Google Classroom
This is a relatively new tool introduced by Google to help students and teachers to organize their classes, assignments, feedback at on place with the help of Google Drive and Gmail. When you register for Google classroom it will be for your entire school, not just for your class.
How to register for a Google classroom
This is a three step procedure. Signing up for Google classroom is free. Below are the steps.
- Sign up with Google for Google Apps for Education in store or with a partner.
- Confirm that you are the administrator and own the school web site within 21 days
- Google will confirm the account if you are a non-profit educational institution.
The features of Google classroom
Easy to create: It is very easy to sign up and create a Google Classroom account. You can do it online yourself or you can ask a Google marketing expert to call you.
Collaboration easy: You can create, share and edit files and assignment real-time. To create a classroom you can either send a code for each student or can add them manually. If you have already created a group with your students; just add the group in the place of students list.
Saves time: You can re-use your course material that you created by sharing with multiple classes. A class can be benefited hugely if there is an option to co-teach a particular course; which is possible in Google Classroom. You do not have to create or take a print out of the same subject for different classes. Just drag and share the document with each class online. Also teachers can monitor the work of each student sitting at their desk.
Portability: This is common for all Google services or products. You can use Google Classroom from any device (laptop, desktop, tablets, smartphones) and any time. You can save files from any devices and can share them from anywhere since the files are saved in cloud storage.
Communication is easy: In a classroom teacher and students can communicate with each other at any time, meaning teachers can provide real-time feedback. A student can clarify his/her doubt with teacher directly or ask the entire class. This reminds me of the combine study. With Google Classroom you no longer have to go anywhere. Teachers can also start a discussion and make it interactive, by asking questions real-time.
Google productivity suite: With Google Classroom you get service of Gmail, drive, calendar, sheets, docs, sites, slides, vault and even Hangouts. Teachers can make use of the Google Calendar to schedule the classes and share them easily.
Support for administrators: Even though the Google Classroom is free you do not get disturbed by any ads. Administrators can set permissions for teachers and students hassle free. Administrator can decide which teacher can create and manage assignments and classes. Another interesting feature is that you can create schedule for the classes. If you have any trouble, do not worry Google provides 24-7 support.
These are the features that I found are fundamental for an online classroom and Google enhances that with their productivity tools.
