Google has announced the new education category to its Google Apps Marketplace for educators creating an online repository filled with learning management system (LMS) software, web-based grade books, and other content that can be shared among an entire school district or college campus with the click of a button.
According to Google, the education category in the Google Apps Marketplace already features over 20 applications from 19 different developers — including LearBoost, Engrade, Innovation Teaching, Aviary, Haiku Learning Systems, and more.
Google sees the education market as an important part of its long-term strategy, both in terms of winning converts to cloud computing and in terms of seeding demand for its nascent browser-based operating system, Chrome OS. The limitations of Chrome OS — lack of access to the file system, for example — and its benefits — centralized administration and automatic updates, for example — make the browser-based operating system particularly well-suited for environments like businesses and schools where constrained computing is appropriate.
Google counts thousands of educational institutions with over 10 million students and faculty as users of Google Apps for Education.
Google has even put together a video demo of the new education category in the Google Apps Marketplace. Check out the video below.
