The Grandma works with Google Classroom |
Today, The Grandma is preparing new courses for a closer future. COVID has changed a lot of things and it has affected education courses, too.
She is using an interesting tool that offers her lots of possibilities, a useful tool created by Google that has become a great reference for teachers, Google Classroom.
She is using an interesting tool that offers her lots of possibilities, a useful tool created by Google that has become a great reference for teachers, Google Classroom.
Google Classroom is a free web service developed by Google for schools that aims to simplify creating, distributing, and grading assignments.
The primary purpose of Google Classroom is to streamline the process of sharing files between teachers and students. It is estimated between 40 to 100 million users use Google Classroom.
Google Classroom integrates docs, sheets, slides, gmail, and calendar into a cohesive platform to manage student and teacher communication.
Students can be invited to join a class through a private code, or automatically imported from a school domain.
Teachers can create, distribute and mark assignments all within the Google ecosystem. Each class creates a separate folder in the respective user's Drive, where the student can submit work to be graded by a teacher.
Assignments
and due dates are added to Google calendar, each assignment can belong
to a category or topic.
Teachers can monitor the progress for each
student by reviewing revision history of a document, and after being
graded, teachers can return work along with comments.
Classroom has mobile apps, available for iOS and Android.
Google
Classroom was announced on May 6, 2014, with a preview available for
some members of Google's G Suite for Education program. It was released
publicly on August 12, 2014.
In
2015 Google announced a Classroom API and a share button for websites,
allowing school administrators and developers to further engage with
Google Classroom. Also in 2015, Google integrated Google Calendar into
Classroom for assignment due dates, field trips and class speakers.
More information: Google
In 2017, Google opened Classroom to allow any personal Google users to join
classes without the requirement of having a G Suite for Education
account, and in April of the same year, it became possible for any
personal Google user to create and teach a class.
In 2018, Google announced a classroom refresh, adding a classwork section, improving the grading interface, allowing reuse of classwork from other classes, and adding features for teachers to organize content by topic.
In
2019, Google introduced 78 new illustrated themes and the option to
drag and drop topics and assignments in the classwork section.
In 2020, Google added better integration with Google Meet, so teachers can have a unique meet link within each class.
Google Classroom ties
Google Drive, Google Docs, Sheets and Slides, and Gmail together to help
educational institutions go to a paperless system.
Google Calendar was later integrated to help with assignment due dates, field trips, and class speakers.
Claire, Jordi, Joseph & Tonyi work with GClassroom |
Students can be invited to classrooms through the institution's database, through a private code that can then be added in the student's user interface or automatically imported from a school domain.
Each class created with Google Classroom creates a separate folder in the respective user's Google Drive, where the student can submit work to be graded by a teacher.
Each class created with Google Classroom creates a separate folder in the respective user's Google Drive, where the student can submit work to be graded by a teacher.
Assignments are stored and graded on Google's suite of productivity applications that allow collaboration between the teacher and the student or student to student. Instead of sharing documents that reside on the student's Google Drive with the teacher, files are hosted on the student's Drive and then submitted for grading.
Teachers may choose a file that can then be treated as a template so that every student can edit their own copy and then turn back in for a grade instead of allowing all students to view, copy, or edit the same document. Students can also choose to attach additional documents from their Drive to the assignment.
Google
Classroom supports many different grading schemes. Teachers have the
option to attach files to the assignment which students can view, edit,
or get an individual copy. Students can create files and then attach
them to the assignment if a copy of a file wasn't created by the
teacher.
Teachers
have the option to monitor the progress of each student on the
assignment where they can make comments and edit. Turned in assignments
can be graded by the teacher and returned with comments to allow the
student to revise the assignment and turn back in. Once graded,
assignments can only be edited by the teacher unless the teacher turns
the assignment back in.
Announcements can be
posted by teachers to the class stream which can be commented on by
students allowing for two-way communication between the teacher and
students. Students can also post to the class stream but won't be as
high of a priority as an announcement by a teacher and can be moderated.
More information: EdSurge
Multiple
types of media from Google products such as YouTube videos and Google
Drive files can be attached to announcements and posts to share content.
Gmail also provides email options for teachers to send emails to one or
more students in the Google Classroom interface. Classroom can be
accessed on the web or via the Android and iOS Classroom mobile apps.
Originality report was
introduced in January 2020. It allows educators and students to see the
parts and sections of the submitted work which contains the exact or
similar wording to that of another source. For students, it highlights
source materials and flags missing citation to assist the student in
improving their writing.
Teachers can also view the originality report, allowing them to verify the academic integrity of the student's submitted work.
On
G Suite for Education (free), teachers can turn on originality report
for 3 assignments but have limited cloud storage. This restriction is
lifted on G Suite Enterprise for Education (paid).
The Grandma works with Google Classroom |
Classroom allows instructors to archive courses at the end of a term or year.
When a course is archived, it is removed from the homepage and placed in the Archived Classes area to help teachers keep their current classes organized.
When a course is archived, teachers and students can view it, but won't be able to make any changes to it until it is restored.
When a course is archived, it is removed from the homepage and placed in the Archived Classes area to help teachers keep their current classes organized.
When a course is archived, teachers and students can view it, but won't be able to make any changes to it until it is restored.
Google Classroom mobile apps, introduced in January 2015, are available for iOS and Android devices. The apps let users take photos and attach them to their assignments, share files from other apps, and support offline access.
In contrast to Google's consumer services, Google Classroom, as part of G Suite for Education, does not show any advertisements in its interface for students, faculty, and teachers, and user data is not scanned or used for advertising purposes.
eLearningIndustry tested
and made a review of Google Classroom, in which they highlighted many
positive and negative aspects. Among Classroom's strengths, the review
highlighted ease of use, universal device accessibility, use of Google
Drive as an effective way for teachers to quickly share assignments with
students, the paperless process meaning the end of printing, handing
out, and potentially losing work, and the fast feedback system between
students and teachers.
Among Classroom's
disadvantages, the review highlighted the service's heavy integration of
Google apps and services with limited or no support for external files
or services, lack of automated quizzes and tests, and a lack of live
chats that can aid in feedback efforts. Google Classroom won a 2020
Webby Special Achievement Award.
Due to the prominence of Google, students find Google Classroom easy to navigate since many are familiar with Google layout. Furthermore, the mobile app for Google Classroom functions well which has been praised by students. If notifications are enabled, the mobile app for Google Classroom can remind students of upcoming deadlines, a feature that has been received well by students.
As a company Google has been criticized on several different issues, including privacy. Specific criticism of Google Classroom generally focuses on concern for privacy for students and Google's use of student data. Criticism of Google Classroom is often combined with criticism of Chromebooks and G Suite.
Other criticisms directed at Google Classroom are lack of a full-fledged gradebook, lack of automatic quizzes and tests, common features in learning management systems, and editing of assignments once they are released.
Students have also expressed a desire for personalization due to the Google Classroom layout being very simplistic and unappealing. Also, the chronological setup has been criticized as students respond with frustrations of having to scroll through to find past announcements.
Google has responded to concerns about privacy practices by stating Google is committed to building products that help protect student and teacher privacy and provide best-in-class security for your institution.
More information: The New York Times
Tell me and I forget.
Teach me and I remember.
Involve me and I learn.
Benjamin Franklin
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