Google turns into teachers' pet

Weeks into a new school year, Google has started courting teachers with a resource guide on how to use its applications in the classroom.

Late on Wednesday, the search giant launched a website called Google for Educators. The site includes how-to video tutorials for products such as Blogger; lesson plans for applications such as Google Earth; and links to a training academy to become a "Google certified teacher", a pilot programme for teachers to learn about technology.

According to Google's site: "We think of this site as a platform of teaching resources - for everything from blogging and collaborative writing to geographical search tools and 3D modelling software - and we want you to fill it in with your great ideas."

With the educators' site, Google continues a run on diversifying its business. Earlier this week, the company announced a $1.65bn acquisition of video-sharing website YouTube.

Google's education push competes with similar efforts by rivals including Microsoft and Yahoo!. Microsoft, for example, shepherded the opening of Philadelphia's School of the Future this autumn - a school that boasts a centralised high-tech network for learning and administration.

Google's resource site includes a teachers' newsletter, with tips and features on using technology. It also has links to how-to guides on 12 Google applications, including web search, Book search, Google Maps, Google Video, Picasa photo-sharing and Google Docs, a free word-processing service. Finally, the site showcases examples of how other teachers are using the programs, in partnership with WestEd at Infinitethinking.org.

Stefanie Olsen writes fro CNET News.com