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Know the Calendar Basics
This first chunk of the exam is pretty easy: Know how to navigate around the calendar, switch to other Google Applications, and change the Calendar views. You'll also need to be familiar with finding your Google Apps school domain URL. Later, in the Google Admin exam article, you'll learn how to create shortcut links for the URL to make finding the calendar easier for your school and clients.
Add Appointments and Events to the Google Calendar
What's the point of the calendar if you can't add appointments, right? This section of the exam will test your knowledge of adding events to the calendar. You'll be tested on how to add events by highlighting a series of dates, using the "Create Event" link, adding a meeting through an SMS message, and using the direct "Quick Add" link. It's fairly logical.
Like most calendars, you can also create events that span multiple days, schedule ongoing meetings or events, and edit entries you've already created. You can imagine how a teacher might need access to students' calendars, so the ability to add meetings and events in other people's calendars is included, too. With all meetings and events you can schedule SMS messages, popup reminders, and email.
Invite People to Events
Remember, this is an exam on Google Apps for Education, so as you prep for this exam think of how teachers and schools can use the Google Calendar to better educate students. Think beyond lunch menus and volleyball practice.
Imagine class assignments, items in the news, and community events—in addition to the obvious tests, quizzes, and holidays. Students, parents, and staff can be kept informed of what events are happening in school. And no, you don't have to use Google Calendar to be invited to meetings—it's email—and link-driven in the RSVP message for meetings. Nifty.
Create and View Calendars
With Google Calendar you can have a personal calendar, a school calendar, a classroom calendar, and any number of calendars you want to edit and share with others. Some of your calendars you might want private, just for you, and other calendars you may want to share with just one person or the world. Google Calendar can let you do that.
Educators may be especially interested in the Agenda view in the calendar to create lesson plans for classes and seminars. You can view the detailed agenda online or print the view as a handout. If teachers want to get really fancy, the Agenda view can include links to Google Docs or other items, so participants can click directly to the materials needed as the meeting progresses.
Share Your Calendars
I've mentioned the idea of sharing multiple calendars—it's really a snap. On the exam you'll need to know that you can keep a calendar private, share with just people in your domain, or share with people from the entire world. You can also limit the sharing to just free/busy times for scheduling meetings without knowing what's scheduled in those busy time blocks.
When you share the calendar you can also define what others can do in your calendar—such as act as a delegate for scheduling your calendar or restricting viewers to just viewing open time for meetings.
Publish and Integrate Calendars
Teachers can choose to publish their calendars as HTML, XML, or iCal to let people see the calendar in a browser. Once the calendar is published, the teacher will need to copy the calendar address (through Calendar settings) and choose the calendar address to share with others. This means the calendar can be a published web page, or you can integrate the calendar into Google Sites, web pages, or even your school's start page.
Create a Course Curriculum and Schedule
You'll be tested how to use Google Calendar in an education environment. You'll need to know how to use the calendar to create and share a class calendar. This means scheduling events like homework and reports, inviting students, and setting reminders. You'll also need to know how to create separate calendars as for long-term assignments, with periodic reminders and activities. All these calendars can then be integrated into Google Sites; published on the Web; and shared with students, parents, and faculty members.