Following trailblazer Oregon, two more U.S. states are adopting Google Apps in their educational systems statewide.
Colorado and Iowa join Oregon in Google Apps for Education, which offers Gmail, Docs, Sites, Video and Groups to elementary school, junior high and high school students across both states.
Part of the motivation for states adopting Google Apps is financial. In a tight time software licensing fees are no doubt a wonderful thing to leave off. Oregon, Google said, would save $1.5 million in the change-over.
The other motivations include keeping students current and leveraging new technologies for learning. The latter was stressed by Colorado’s Governor, Bill Ritter.
“By leveraging the Internet, educators are able to bring new ways of learning to the classroom and connect with students in exciting and challenging ways.”
Google is also introducing a “set of training solutions” to leverage Google Apps in an educational environment.
