Quick Tip: Creating a Google Account using your school email

By now, I'm sure you've heard about Google Drive along with some of the useful apps that are available.  The benefits to using something like the Google apps are that they are stored in the cloud, so it's possible to pull them up from different buildings on different devices without having to carry around a flash drive or other media that can fail you.  If you play your cards right, it can also mean less paper, which is a big deal for the many many SLPs who travel between buildings.

Most people think you have to have a gmail address to have all the access to the whole kit and kaboodle of Google.  It creates an ethical dilemma.  You obviously don't want to use your personal email address to store information about your students or school building.  Additionally, if you share a document with a coworker, you don't really want it to come from "Alli_cat423" or whatever was available when you signed up.

The truth is, you can sign up for all the bells and whistles of Google without the hassle of coming up with a Gmail address.  In fact, you can use your school address to get an account, which is nice for that coworker who wants to share PLC notes with you, as it's a whole lot easier to plug in your work email than to remember the correct combination of numbers after your name that you might have to create with a new gmail account.

The first thing you'll want to do is go to the Google Drive website.  If you already have an account, don't fret, just sign out and follow my lead.  As you can see from the picture above, you want to Add Account.

In all things silly Google, you will end up here.  When you said Add Account, it thought you meant you already had one, and wanted to enter that, or that someone with an account was sharing your computer.  You really want to create an account, so that's your next click.

Be ready for the secret move.  Are you ready?  Here it comes.

When you are filling in your information, there's small print under the "choose your username" that you don't want to miss.  It's easy to do, because if you're me, choosing a username induces panic as apparently my name is way more common than I realized until I had to start choosing usernames.

When you click on the link, it will replace the username line with a place for your current email.  That's where you enter your school address.

Two things you need to know about this:
1. You will not get Gmail.  Your school email will be tied to this account, and any notifications Google sends you will go there.  It gets you access to Drive, Google Keep, Calendar, and other tools, just not Gmail.
2. When you sign in, you will use your entire school email address as your username.  No leaving off the @blahblah.org. 


Next week, I'll be posting about my current adoration of Google Forms and instructions on creating a parent contact log.  Stay tuned!