I wrote a post back in the summer about my early impressions of Google Classroom. At the time I was really impressed with what was on offer.
I have been using it now for a couple of months and I have to say that I am even more clear on its excellent use in schools.
I engaged in a discussion on Twitter recently about Google vs Microsoft as a suite of content creation apps. I place myself firmly in the Google camp for this and I will endeavour to explain why.
Google Apps for Education is a fantastic way of equipping students with email, storage, content creation and sharing utilities all in one neat place. With Google Classroom it really is a complete set of tools to enable todays students to access and engage in 21st century learning.
I have been using Google drive since I got my iPad, as a suite of apps on the iPad it provided me with a really simple solution to edit documents on the go and create collaborative documents with both other staff and students to support teaching and learning and track progress. At the time though I was using Edmodo as a method of sharing the information and tracking submission of work.
Google Classroom now gives me the complete package. It supports a simple workflow on the iPad when doing work with the students. Where I now train other staff on technology in the classroom it is the first suggestion I make.
A workflow for teaching and learning would look as simple as this;
Set the work in Classroom
Students complete the tasks using whatever method they feel is best to meet the task (unless it is directed to be done in a certain way)
Students upload their final piece of work to Google Drive (this can be video, photo, document etc)
With the new extensions features in iOS8 this is now seamless.
They then go into Classroom and submit their work.
From the teachers point of view now they can see the students completed work, mark it, give feedback in Google Classroom and return it to the student. (all revisions of the work can be noted in the submissions area)
Once the work has been returned to the student they can then edit and make corrections and they have the option to resubmit.
The benefit of this process is that it completes a timeline of work from the setting by the teacher through to the final submission. Students have the work returned to them where they have the opportunity to make alterations and then resubmit. This is still only scratching the surface mind. Using existing feedback loops, such as Explain Everything to add notations and audio or exploring the chrome store for add ons to support marking in Google Drive.
This really is a neat solution and a free one. With Google Apps for Education now also offering unlimited student storage space it really is an great choice for schools.
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