This Google Classroom review will help you know how to use Google Classroom and why it is so important. A lot of schools teachers are searching for resources and tools that help make their lives better and reduce stress.
This is because collecting student work and reminding them of upcoming assignments can take up a significant portion of the class period. To solve this problem, a lot of them now utilize Google classroom to help with class management.
If your school/ offers you a G Suite for Education account, it would be ideal if you consider setting up and maintaining Google classrooms for your classes. You can collect work and files that students submit for grading without the hassle by using Google classroom.
No.1. What is Google Classroom, and how does it work?
Google Classroom is a free application provided by Google. It is used by teachers and students for better communication and also the organization of assignments. With this app, documents are saved on Google Drive and are edited in the Drive’s apps like Google Docs, Sheets, and others. The main difference between Google classroom and the typical Google Drive is the teacher/student interface, which was specially designed for how the teachers and students think.
No.2. Google Classroom Overview
Creating a class and adding students
Google Classroom gives you the ability to create a different class for each class you teach. It is straightforward to create any one of these classes. Google classrooms are divided into several sections, including Students and Stream. You can see all the students present in your class in the Students section. You can choose to add students manually or have them join the class using their Google account. When your class is created, you will be provided with a class code which you can find on the left side of your screen. You could give that code to any student you wish to join the class. All the assignments, announcements, and questions that you create can be found in the Steam section.
Google Classroom Assignments
You can use Google Classroom Assignments to collect student work and give them feedback and grades. You have the option of setting some specific instructions like the topic and due date when creating an assignment. Setting a due date for an assignment means that your students will have to submit on or before 11:59 PM on that day. If they fall short and submit late, Google will still accept the assignment but indicate that it was submitted late.
Questions Feature
You can easily ask questions within a particular class by utilizing the questions feature. Just like you do with assignments, you can also add files and a due date to your questions. You can either post multiple-choice or short answer questions for your students to answer in the classroom.
Google Classroom tabulates the result of all the students' answers to a multiple-choice question and gives you a breakdown of the answers in real-time. If you click on either of the multiple-choice answers, Google Classroom will show you the students that chose that option. If a student replies to a short answer question, Google classroom shows the students’ responses as it cannot tabulate the results.
No.3. Google Classroom pricing
Google Classroom can be gotten for free by schools that use Google Apps for Education. However, there is a paid G-Suite Enterprise for Education tier, and it comes with extra features like advanced videoconferencing features, advanced security, and premium support.
No.4. How do I teach in Google Classroom?
To teach in Google Classroom, you need first to set up your Google Classroom teacher account. These are the steps to follow;
Sign up
Firstly, you have to go to classroom.google.com, where you would be able to log in by using your G suite email address, or you can opt to use it without opting to use it for education. It would still work fine that way. However, opting for that could make adding students a very challenging task, as you would have to add them individually.
Creating a Class
The next step to teaching in Google Classroom is to create a class. Now, click on the “+” button located in the top right corner and select “create class”. Then, you proceed to fill in the details about your class. Give it a superb class name and section. Ensure that the class name is the title of your class, as this would make it easier to find. When you are done, click on “create.”
Inviting students to your class
After you have successfully created the class, you can then invite your students. Have them sign in by using the unique code you shared with them. In the students' tab, you can find the code you created. Another way of adding your students is to add them individually with their email address. It is important to note that your students must have a Gmail or Google email address.
You can also have your students go to classroom.google.com. Then, your students will click on “join class,” then input the class code. This is a little faster as there is no need to input each student’s email one by one.
And that is how to set up your Google Classroom teacher account.
Conclusion
Google Classroom can save you a lot of time by allowing you to create classes, post assignments easily, and communicate with your students. This is ideal as it places all your assignments, student work, and announcements in one place.
It doesn’t matter the subject you teach; Google Classroom is a superb app for collecting student work, sharing useful info, and providing feedback. So, if your school provides you with a Google account, waste no time to set up Google classroom to engage and challenge your students.