Google Apps...What???

While listening to the rather monotonous drones of the google employees, I did realize that I have really know idea what they are talking about. I did however understand the cool tool known as Google calendar. My understanding is this, I can sign on to use the Google calendar through my school or place of employment. Once there I can use it to do pretty much all of my planning. If my understanding is correct (and I would have taken the time to do this in school) it really would have cut back on the amount of wasted time sitting around waiting for a whole group of people to show up for a study meeting or for an information session. Instead, we could all sign on to the calendar at the same time and allow for others to download our calendars and then compare and contrast the times we are available. I spent many evenings in the science center waiting to complete senior thesis work and people not showing up due to simple miscommunication or last minute changes to their schedules. The ability to sign on and speak in real time is very interesting too. I can see where it would come in handy and allow to have many meetings from the comfort of your own chair. Like I said, I can see where much of this is handy but I am not sure that I would have used it. Probably from just the simple lack of understanding. The good thing about Google is it is sort of a one stop shop. Everything you need in one area and once an individual gets the hang of it it is easy to navigate through. However, I am not anywhere near that.
In my classroom currently, students are not allowed to sign on to the Internet for security reasons, so it is difficult for me to envision how this would help my student population. I do see a lot of promise for the teachers at this point. If they could all see what each one of the other is doing then there would be more likeness in the skills and tools utilized within our tiny program. It would allow for communication if a staff member was out to continue on with what they are teaching and not have to do "busy work". If the students were allowed to use Google and Google Apps it would be easy for them to maximize and keep in touch with the teachers if they were out (we have a very high truancy rate) and there would be little to know excuse for not having work due or having a lack of understanding.