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Apps including Gmail
(Google Mail), Google Calendar and Google Talk offers several benefits. One of the reasons includes not having a
need to place a huge amount of investments onto computer hardware and server configurations. There is no longer a need to dedicate space just for hardware. Instead, schools can just ‘plug into’ the cloud easily (Won Kim, 2009). In addition, it would also reduce the need to re-architecture the entire system infrastructure if required (Ministry of Education, 2009)， Education institutions might not have the infrastructure and resources to run Collaborative or e-learning systems. (Paul Pocatilu et al, 2009) Therefore, instead of going through the hassle of obtaining resources, institutions can now concentrate on building up content and managing these contents. The idea of accepting the need to collaborate together would encourage members to work towards achieving quality content.

2.3 The use of Google Apps for Educators in schools

It is important for teachers to understand the usefulness of adopting Google Apps. However, there might be resistance towards adopting technology for teachers as they might not see technology as a driver towards providing quality education for students (Teo, 2006). The use of these technologies will ideally give the schools more focus in providing quality education, removing the need to focus on other technical aspects (Miliband, 2004). Teachers will no longer be constrained by the traditional methods of teaching (Kuhn, 1970) using chalk, textbooks, notepads, pens and pencils. Instead, the collaborative environment provides a channel for students and teachers to share knowledge among each other and forming a virtual community among themselves (Maged N Kamel Boulos, Et Al 2006), which eliminates the problem of boundaries and distances. Web 2.0 content allows a break away from the traditional content of pages. Instead, pages are now replaced with contents that are written by users. These are known as post (Bryan Alexander, 2006). Contents can now be written by users and tailored towards the needs of the school. Without any programming knowledge, students and teachers can now create web pages and display them easily (Mohd Nazri etal, 2009).

However, there would still be a need to address the information obtained from the Internet (Wallace, 2004). As the students might not fully understand certain concepts of theories, therefore the teacher would act as a mentor to guide these students. The teachers would also act as drivers for the use of Web 2.0(i.e. Google Apps) to make the students more eager to use these collaborative tools as well (Mohd Nazri et al, 2009).In order for collaboration and communication to happen successfully, it would take a significant amount of time and effort for users to do so. (Barbara et al, 2009) Users must be able to overcome the uncertainty that the technology might offer. It is important for teachers to understand how to use the technology and not spend time on learningand teaching it. (Roger Nevin, 2010) Schools and system implementers must recognise that technology brings about uncertainty to users as well. As described in an article by Tatikonda and Rosenthal。

Chapter3: Research Framework

The framework proposed for this research topic would be the Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge or TPCK by Punya Mishra and Matthew J. Koehler