Official Google Canada Blog: Back to School

Google Canada’s Back-to-School Trends Report

Wednesday, July 29, 2015

Ahhh, summer. Time to shop for bathing suits, beach towels and… backpacks? That’s right. July is almost over and it’s already time to start shopping for school. But before they step inside a store, today’s back-to-school shoppers do their homework, heading online to find out what trends are hot, where to get them, and how to get the best deals.
And where are we getting inspiration for what to buy? A quarter of Canadian university students saying that they go to YouTube to find out what’s cool to purchase. In fact, Canadian searches for “back to school” on YouTube grew 67% last year, and this year we’ve seen a 120% growth in watchtime of back-to-school videos globally.
It’s only July, and we’ve already seen twice as many back to school videos posted on YouTube as last year, including perennial favourites like hair tutorials and dorm room tours, along with rising trends like nail art (which we’ve already watched 2 million hours of on YouTube this year!)
So what items are likely to be on Canadians’ back-to-school shopping list? We looked at search trends year-over-year and identified three distinct patterns:

Rising stars - you can think of these as fast fashion trends, they’re things that get really hot quickly, but can fizzle out; we’re searching for them a lot.

Seasonal Growth - these are trends that last for several seasons, they have staying power; these searches are steadily increasing year-over-year.

Seasonal Decline - these are trends that are slowly on their way out; we’re searching less for them now than we used to.

Canada’s Back-to-School Hot (and Not) List

Happy shopping!
Posted by Jenn Kaiser, Communications Manager, Google Canada

Google Play Books Making the Grade

Monday, August 18, 2014

play.google.com/textbooksGoogle Play Books

Google PlayPosted by Daniel Chak, Product Manager, Books

More teaching, Less tech-ing: Google Classroom Launches Today

Tuesday, August 12, 2014

When we introduced Classroom back in May, we asked educators to give it a try. The response was exciting — more than 100,000 educators from more than 45 countries signed up to try it. Today, we’re starting to open Classroom to all Google Apps for Education users, helping teachers spend more time teaching and less time shuffling papers.
The teachers of Ontario’s Windsor-Essex Catholic District School Board were some of the first to use Classroom. Since May, Google Certified Teacher and WECDSB’s e-Learning expert Joe Sisco has used Classroom in professional development sessions with the Board’s educators. Joe says that teachers have found it incredibly easy to use: “It took about 5 minutes or less to create a class, have 30 teachers join the class, and push out a Google Drawing to have them sort images using a venn diagram.”
Teachers and students have been instrumental in helping us build Classroom. For example, we heard during the preview that educators don’t want to wait until an assignment is turned in to collaborate with students. Now with Classroom, teachers will be able to view and comment on students’ work to help them along the way. We’ve also heard that educators want a simple place to post information and materials about their classes, so we added an “About” page for each course as well.

Teachers can review assignments directly from Classroom and provide feedback and grades to students all in one place.
Starting today, Classroom is available in 42 languages (including Hebrew, Arabic and Persian). It also works well on mobile devices and most popular screen readers. We’ll be rolling out to more users every day, so if you go to classroom.google.com with your Apps for Education account and don’t have access yet, please check back soon!
Hopefully Classroom will help you spend a little less time at the photocopier and a little more time doing what you love—teaching.

Posted by Zach Yeskel, Product Manager, Classroom

Back to School: The Digital Days of Summer

Thursday, August 22, 2013

already ahead of last year’s record paceBack-to-School: Digital Days

Think Insights

The average Canadian will spend $488 on back-to-school supplies – roughly a third of it ($163) online.

In August, searches peak for the essentials, including school supplies, laptops and phone plans.

79 percent of shoppers will search online for back-to-school deals.

For the wait-and-see set, back-to-school searches continue throughout the entire month of September.

Getting inspired with video

On YouTube, back-to-school shopping searches in Canada spike every August and have doubled from last year.

Popular searches on YouTube during back-to-school shopping season include “room tour,” “school supplies,” “school makeup tutorial,” and “haul videos.”

Canadian Brands are also connecting with back-to-school shoppers on YouTube - Walmart Canada, and Staples Canada have already uploaded back-to-school videos on their YouTube channels to promote sales and school supplies.

Never too earlymore than 200% in the last 30 daysPosted by Andrew Swartz, Google Canada

Back to School with Google Voice Search

Wednesday, August 21, 2013

Tutor, tour guide, personal assistant… Kraft Dinner sous-chef Make sure the Google Search app is in the proverbial backpack when you head off to school this fall. Download the Google Search app for iPhone, or use it on Android to help find your way around campus, translate professor-speak and make sure you’re not late for your next class… all without typing a word!
Whatever screen you’re on when you head to school, just open Google Search, tap the mic icon, and ask “Where’s the Ryerson Student Union Building?” or “Do I need an umbrella today?” You can speak naturally, and Google will answer with real-world answers.
Here are some suggestions for putting Google Voice Search through its back-to-school paces.

“Where is Pitman Hall?” New dorm, new school, maybe an entirely new city? Tap on the mic and tell Google what you’re looking for. If you have the audio volume turned up on your device, you’ll hear Google tell you the address of Ryerson University’s largest residence, and you’ll get the dorm’s location on a map. Tap navigate or just say “Navigate to Pitman Hall,” and follow Google Maps’ turn-by-turn directions for driving, walking, public transit or biking.

“Define ‘laggard’” If your History of Europe 101 prof tells the class she has “no time for laggards”, tap the mic, ask for the definition of the term (no need to worry about typos) and you’ll know what exactly she means. The definition is spoken back to you and available on your screen.

“Who was Charlemagne?” Don’t be a laggard. Google Voice search uses the power of the Knowledge Graph to deliver exactly the information you need, exactly when you need it.

“Set calendar event, history study group at 7pm” Tap the mic and with a few words you have updated your calendar to make sure you stay on top of your studies.
“Set alarm for 30 minutes from now, label: Laundry.” Google Voice Search is seamlessly integrated into your Android device, making sure that you get your whites out the dryer before they wrinkle… or your roommate dumps them on the floor.
“What time does Loblaws close?” Faster than looking up a business’s website, Google Voice Search results quickly display the nearest grocery store’s hours of operation and location.
“Remind me to pick up Kraft Dinner at Loblaws” When you set foot in the grocery store, Google will remind you to pick up some KD for dinner.
“Note to self, I’m parked on level D3” Tap the mic and add a note to Google Keep, Evernote or Catch.
“Show me a video of how to cook Kraft Dinner” Google Voice Search results display YouTube videos with step-by-step instructions on how to cook your first dinner away from home.

“How many tablespoons in a cup?” Super fast, straight-forward answers to the questions you ask. Especially handy in the kitchen for those Imperial-Metric conversions.
“What’s a good Thai restaurant?” Sick of doing dishes? Google Voice Search results offer suggestions for nearby restaurants, showing locations and user reviews.
“When is Thanksgiving?” Missing home cooked meals? Ask Google about the next holiday.
“Remind me to call mom tonight” It’s ok to be homesick. Tap the mic and reminders seamlessly integrate with Google Now.
“What is the status of Air Canada Flight 103” Listen to your flight status or check the results on your screen. Google Voice Search makes sure you don’t miss that flight home for turkey dinner!

Heading off to school can be pretty overwhelming experience with so much to take in all at once. But if you have a question or need some help, don’t forget to speak up. Google Voice Search may have the answers you’re looking for this fall. Posted by Aaron Brindle, Google Canada

Back to School: Kick off the year with Google Drive

Tuesday, August 20, 2013

This is the second part of our Back to School Week series on the Google Canada blog. Stay tuned for more posts throughout the week for students, parents and teachers heading back to school! Google Drive
“The dog ate my homework” Google Docs

Group work in a snap SlidesOrganizing clubs and groups made easy Sheets

Posted by Leslie Church, Google Canada

"Hauler" Back... to School with Video

Friday, August 31, 2012

turning to videos to help make purchase decisionsBeautycakezYouTube
Posted by Andrew Swartz, Google Canada

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