EduData Consulting LLC specializes in custom Google Workspace solutions for schools, emphasizing operational workflows and data management. To discuss any of the solutions listed below or are interested in having me help you build a custom solution, please schedule a meeting with me.
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Curriculum Mapping with Google Workspace
Curriculum Mapping with Google Workspace
This internal* add-on is grounded in Google Drive, but works with Docs, Slides, Sheets, Calendar and even Spaces to extend its functionality. All documents are managed via a Shared Drive, ensuring that files are stored and organized exactly where they should be. You can develop your own template or multiple templates to document your curriculum and each unit planner can be updated year to year with a few clicks. Every unit planner also comes with a Resource Folder, that also lives in a shared drive folder that can house lesson plans, assessments and any other relevant material. Unit Planners may be organized into subfolders according to your own preferences. The add-on is equipped with a scheduled nightly re-listing of all unit planners in a Google Sheet to pull all of the latest information, including unit planner names and last updated dates. Additionally, Course Overviews can be developed and track customizable data strands. There is also an annual rollover feature making it easy to update dates for the following school year. Moreover, the Google Sheet is linked to a Data Studio Dashboard to help you run reports, analyze your curriculum and view timelines. The calendar integration allows you to add your unit planners as all day events on a Google Calendar.
Interested? Check out this pre-deployment checklist.
The Google Add-on developed by Richard Anderson has shifted the focus of our work to document our curriculum away from having to spend time learning the platform towards the purpose of the task and the heavy lift, actually documenting the curriculum itself. Since this tool utilizes the Google Workspace which teachers are already comfortable and familiar with, it takes less than 20 minutes to train them what to do allowing them to spend the time actually working on the articulation of what they are doing. We also appreciate that this system is built so the school and not the individual "owns" the document which makes changes in personnel easy to manage if there are any transitions. - Vinnie Vrotny, Director of Technology - The Kinkaid School
Employee Portfolios
Employee Portfolios
This is an internal* Google Workspace Add-on solution for managing goal setting, observations, professional development and more all in a Google Shared Drive. You develop your own templates in Google Docs, Google Sheets, or Google Slides. File naming conventions and notifications are built into the platform. Additionally, the add-on can be linked to a Google Space for sharing colleague spotlights. Moreover, a Google Sheet can be easily configured to list all files in the Employee Portfolio Shared Drive to make reporting on what's been completed easy in a Data Studio Dashboard.
Employee Portfolios is the exact tool for which our Director of Academics was looking: intuitive, not over-complicated and built right into the platform our faculty use every day, all day — Google Drive. Richard guided me through deployment in a little over 90 minutes and made himself available for support when we wanted to customize some of the folders and messaging in the add-on once it was up and running. Responsive and clear, Richard held our hands through the roll-out and we have successfully launched this year’s portfolio process, having moved away from our previous tool. – Sean Moran, Director of Technology – The Potomac School
We realized that Richard had already created the product that we were looking for and, within one week, we were presenting it to faculty. The build was quick, the product is excellent and easy to integrate and Richard is an excellent thought partner. We are very confident that we have found a long term solution to , what was, a lingering problem with expensive solutions. We highly recommend Richard’s Employee Portfolios! – Joseph Carver, Associate Head of School – The Meadows School
Our previous solution for employee portfolios became clunky and expensive, which then presented a barrier to continue using it effectively. As I sought a viable solution, I saw Richard’s Employee Portfolios app at the ATLIS Annual Conference in 2023, and his comprehensive demo that presented the app’s features and the way it integrated easily within the Google Apps ecosystem solidified it as a “must use” for Laurel School. Richard is extremely responsive to both questions of support as well as suggestions for new features; I feel like I’ve found not only a great solution to providing our teachers and staff with portfolios, but also an excellent thought partner in this area. – Dan McGee, Director of Technology & Library Services – Laurel School
Custom Recurrence
Custom Recurrence
Does your school follow a rotating schedule? Are you able to efficiently repeat events on Google Calendar given the complexity of your schedule? Custom Recurrence is a Google Workspace Add-on designed to repeat calendar events based on your school's own patterns. This add-on supports multiple patterns using an easily configurable Google Sheet, this add-on allows you to configure the add-on according to a letter or number day pattern. This makes blocking off time on your calendar for an entire school year achievable with just a few clicks. Because the events are added to a series, when you need to update the event you have the option to update a single event, or the entire series.
Custom Recurrence Set-up Guide
As the administrator who led the search and implementation of a Google Calendar add-on, I can confidently say that "Custum Recurrence" has been a game-changer for our K-8 private school. With our unique 8-day cycle, scheduling recurring events like recess supervision was previously a time-consuming task. After a year of using this add-on, entering and managing events has become remarkably efficient. Our teachers and staff have expressed their gratitude for the significant time saved. This tool has truly streamlined our scheduling process, and the positive feedback from our team speaks volumes about its impact. Richard is also available to answer questions, which is, in my experience, uncommon for Google add-ons. Marina Ezoe, Executive Assistant to the Head of School - Redwood Day
Dismissal Manager
Dismissal Manager
Dismissal Manager User Guide.mp3Dismissal Manager allows your school to dismiss students from school quietly and efficiently using Google Forms™ and Google Sheets™.
Students are assigned a 3 or 4 digit PIN and when that number is submitted in a Google Form, their name appears on a corresponding teacher and grade level tab of a Google Sheet™. Teachers need only to monitor their assigned Google Sheet for dismissal calls.
Additionally, you can centrally track requested changes in dismissal plans from parents and use Google Spaces™ to quickly communicate with fellow staff members of that space. Likewise, you can optionally track and communicate weekly after school activities. Finally, the dismissal data can be scheduled to clear automatically, to prepare for the next day’s dismissal.
Calendar Bulk Actions
Calendar Bulk Actions
Have you ever wanted to efficiently color code your calendar? Or perhaps you need to quickly delete several events. This add-on uses the name of your event as a condition to perform a specific action such as color coding, bulk deleting events, bulk updating the description and location and even bulk adding guests. Likewise, you can also list events within a given date range, then select events within that date range to perform bulk actions such as color coding or bulk deletion.
Sub Manager
Sub Manager
Need a system for tracking internal coverage needs? This internal* add-on turns finding internal coverage into a community job board. Available teachers may select "open positions" on a Google Form and immediately receive a Google Calendar invite for the job.
Event Manager
Event Manager
I’ve developed an internal* Google Workspace Add-on for managing event requests using mostly Google Calendar and automated emails. A Google Sheet is used to feed the configuration settings to the add-on.
My solution involves an Event Request calendar, to which anyone in the organization can submit an event. All event details can be added through a form in the sidebar of Google Calendar. Additional support requests (i.e. tech support, catering, room set up) for the event are dynamically generated based on selections in the form. Any designated approver can click on an event on the Event Request calendar and approve or deny the request. An approval copies the event to the selected Events Calendars and adds any pre-defined daily or weekly recurrences. Moreover, it emails the requester and required support saying the event has been approved, adds the organizer as a guest and deletes the event from the Event Request calendar . A denial decision also triggers an email to the requester conveying that the event request has not been approved and deletes the event from the Event Request calendar.
Additionally, a companion Google Form can receive requests from external parties outside your domain. Google Form submissions can join the same workflow as internal ones.
This approach is especially useful for schools heavily invested in Google Calendar as it let’s you quickly identify potential conflicts before submitting a request and keeps all needed information in one centralized location – Google Calendar. Please reach out should your school or organization be interested in a custom deployment.
Field Trip Manager
Field Trip Manager
Like the Event Manager, Field Trip Manager manages the request and approval workflow directly in Google Calendar. When submitted, a new field trip request is added to a field trip request calendar. Designated approvers receive notifications about field trip requests and can review and act on directly in Google Calendar.
*An "internal" add-on is one that is not publicly available, but rather is co-developed with me directly in your domain. There's no need to share any credentials as we develop, test and deploy over one or more Google Meet calls. All of your data remains in your domain and nothing is shared externally.
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