Google Classroom is one of the best web-based platforms teachers can use to facilitate their work and create paperless classrooms. It can help you establish a virtual space for your class where you can share educational resources with your students , distribute assignments, hold discussions, collect feedback and grade your students works among other things. Additionally, Classroom seamlessly integrates with your Google Apps for Education account allowing you to access and use materials you have on other Google services including Docs, Calendar and Gmail. The purpose of our post today is to share with you what we think are the five main tasks every teacher should be able to do on Google Classroom. We have only included instructions for Classroom on the web, for those of you using Classroom mobil apps, click on the hyperlinked titles to access details about how to use it on your mobile devices.
1- Create a class
One of the primary things you want to do on Classroom is to create a virtual class for the classes you teach, here is how to do it on the web :
- Sign in to your Classroom account
Create class.
- Type in the name of your class
- Provide a short description of your class
- Click ‘Create’
As its name indicate, a class resource page is where you can store instructional materials to share with your students. These can include things such as a syllabus, grading policies, classroom rules…etc. Here is how to create a class resource page:
- Sign to your Google Classroom account
- ‘Click the class you want to add the resource page to.
- At the top of the page, click About.
- Enter a title for the page and a description of the class.
- Enter a location for your class in the Room field.
- If you choose to leave this field blank, it won't appear in the student view of the page.
- To add additional resources, click Add materials and enter a title.
- To attach a file, a Google Drive item, a YouTube video, or a link, click the appropriate icon.
- Click Post.
- Click Save.’
As a teacher, you can use Classroom to create and share assignments with your students. You can also save draft assignments to share at a later time. Here is now to create an assignment on the web:
- Sign in to your Classroom
- 'Click the class.
- At the bottom, click Add add and click Create assignment.
- Enter the title of the assignment.
- (Optional) Enter instructions.
- Choose one of the following options:
- To post the assignment immediately, click Assign.
- To save the assignment, next to Assign, click the Down arrow Down Arrow and select Save draft.
- Change an assignment due date or time
- Next to Due Tomorrow, click the Down arrow Down Arrow.
- Click the date and select a date.
- (Optional) To set a due time, click Time and type a time.
- To create an assignment with no due date, click Due date and click X at the date.’
When students finish working on their assignment, you can grade and return it to them. Only number grades are supported at this time. Students will be notified through email or on their mobile devices if notification feature is activated. Here is how to grade and return an assignment to a students on the web:
Grading an assignment:
- Sign in to your Classroom account
- 'Click the class and click the assignment in the class stream.
- (Optional) The default point value is 100. To change it, click the point value and input another value, or select Ungraded, and click Update.
- Click Add grade next to the student’s name, and enter the grade.
- (Optional) Enter grades for any additional students.’
- Sign in to your Classroom
- Click the class and click the assignment in the class stream.
- Check the box next to each student whose assignment you want to return and click Return.
- (Optional) Add a private comment to a student, if needed.
- lick Return again to confirm.'
Announcement feature is a great way to communicate with your students. You can use it to share reminders and notices in your class stream. Announcements can embed a wide variety of multimedia materials including videos, files, links, Google Drive items and many more. Here is how to post an announcement using Classroom on the web:
- Sign in to your Classroom account
- Click the class.
- Click Add Add and click Create announcement.
- Enter your announcement.
- Click Drive to attach a Google Drive item
- Click on Add YouTube to attach a YouTube video
- ‘To share the announcement with another class, click the class name and select any additional classes.’
- Click ‘Post’ to instantly share the announcement
- Click the Down arrow next to Post and choose Save draft to save the announcement for a later date.
