I Can Do That in Google Classroom?
A recap and reminder of Google Classroom's flexibility
Google Classroom has been used since the first day it was released by many teachers throughout our district. Once just an easy way to distribute information and assignments, many improvements have been made over the past 2 1/2 years. Now, teachers can use it to quickly see who is done with an assignment. Students can use the automatic calendar to keep themselves organized and on top of their assignments when teachers add a due date. Below are just some improvements made just during the past year or more.
If you have questions on how to use any of these, some links have been provided, but don't forget to use the colorful G Suite Training icon in the upper right hand corner of any Google tool. It will show you a video or walk you through how to do many of the processes that you need. As always, email me if you have questions!
Google Classroom Updates Announced August 1
Differentiation
- Teachers can now post assignments and announcements to individual or groups of students.
What's different?
- In the past it was suggested to create multiple "classrooms" for different groups. Now you can all be in the same Classroom but with different assignments.
Improved Notifications
- Teachers and students can now be more specific about which email and app notifications they receive.
- Students can receive email and mobile notifications when they have unsubmitted work due within 24 hours.
- Teacher receive email and mobile notifications when a student submits late work or resubmits work.
What's different?
- Notifications, both email and mobile, used to be all or nothing.
Topics
What's different?
- All posts to a stream used to simply be in reverse chronological order with the newest at the top. That's still true, but if you add a topic to your post, it allows you or your students to filter the posts if they are looking for something specific.
Parent and Guardian Communication
What's different?
- Parents and guardians used to only be able to see into your Classroom by using their child's log in. Now, if you enter their email address under the Students tab in Classroom, they can receive weekly summaries to at least see what their child(ren) should be working on. It's still not full access like a public website, but it is a nice summary.
Classroom mobile app
- Annotating on top of assignments
- An overview of submitting assignments. Click "Android" or "iPhone & iPad" for mobile directions.
- Recording video straight to Google Classroom from the app.
What's different?
- As the app has grown, there is more and more that students can do if they have a smartphone. In addition to notifications and annotating, students can take video or pictures from the app and upload right to their Classroom assignment. While there are some things that teachers can do, I still think it's more valuable for students.
Below are some videos to help get (re-)acquainted with some things you can do in Google Classroom.
https://youtu.be/mQEJdaeJ-z0
Google Classroom Reuse Post
https://youtu.be/O8EuVf1t4_U
ICYMI - Pre 2016-17 School Year
- Schedule assignments, questions, or announcements to be posted at a later date and time.
- Multiple teachers in a single class
- Create multiple choice questions right within Classroom.
- Google Forms can be added as an assignment in Classroom. When added from Drive and there is no other work, the assignment is marked is done with the Form is submitted. If you make the Form a quiz, it could be automatically graded for students.
- Reuse a post from a previous class