G-Suite for Education (GAE)

G Suite for Education (formerly Google Apps for Education) is a collaboration suite that provides an integrated messaging platform that includes email, calendar, chat, documents, and more! With G Suite, we have the benefits of 100% web-based messaging and collaboration tools, as well as lower infrastructure and support costs.

These apps are covered by the contract that Williams has with Google. Williams owns this data and it is not scanned or indexed by Google for advertising purposes. In addition, there are no ads served on these apps and your privacy is protected at a level comparable to when you use other Williams services. There are strict privacy rules and they are FERPA compliant. http://www.google.com/edu/trust/

G Suite Applications – Click on the titles for links to Google’s training pages.

  • Google Mail (GMail)
    Powerful email and shared storage with Drive, includes Chat and Hangouts.
  • Google Contacts
    Import your contacts into Google
  • Google Calendar
    Meeting management that integrates directly with your email
  • Google Drive
    Unlimited file storage you can access from anywhere shared with Mail
  • Google Docs
    Create and collaborate on documents.
  • Google Sheets
    Create and collaborate on spreadsheets.
  • Google Sites
    Create websites quickly and easily for classes or departmental projects
  • Google Groups (inside Williams only)
    Communicate and collaborate with students and colleagues in small groups
  • Google Chat
    Provides one-to-one and group conversations via chat messaging, as well as lightweight voice and video meetings
  • Google Meet
    Video conferencing tool for use with larger groups of people inside or outside of Williams that integrates with your calendar and has optional recording functionality that can be enabled

Williams College has Enabled Google Consumer Apps in the Williams Domain

Williams College has enabled access to all Google Applications including applications not covered by Williams’ contract with Google that provides additional privacy controls for the ‘core suite’ apps.

After moving to G Suite for Education, OIT received a number of requests for access to additional Consumer Apps like Google Maps, YouTube, Blogger, Google Analytics and consumer Google+. Until the college allowed access, people were prevented from using these apps while logged in with their [email protected] addresses. Using any of these apps is an individual decision and the college is offering people access, but not signing them up.

When Williams first opened up Consumer Apps, all users clicked to agree with an acknowledgment that their accounts could now access Consumer Apps and that if they launched a Consumer App they would be agreeing to the general consumer Google Terms of Service and Privacy Policy for that application.

Some apps have additional terms of service to which one is also agreeing when launching the app. A few consumer apps will prompt people to agree to those additional terms, but for most the terms are implicit when one launches the app. Click here for a complete list of Consumer Apps,

Other important things to know if one chooses to use a Consumer App

  • OIT will fully support only the GAE core apps (email, calendar, drive, docs, internal Google groups, sites and contacts). While people are free to use the Consumer Apps, they will need to use Google’s online help pages to learn how to use them.
  • All use of apps in the Williams domain and in our network must abide by our acceptable use policies: http://oit.williams.edu/policies/privacy/ and http://oit.williams.edu/policies/ethics/
  • When one leaves the college due to graduation or ending employment, people may not be able to take all saved data and/or settings with them. The ability to export data will vary from app to app and people should be sure they understand what happens to their data in a particular app when they leave.
  • Google will likely be scanning data in the Consumer Apps (not in the GAE core apps) and using that data to show the person advertisements. The level of privacy is not the same as it is for the GAE core apps.
  • Williams College has no capability of backing up any data stored in the Consumer Apps so we suggest you take precautions that there is no unique data stored there.

Differences between the Core and the Consumer Apps

Google’s Core Apps

All Williams accounts have access to Google’s Core Apps (Gmail, Calendar, Contacts, Drive, Docs, Sheets, Search, Sites, Groups and Talk). Williams College Core Apps are governed by a contract between Williams College and Google that provides additional security and privacy restrictions above and beyond what Google offers to regular consumers. Data stored within our core Google Apps will be protected under that contract, meaning that Google will adhere to Williams College’s compliance practices with FERPA and DMCA laws, will not advertise to users, and will scan user data for maintaining the Google Apps for Williams service, but will not scan for advertising purpose.

Google Consumer Apps

Google’s Consumer Apps such as Google+, YouTube, and Maps are available to all Williams College accounts, but when you launch any of these applications you are agreeing to Google’s Terms of Service (TOS) and Privacy Policy and any other terms of service for the particular application. This constitutes a contract between YOU and Google for data stored in those applications.

A few consumer apps prompt people to agree to those additional terms specifically, but for most apps the terms are implicit when one launches them. The terms can usually be found at the bottom of the page for the app. If you choose to begin using a Consumer App (YouTube, for example), your Core Apps (Gmail, Calendar, etc.) will still be governed by the contract between Williams and Google.

Students

Your Williams College account will be terminated after you graduate and its contents will be deleted. It is your responsibility to backup and transfer any data stored in that account and this will include any data you have uploaded using your account to any Google Apps (core or consumer). For this reason you may want to consider using a consumer gmail account for consumer apps when you are sharing any data you will want access to after graduation.