see what UK schools do with affordable tablets and the right set of tools. In the last year, we’ve seen classes across the US do great things – whether they’re mapping trails in Vermont or getting personalized reading help in New Jersey.

To learn more and start planning a pilot for your schools, visit our webpage.

Related Posts:

Tweet