I’ve listed the top Google offerings and their potential value to educators and students.  Once you create a Google Account, you can save to one account.  Sharing of sites, blogs, calendars, etc. gives Google the edge over desktop software.  Though, of course, online services will be a bit more limited in functionality than you may be used to.

Blogger
Blogger allows students to journal online. Each post appears on the top of the stream, and students can embed images and video. Blogger supports and encourages student writing and creativity. Informal writing and reflection about any topics.

Books
Google has scanned thousands of books online, and made them available for reading. Though few people want to read on their computer, with new mobile devices, reading books online becomes more appealing.

Calendar
The ability to create a calendar and share it with multiple people allows for easier collaboration. You can have multiple collaborators and updaters. Google Calendar syncs with many mobile devices.

Chrome
Chrome is a zippy fast new web browser like Internet Explorer and Firefox. If you are frustrated by the bloat of IE, you may want to give Chrome a spin. Free download.

Desktop
Desktop is a software application you can download and install on your computer, which indexes all your files and documents, making it easier to search and find what you are looking for. It’s a great option if you are still using XP.

Documents
Google Documents allows you to create documents, spreadsheets, and presentations online for sharing and collaboration. You can have multiple authors and publish them online for easy viewing. Great for students. Avoids the need for having a flash drive and creates a digital portfolio of assignments.

Earth
If you have not tried Google Earth, you are missing out on one of Google’s most compelling products. It allows you to see the Earth in 3-D. Google Earth is a software application you download and install on your computer. You can zoom in and focus on locations on the earth. It is Google Maps in 3-D. Creating lessons and supplementing lessons with Google Earth will be well worth your time.

Finance
Google Finance allows you to create online portfolios of stocks and track their performance over time. You can download the portfolios to Excel and perform comparisons. Great for an economics class.

Groups
Google Groups supports a private or public online discussion forum. It allows you to post topics for discussion and members to reply. You can also post information and documents for easy access to all members. Great for extracurricular classes and groups.

Knol
Knol is Google’s version of a Wiki. It is an online repository of information about a topic. You can create a knoll about any topic and any member of the Knol can edit pages and make updates. It is great if you are creating a guide or a handbook that might often change or require updating. (For example, you can have a Knol for Everything You Need to Know About Graduating)

Maps
Kids love Google Maps. They can spend endless free time exploring the maps due to its interactivity and visuals of places they are familiar with. If you can create an assignment using Google Maps, you will receive definite kudos with your students.

News
Google News searches the web for the top stories from other websites and creates a news page. Great for getting multiple articles on the same topic.

Picasa
Picasa allows you to create and share photo albums. You can upload them online or download software to your computer. You can create public and private libraries.

Reader
Google Reader allows you to subscribe to the top stories of many websites using a technology called RSS. Each day new stories are automatically fed into the Reader. Google Reader is great for educators, helping them to follow their favorite websites in one place regarding news, education, interests, etc. Students could also follow their own favorite websites, supporting non-fiction reading and articles. Great for researching a topic.

Scholar
Google Scholar searches for scholarly articles on a topic. Though valuable, most of the articles are written at a college or post-graduate level.

Sites
Google Sites is a website creator for the non-technical. It requires no knowledge of HTML. Educators or students can easily create new pages, edit the content, and add images and visuals. You can even share and have multiple editors.

Sketchup
Sketchup is a software package that you can download and install and it allows for basic 3-D modeling. Great if you are working with geometry students.

Timeline
Google News Timeline allows you to search for stories about a topic/person over a number of dates. Great if you are writing a research paper that requires covering a large number of dates.

You can access all of these services by typing the name of the service at google.com.  For example: calendar.google.com or chrome.google.com or sites.google.com.

Voice

Google Voice creates one phone number for a combination of phone #s.  It is still new and not available to everyone yet.

Wave

Wave is the future of email, IM, chat and collaboration.  It’s in the rough stages now and needs some time to evolve into its final product.  Unless you are a tech enthusiast, you will find more frustration than benefit here at this time.