VSU rolls out 9,245 free Google Workspace accounts to students in Main Campus

As part of the university’s aggressive plans for continued digitalization, the Information and Communication Technology Management Center (ICTMC) in partnership with the University Integrated Media Center (UIMC) successfully rolled out 9,245 free Google Workspace for Education accounts for all registered students of the Main Campus in Baybay City, Leyte.

VSU has previously announced an upgrade of its Google Workspace for Education subscription from the free Fundamentals to the premium Education Plus, spending about 1.5 million pesos for 2,500 licenses for faculty and staff including 10,000 licenses for students good for one year.

Google Workspace for Education is a collection of cloud computing, productivity and collaboration tools, software and products mainly designed for schools and homeschools to allow students and teachers to effectively collaborate, streamline instruction, and keep learning safe amidst the continuing threat of COVID-19.

This online suite is very important in the implementation of a hybrid learning environment that combines in-person classes with online learning, which is currently being tested by the university following the recommendations and guidelines set by the Commission on Higher Education (CHED). 

On September 12 this year, it can be recalled that VSU opened its doors to all Viscans for the implementation of full face-to-face classes on all its campuses with some legroom for online learning of not more than 25% of the total class hours for every subject.

A day after its official rollout yesterday, October 3, ICTMC has already monitored a total of 1,587 active users, or 17% of the total 9,245 enrolled students in the VSU Main Campus. 

The university expects that all students based on the Baybay City campus will take advantage of this free service while a future rollout for component campuses in Alangalang, Isabel, Tolosa, and Villaba is currently underway.

Setting an account and some dos and don'ts

Getting this free service is as simple as following the steps below to avail of the many perks and advantages of having an institutional email account:

VSU’s Google Workspace for Education Plus subscription will allow students to enjoy a lot of benefits including an expanded Google Drive storage of up to a maximum of 35 Gigabytes, which is more than double what a regular email account can provide.

This premium subscription also includes more features in using Google Meet including recording online meetings and classes, access to breakout rooms, live streaming, question and answer (Q&A), polling, attendance tracking, and more. 

It also makes way for authentic thinking because teachers and students now have unlimited originality reports and peer matches that can help detect plagiarism and encourage original work. 

This is on top of the current institutional subscription to another plagiarism checking tool called Turnitin, which is embedded in the services of the university’s official LMS—the VSU e-Learning application that is now also available for download in both Google Play Store and Apple App Store.

This free Google subscription will also allow Viscans to link their institutional email accounts to other online learning platforms that provide free premium services to students like Canva and Microsoft’s 365 Education, among others.

But in maintaining the Google Workspace for Education accounts, both the ICTMC and the UIMC have some important reminders for all students subscribing for this free service of the university.

First, all students are encouraged to link their new VSU email accounts in the MyVSU Student Portal by changing their previously registered primary email addresses.

ICTMC will also soon update all registered email accounts in the VSU e-Learning application using the institutional email provided to them. This is very important in segregating email notifications for academic and personal purposes so that students do not get to mix them up.

Second and the most important, students should refrain from linking their free institutional emails to their social media accounts like Facebook, Instagram or Twitter including bank account registration and other personal transactions that are not in any way related to their academic activities.

The registration to the VSU institutional email is only temporary and can be revoked by the university upon non-enrollment and/or graduation of a student.

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