Google Workspace for Education is a suite of online software applications that allow users to share information and ideas using Google's communication, collaboration and publishing tools. Students and faculty can create and share documents, spreadsheets and calendar events, as well as communicate using chat and video messaging.
Log in to Google Workspace
Go to any of Google's affiliated websites (except for Gmail). At the login prompt, enter your full @odu.edu email address, leave the password blank, and click sign in. Then log in with your MIDAS ID and password on ODU's Monarch-Key web login page.
These are just a few of the Google websites you can log into with your ODU account:
Google Products
Gmail
(Students admitted before February 1, 2023 only) Google's email interface has a powerful spam filter and up to 50 GB of storage. (Faculty, staff and newer student email accounts are provided through Office 365.)
Google Calendar
(Students admitted before February 1, 2023 only) Organize your schedule, keep a personal calendar to coordinate meetings, or schedule events. Shareable calendars integrate with Gmail, Drive, Sites and Chat.
Google Drive
Store your important files in this 50 GB cloud drive (storage space shared with email). Create, share and collaborate on documents, spreadsheets and presentations with fellow students across campus or across the world.
Google Drive is available to students, faculty and staff on a Mac, PC, Android or iOS device.
University employees must be careful to protect confidential or restricted data. Before using Google Drive to send, store or share University information, review the regulated data storage matrix.
Google Chat
Conversations come to life with Google Chat which provide the ability to communicate with other Google users through chat, voice or video.
- Send messages, photos and emoji.
- Create, broadcast and/or record an online meeting, interview, study group or tutoring session.
- Hold video calls with up to 15 people.
- Connect across computers, Android and Apple devices.
Google Sites
Create websites using simple tools, and publish them with Google.
Google Groups
User-created online and email-based groups provide mailing lists, easy content sharing, searchable archives and more.
Helpful links and tutorials
- Google Workspace Learning Center
- Google Workspace Blog
- Google Student Blog
- Google Drive Help Center
- Google Calendar Help Center
- Google Chat Help Center
- Google Groups Help Center
Taking your data with you
Student accounts (including email accounts) are deleted one year after your last class at ODU, whether you graduate, transfer or decide not to register for additional classes. Before you lose any of your important files, you may want to migrate your data to a personal Google account or to another service:
Learn how to migrate/archive your Google data
Frequently asked questions
Google Workspace for Education can be found at the top of your Gmail page, the main Google search page, or by direct web link to the specific Google application:
- Gmail (for students only): monarchs.odu.edu
- Google Drive (cloud storage, documents & collaboration for current students, faculty and staff): drive.google.com/a/odu.edu
- Google Calendar: calendar.google.com/a/odu.edu
- Google Sites: sites.google.com/a/odu.edu
You have 50 GB of storage space to store whatever you like.
University employees must be careful to protect confidential or restricted data. Before using Google Drive to send, store or share University information, review the regulated data storage matrix.
You have one username for all services in the Google Workspace suite. Once you log in to one service, you can easily access all others.
You'll receive invitations for calendar events and to collaborate on documents and spreadsheets.
(Note: Other Google services offered in free public Gmail accounts such as Picassa or BlogSpot will not be accessible through your student account. You must log in with your public Gmail account (not your student account) to access these other Google services.)
Google Workspace for Education accounts have been customized for optimal educational collaboration. ODU has taken steps to ensure that your student data is protected above and beyond a publicly available account. As an organization, Google is currently SAS 70 Type I compliant.
Google has promised to uphold a strict privacy policy and to always treat your personal information with the utmost care and security. Keep in mind that Google has agreed that ODU student data is subject to the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) when in Google's possession.
For more information on Google's Privacy and Security Policy, see web links below:
Google integrated Google Docs with Google Drive in April 2012. Google Drive combines all of the Docs features with improved cloud storage functionality. Google's web-based apps allow users to create and store files in the cloud and collaborate on projects anytime from anywhere with an internet connection.
You can get started by creating a new file in Google Drive or by uploading a file from your computer and converting it to Google's format. Since the products are integrated, you can use your email account Contacts list to invite people to view and/or edit your documents.
A Few Key Tips...
- Revision history - Individual edits are kept so you can see who made changes and revert back, if necessary.
- Search - Just like the rest of Google products, you can harness the power of Google search to look for a file or search for keywords within a file.
- Security and privacy - You choose who can view/edit your document and what level of access they have. Other users can only access your document or spreadsheet if you add them to the list of collaborators or viewers or if you decide to publish the document.
Google Workspace supports the following browsers:
- Chrome
- Edge
- Firefox
- Safari
The latest version of Google Chrome is supported (which automatically updates whenever it detects that a new version of the browser is available). The current and previous major releases of Firefox, Internet Explorer and Safari are supported on a rolling basis; each time a new version is released, Google supports that version and stops supporting the third most recent version.
The Status Dashboard is a web site that lists the current status of all Google services. If you are not able to access one of the web-based applications or you suspect that an app is down, go to http://www.google.com/appsstatus#hl=en to check the status of all Google services.