Google Classroom – what is this new service from Google

Google Classroom is one of the leading applications that facilitate remote teaching. As of April 2020, the service had more than one hundred million active users. Its design makes it easy to perform the basic activities necessary for education. Use of Google Classroom is encouraged by the Ministry of Digitization. It is one of the easiest virtual classrooms to use.

What you should know about Google Classroom?

Google Classroom had its premiere on the twelfth of August 2014. It is a free online service available for Android, iOS and web browser. The service was developed with schools in mind. Its goal is to simplify the process of creating, grading assignments and distributing them electronically. It provides a link between Google Drive (simple file sharing), Google Sheets, Presentations and Documents (intuitive file creation), Gmail mailbox (fast and efficient communication), and Google Calendar (a transparent open air).

The application is available in two versions. The first is dedicated to users with accounts in the domain of the school for which the education package has been assigned. All schools with public privileges can receive the package free of charge and indefinitely. The second version, on the other hand, is for users with a regular Google account. It is excellent for group work.

Because many people use the Google browser, the layout of Google Classroom is very simple and intuitive to use.

• The advantages of Google Classroom include:
• access to information via any device anywhere with internet access,
• easy and quick organization of classes,
• eco-friendly alternative to traditional paper-based materials,
• efficient communication between students and teachers,
• lack of advertising,
• possibility to conduct discussions.

What features does Google Classroom have?

Video conferencing

This is one of the most important features during remote teaching. Teachers and lecturers can organize a video conference, inviting students or pupils to participate. The feature uses the Google Meet service. The feature is available to G Suite Enterprise for Schools and Colleges users. Videoconferencing is a great way to make students feel at least minimally like they are in a real classroom.

Tasks

The G Suite application allows you to store and grade assignments. Student assignments are stored on individual disks so that other students cannot access the files. Users can also attach additional files to assignments.

Google Classroom supports multiple grading schemes. Teachers can monitor students’ progress on assignments in real time, add comments, grade and edit them.

Thanks to the state-of-the-art system, it is possible to constantly monitor students’ progress and possibly correct their mistakes.

Anti-plagiarism program

Students’ assignments, divided into sections and parts, contain information referring to the exact or similarly worded source on the Internet. Teachers, with the help of a reliable report, can compare the submitted work with academic materials, sites on the Internet and check whether the student has committed plagiarism. The program is free for three assignments.

Announcements

Teachers can post announcements between classes. The stream resembles the timeline found on social networks. Announcements can be commented on, allowing communication between the student and the instructor. Students can also post, but the teacher can edit them. In addition, multimedia from the YouTube platform can be attached to announcements.

Archiving

Google Classroom allows you to archive your classes at the end of the semester or year. Once archived, classes can be viewed at any time, but no changes can be made to them. Archiving helps in repeating material and designing future lessons.

Tests

Google Classroom also allows you to create tests via Google Forms. There are multiple forms for answering questions. After completing a quiz, students get the score right away, so the teacher can save time on checking, and students don’t have to wait for grades.

Mobile app

Google Classroom’s mobile version on iOS and Android allows users to take photos and attach them to assignments, share files from other apps, and operate the service offline. With the mobile app, you can use Google Classroom anytime, anywhere.

How to use Google Classroom?

You can access the free Google Classroom account through your school’s Google account. You can log in from both a computer and a smartphone or tablet.

On a computer, you need to go to https://classroom.google.com/h, while on a smartphone or tablet you need to install Google Classroom from the app store.

Once the service is up and running, you need to add a group of fellow users by either sending out invitations or adding yourself to an already created group.

Whether you are an instructor or a student or pupil, Google Classroom comes with such tabs as Stream, Assignments, People and Grades.

The application allows you to share files, documents, spreadsheets, videos, presentations and links.

Google Classroom – a guide for the student

Having a Google account, the first step is to go to the Google Classroom website. After entering a login in the form of an email address and password, select the role of student. In the upper corner of the screen it is necessary to enter the code, provided by the teacher.

The Google Classroom home page contains all the subjects to which the student is assigned. After clicking on the name of a particular subject, the student is redirected to the corresponding page. The section consists of three tabs:

Stream – resembles the timeline found on Facebook. Here there are announcements from teachers, information about new assignments. If the teacher allows this option, you can comment on the announcements.

Tasks – this is the most important tab for the student. Depending on how the teacher groups the tasks, different thematic tabs are visible. Next to the tasks there may be teaching materials. There is also a deadline by which to submit the solved tasks. The assignment can be submitted via Google Drive, link, file or Google Docs, Google Sheets and Google Presentations. To find out the grade, click display project.

Individuals – this is a list of teachers and students assigned to the subject,

If you use the app on a smartphone, you get notifications in real time.

Teachers have the ability to organize online lessons for students via video conferencing. If the teacher provides a link to the meeting in the subject stream or calendar. On the date of the meeting, all you have to do is click on the link and join the videoconference.

If you have any doubts and problems with Google Classroom, it’s a good idea to contact the class instructor or the school IT specialist.

Google Classroom – a guide for the teacher

After logging into your Google account, in the upper right corner you will find a tab with services, applications. There you will find a whiteboard icon with the Google Classroom signature.

When you click on the icon, the application launches. In the upper right corner of the service there is a + button. With its help you can add the first classes. It is necessary to accept the information from google after reading it. Then you need to fill in the fields containing basic information about the subject with text. After clicking create, the system creates a virtual learning environment.

In the central part of the screen are;

Stream – this is where current information, announcements, posts posted by both students and the teacher are displayed.

Tasks – this is the space for creating and organizing classes.

People – this is the list of people who joined the class.

Grades – the grades given during the implementation of activities.

When planning announcements, you can create a draft version, which will not be available to students before the final publication. You can add files from Google Drive, files from your computer, links and a video from the You Tube platform to the post. Students will be able to respond to the post unless you change this possibility in the settings.

When creating tasks, it’s a good idea to start by choosing a topic. It is set using the create button, and then the topic button. After entering the topic, you need to click add and add educational materials in categories:

Project – allows you to give students an assignment to complete by a certain date and grade.

Project –test – allows you to create a test for students via Google Forms.

Question – the option allows you to provide students with a question to answer by a specified date. The answer can be evaluated.

Material – with this option it is possible to plan and publish any teaching material. These can be documents, spreadsheets, presentations, drawing, forms, links and videos.

To invite students to the class, you need to:

• from the people folder workspace, select invite students, and in the window that appears, enter their email addresses.
• share with the students the class code, which is located in the upper left corner in the class code section. If you click on the square right next to the code, it appears enlarged. It is possible to share this code with students via e-journal or email.

It is also possible to invite parents or other teachers to the class

When issuing grades, options appear in the grading section:

• Create a sub-grade – allows you to create a grading system, depending on the performance of students.
• Re-create a sub-grade – with this option you can use the grading method that was created earlier.
• Import from Sheets – allows you to import grades from a spreadsheet.

It is a good idea to segregate learning materials by week and share video lessons on Google Meet, for example, because:

• students may have technical problems during the lesson (no internet, audio problem),
• they may not have access to Google Classroom at the time,
• this will help students learn,
• will allow students to better prepare for tests.

When assigning tasks, it is a good idea to use the option to create a copy for everyone. When the teacher creates a project in the assignments tab and provides any files, then students have the opportunity to view the materials. By choosing the edit option, students have the ability to edit the files, but then the changes are visible to everyone. If the teacher wants the student to be able to edit the material only for themselves, the aforementioned option makes this possible.

Google Classroom’s notification system can prove a bit cumbersome. It is a good idea to enable a beep only for necessary notifications. You should then click settings in the main menu. In the settings next to notifications for classes, just click the down arrow. Then all the classes will slide out, next to which there is a slider, with which you can choose which notifications you want to receive.

Remote teaching will never replace direct contact between student and teacher, so it’s worth doing everything you can to make students feel like they are in the classroom. To this end, you can:

• record videos for classes with their participation,
• conduct regular video conferences,
• personalize the classroom theme with your own Bitmoji, for example,
• ask students how they are feeling.

To sum up, in Google Classroom a teacher can:

• give students homework, setting a deadline for completion,
• design lessons by class and department,
• give students a presentation, links, videos, documents, worksheets as part of the lesson,
• give students grades,
• assign point weights to assessments,
• ask questions,
• create tests,
• allow students to work collaboratively or individually with documents.

There are a number of instructional videos available online to help familiarize you with using Google Classroom. Below is a guide from Google.