Five reasons why I love using Google Classroom

                               

Submitted by Fiona Beal
I discovered Google Classroom when our school moved over to Google Apps this year. Prior to that I used Edmodo for different projects and I still do because Edmodo is a fully functioning LMS and Google classroom is not…yet. BUT for my day to day teaching Google Classroom is my platform of choice because it makes life just so much easier and integrates well with the rest of the Google  Apps that we use.

Once you have joined classroom as a teacher the link appears in your Google Apps console:

Here are five reasons why I have loved using this application this year:

1. Students can join Classroom easily
I have joined five of the classes I teach to Google classroom. It was just so easy. They all have their GAF Gmail addresses so all it involved to join them to Classroom was for them to log in to their Gmail account, and then go to http://classroom.google.com and punch in the class code that I gave them.

2. Students can find their way around easily
When they enter Classroom they’ll find themselves on the main page or home page for Classroom. It contains a stream of posts for the class that you might have added. Newer posts are at the top, with older ones below them.

3. Classroom integrates a calendar
Classroom integrates a calendar which comes into operation as soon as you set an assignment date. If students are in doubt about when an assignment is due they simply go to the About page, click on the calendar and they’ll see what is due. 

4. As a teacher you have a few options to use
As the teacher you have several useful options to us”:
a) reuse a previous post and change it a bit
b) create a question that the students can answer
c) create an assignment with the option of a due date or no due date
d) create an announcement

Students can add comments to any of these options.
 

5. You can easily add documents to your assignment
You can attach files and links to your assignment, in any combination you like. For example you can attach them from Google Drive:

Or you can upload them from your computer:

Another great thing about Google Classroom is that every so often Google adds new functionality. It just gets better and better! If you want your class/classes to function more seamlessly and your school uses Google Apps, you must try using this amazing application, Google Classroom.

Further reading
7 new features added to Google Classroom
60 smarter ways to use Google Classroom