Lesson 1

Introduction to Google Classroom

Classroom is designed to help teachers create and collect assignments paperlessly. It includes time-saving features like the ability to automatically make a copy of a Google Doc for each student. Assigning work to students triggers the creation of a Google Drive folder for the assignment and sub folders for each student, to keep classwork organized. Teachers can also post announcements for the students in the class, which appear on the Classroom class webpage.

The workflow for assignments is managed through the Classes. Students can keep track of what is due on the Assignments page. Teachers can quickly see who has or has not completed the work, and provide direct, real-time feedback and grades.

Get started with Classroom

Classroom is available to anyone with a Google Apps for Education account. Visit classroom.google.com and sign in. If you are a teacher, select Teacher. Students will select Student. If you are a teacher, you will be able to create a class. If you are a student, you will be able to join a class. Teachers can also join other teachers’ classes as a student.

Understand Classroom Assignments

Classroom weaves together Google Docs, Drive, and Gmail so teachers can create and collect assignments paperlessly. After creating a Class, you can create an assignment. Assignments can be used in multiple classes. Choose how students will complete the assignment (for example, whether each student receives an individual copy or all students work in the same copy of the assignment). After posting the assignment, the teacher can track who has completed the assignment and who has not, and provide feedback to individual students.

Here is an example of the assignment work flow between a teacher and a student:

1. The teacher selects the option to create a copy of the Google Doc for each student and sends the assignment to the class.

2. The student completes the assignment in Google Docs, and turns it in.

3. The teacher grades the assignment, returns it to the student, and editing access is again transferred to the student.

The teacher can return the document with comments before assigning a grade if they want the student to have an opportunity to revise their initial submission. Likewise, students can retrieve their submitted work and modify it before resubmitting.

Teachers and students can view a list of pending and completed class assignments. Teachers can view grades for an assignment; students can see their own grades for completed assignments.