Google officially announced Google Classroom in 2014. Classroom allows teachers and students to create near-perfect digital classrooms on the web. The software is tightly integrated with other Google services such as Google Drive, Google Calendar, Gmail, Google Docs and Google Forms for a seamless experience. With Google Classroom, teachers can create a digital classroom, invite students, distribute assignments, ask questions, and more.
Google Classroom allows teachers to grade assignments, communicate with students, create templates for assignments, and more. Now that most teachers and professors work from home, it’s time to master Google Classroom and assign students homework to keep work going during quarantine.
In this post, we’ll talk about the ten best Google Classroom tips and tricks for teachers. We’ll start with some basics and talk about app integration and the service’s sharing capabilities. Lets start.
1. Change Theme and Share Password
When creating a new class, you can add details such as name, description, and add a header image (theme template) for customization. You can choose from default themes or upload photo from PC. You’ll be mostly fine with the default ones, as they’re neatly divided into categories like Math & Science, Arts, Sports, History, and more.
Tap on select theme in the header image, select a theme and apply it to the class. Copy the class code and invite students to join the class.
2nd. Change Folder Color in Google Drive
This is a fairly simple option, but essential when dealing with dozens of classes and topics at once. As you know, by default, all created classes are saved in the Google Drive folder. You can change the folder color of the class for easy discovery and customization.
Go to a class > Classwork > Classroom Drive Folder and it will open the corresponding folder in Google Drive. You can rename it and add numbers to the title. Then right-click on the folder to select Change Color from the context menu to assign a new folder color, which defaults to dull gray.
3. Timing Assignments
This is something all teachers should have. Google Classroom has added the ability to schedule assignments in advance. You can create assignments, add relevant details, comments, notes and publish them or schedule them for a specific time. You will be able to see the scheduled assignment in the Classwork menu in a gray area with the name and time.
4. Use Google Calendar Integration
Did you know that Google Classroom creates a separate calendar for each class in Google Calendar? You can go to a class > Classwork and select Google Calendar. There you will see separate calendars for the classes you have created. If you don’t want it to interfere with your personal calendar, uncheck the box with your name next to it. Users can also change the color of the calendar.
5. Create Reference Material
When distributing assignments, you may want to provide source material for the project. Teachers can go to Create > Material, add title, description, provide source files from Google Docs, Form, YouTube or the Web. Select category and tap on post button at the top.
6. Use Private Comments for Better Communication
As you know, the total grade point can be determined for assignments. After students submit, you can grade them. But even better, teachers can use the private comment function to personally compliment students.
7. Sort Students by Last Name and First Name
When dealing with hundreds of students in the classroom, keeping track of grades can be confusing. Teachers can sort students by last name or first name using the filter menu while giving grades. It makes the whole process seamless for teachers.
8. Email All Students
Google Classroom allows teachers to email any student on the go. You can always email students individually, but isn’t that boring? Of course, you can email them all directly from the Classrooms interface. For this, you can go to Markers, select the assignment, select all students from the menu below and select Email selected students.
9. Invite Teachers
During classes, you may want to invite other teachers to the class. Fortunately, Google Classroom lets you invite others to lead the class. In a class, go to Contacts and tap the Share button to invite other teachers to the class. I’ve seen teachers sharing a class with their assistants to review submissions.
10. Post a Question and Let Students Communicate Internally
Teachers can use this function to start a discussion among students. Go to a Class > Classwork > Create > Question. You can add a question, choose from short answer or multiple options, add instructions, pin a file, and most importantly, enable Students can reply to each other option from the sidebar to post questions and allow students to discuss the topic internally. This is good as a group discussion.
11. Use Share in Classroom Extension
Google provides a useful Google Classroom extension that lets you share interesting articles and news with students using the Classroom extension. Tap the Google Classroom extension from a webpage, choose a class, and share the content.
Use Google Classroom Like a Pro
As you can see from the list above, Google Classroom is an indispensable tool for educators. Class creation provides flexibility with a variety of features such as adding topics, distributing assignments, grading, communicating with students, exporting grades on one page, and creating a perfect digital class on the web.
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