Teacher librarians in my school district will be looking at ways they can communicate school library use via web-based calendars. Sitting with one of the coordinating field librarians to plan this professional development scheduled for May 1, 2008, I learned more about how one teacher librarian, Marc McPhee of Northridge Academy High School, uses Google Calendar to inform the public of what is happening in the library (click here to see the calendar embedded in the school website).
So I am charged with showing other teacher librarians like Marc how to create a web-based calendar. Yes, there are various options such as Calendars Net (http://www.calendars.net) and LoCalendar (http://www.localendar.com) as well as calendars built into management systems such as Blackboard or Moodle, but it seems that many in my district are gravitating toward Google Calendar because of its ability to have groups of people collaborate on the entering of events. I am pretty sure the fact that my district uses Google Apps for Education for students also influences this calendar solution.
Unfortunately, my district uses Microsoft Exchange for employee e-mail, which is inherently proprietary. So how could an employee effectively use Outlook as well as understand Google Calendar for student use? Well, now Google has added Google Calendar Sync, which is an application that can be installed to sync up an Outlook calendar to a Google Calendar. I’ve known about it for a couple of weeks already, but did not try it until now. All 384 events uploaded!
Here’s what is inconvenient for any or my colleagues in my district. First, it only works with a Windows computer because Outlook is currently a Windows-only product. Secondly, it can’t be done with an Outlook on the Web account or Outlook Express client (only a full version of Outlook). And therefore, the only option for Apple iCal, Yahoo! Calendar, and Entourage users is to use the export/import features of each client. But I am sure that someone at Google may be working on other sync programs as they are always in Beta.
My next step is to figure out how to make private entries stay private during sync. Currently, I have had to go back and make entries private. I’ll continue to learn as I prepare to see how well Google Calendar Sync works in my district.
5 responses so far ↓
What if I sync to my Treo already? Would there be conflicts with multiple synching? Just curious.
Be careful, John. Very capable people are having trouble using Google’s sync feature. Let’s not forget everything Google does is technical beta.
http://scobleizer.com/2008/03/07/google-calendar-sync-locked-my-team-out/
Hey John!
If you’re looking for a tool that will sync Google Calendar with various platforms you may want to have a look at a product we offer called Calgoo Connect. We will be announcing our full iCal sync in just a few days so keep your eyes peeled!
In the mean time you may also want to check out Calgoo Hub that allows users to share their calendar with anyone, on any platform they want.
Calgoo
http://www.calgoo.com
Hi John,
I recently used the synch tool to update my Exchange Calendar to Google calendar. It worked like a charm. It’s great to have access the calendar in Google and be able to see all my calendars together. This is a great article and how to. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks John. I’ve been able to sync my professional calendar in Outlook with the family’s calendar on our website. I am now trying to sync my husband’s on the same calendar. He has a professional exchange set up also. Thank you again!!
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