Teaching with Google Classroom

Michael Zhang

• Publisher: Packt Publishing
• Year: 2021
• ISBN:
  9781800566507
• Edition: 2
• Topic: Computer Science
• Subtopic: Computer Science General
• Index: Computer Science

Build interactive courses for online learning using Google's learning management solutionKey Features• Discover best practices for developing a creative educational experience using the features of Google Classroom• Get to grips with the modern features of Google Classroom that can help you meet the demands of online teaching• Create online courses and deliver classes in an interactive mannerBook DescriptionGoogle Classroom is designed to help you manage and deliver online and in-person courses in an interactive manner. Using Google Classroom saves time organizing and communicating information to students and parents. This updated second edition of Teaching with Google Classroom covers the modern features of Google Classroom that meet the current needs of online teaching. The book is written from the high-school perspective but is applicable to teachers and educators of all age groups. If you're new to Google Classroom or an experienced user who wants to explore more advanced methods with Google Classroom, this book is for you. With hands-on tutorials, projects, and self-assessment questions, you'll learn how to create classes, add students to those classes, send announcements, and assign classwork. The book also demonstrates how to start an online discussion with your students. Later, you'll discover how you can involve parents by inviting them to receive guardian emails and sharing Google Calendar with a URL. This will help them to view assignment deadlines and other important information. The book goes step by step through all the features available and examples of how best to use them to manage your classroom. By the end of this book, you'll be able to do more with Google Classroom, managing your online or in-person school classes effectively.What you will learn• Create a classroom and add customized information for each individual class• Send announcements and questions to students• Create, distribute, collect, and grade assignments through Google Classroom• Link student accounts to guardian emails for daily or weekly updates• Use Google Forms to create quizzes that automatically grade and return results to students• Reuse posts, archive classrooms, and perform other administrative tasks in Google Classroom• Host online sessions with students and set up Google Classroom's mobile appWho this book is forThis Google Classroom book is written by an educator, for educators. It's for anyone who wants to teach effectively with Google Classroom. There are rich examples, clear instructions, and enlightening explanations to help you put this platform to work.

Section 1: Getting Started

Here, you will set up your Google Classroom so that you can hit the ground running. In this section, you will create and personalize classes and add students to them.

We will cover the following chapters in this section:

• Chapter 1, Getting to Know Google Classroom
• Chapter 2, Inviting Students to Their Virtual Classroom

Chapter 1: Getting to Know Google Classroom

Google Classroom is a learning management system (often abbreviated to LMS) offered by Google to teachers. It provides a central location to communicate with students, share resources, pose questions, and create assignments. In an increasingly digital world, Google Classroom helps facilitate online learning for today's digital learners. As with many new applications, Google Classroom comes with a unique look and feel. Since your method of setting up your physical classroom is as unique as your method of teaching, Google Classroom begins as a blank canvas. Before we can add students into Google Classroom, you will need to create online Classes for your physical classes.

First, you will get comfortable with where everything is in Google Classroom. Being the teacher of the Classroom will provide access to options that are not visible to students and will allow you to change settings, such as what students can do in Google Classroom. You will be able to add students to the Classroom, create announcements and assignments, and upload course materials from this teacher view of the Classroom. But first, you will need to create and set up your first Class.

In my Classes, I tend to spend most of my time thinking about the structure of the online Class before creating it. As creatures of habit, establishing online expectations through Google Classroom, similar to what we do in person, will help us and our students know where to turn. Examples of some of the questions I ask myself when planning an online Class include: How do students ask questions? When is it appropriate for them to ask questions? Where do they find resources? How are they dismissed? By establishing this structure at the beginning, you will feel less guilty about not responding when a student contacts you at 7:30 in the evening with a question.

In this chapter, we will cover the following topics:

• Creating your first Google Class
• Navigating around Google Classroom
• Personalizing your virtual Classroom
• Managing resources in your Class
• Inviting additional teachers
• Accessing Classes from Google Classroom's home page
  Note
  Within this book, Class references a Google Classroom Class and class references a bricks-and-mortar classroom.

Creating your first Google Class

To begin, open Google Chrome and navigate to https://classroom.google.com/h.

Choosing the right internet browser

While Google Classroom is accessible in any web browser, the Google Chrome web browser is built to be compatible with all of Google's other apps. Therefore, some features may be incompatible or will not function correctly in other web browsers. Consider discussing with your school IT staff if Google Chrome is not installed on your computer.

If this is your first time opening Google Classroom using a Google Workspace for Education account, it will ask you to confirm your email account and then select whether to assign a teacher or student role to your account. Be sure to correctly select the teacher role, otherwise your account will be set up as a student account. You will not be able to create or manage Classes unless your role is a teacher in Google Classroom.

The following screenshot depicts the teacher role being selected:

Figure 1.1 – Selecting your role

Note

If your account is set to a student account, you will ...