Google Apps For Education (GAFE) is Here!

BISD has gone Google!  We are a Google Apps for Education, or GAFE, district.  This means all BISD staff members have special Google accounts that can be used to access Google Drive, Google Classroom, and even YouTube! In addition, our 3rd-5th grade students have GAFE accounts to access Google Drive, Google Classroom, and even Gmail!  Please explore the information and resources in this blogpost to learn more about GAFE and how you can begin using it with your campus, team, and students!

Staff Google Account Information

Staff Google accounts are created at the time their district login account is created. You can log on to your GAFE account by visiting http://drive.google.com. The username for staff is firstname.lastname@g.birdvilleschools.net. Your password may be bisd1234 or it may be your district password. After the initial login, staff can reset their Google password by simply resetting their network login password as our automated system is designed to sync staff accounts across the system. Staff can access more information about using Google by visiting the BISD Knowledge Base.

Student Google Account Information

Grade 3-12 Student Google accounts are created at the time their district login account is created.  Students can log on to their GAFE account by visiting http://drive.google.com. Students use their birthday as their password: mmddyyyy (no spaces, no slashes, no dashes. The usernames for students can be seen here:

GAFE Account Benefits

• Use Google Drive to store all of your important documents and access them anywhere you have internet on any device!
• Create shared folders in Google Drive to save and share documents with your students, team, or campus!
• Use Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides (inside Google Drive) to create collaborative documents where everyone can edit at the same time and the work is saved automatically!
• Exclusive access to Google Classroom (a digital classroom for you and your students).  Google Classroom is only available through our @g.birdvilleschools.net GAFE accounts.

Resources

• Google on the BISD Helpdesk Knowledgebase
• Digital Learning News Brief September 1, 2015
• Digital Learning News Brief September 8, 2015
• Shake Up Learning Google Resources

If you would like help getting started with Google, please email your Digital Learning Specialist!