Google Classroom vs Hero, by Schoolmint

• Student-teacher communication - I love using Classroom for this because my students can always go back and check what was on Classroom by looking through the stream. This way they don't have to go dig through emails to find what they're looking for.
• Posting to multiple classes - I can post the same announcement or assignment to multiple classes at once without having to repeat the process or send separate emails.
• Streamlining grading - when students turn work in on Classroom, it all goes to one place and then when I'm grading I can open their documents directly from Classroom or my Drive folder. This way, I'm not looking through emails and Google Doc shared files for their assignment.

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• Allows ALL students to earn points at the push of a button.
• Connects with infinite Campus so student schedules and info are always accurate on the Hero site.
• Allows teachers to create their own groups for after school programs or even small groups in their classrooms.

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• Although usually in the discussion with other LMS apps such as Schoology and Canvas, Google Classroom doesn't possess as in-depth of a platform. There is no ability to set individual learning paths, pace student work with completion settings, or embed other apps directly into teacher-created assignments.
• The assignment creation options are limited. Teachers can only choose from creating an assignment (usually a link with directions), a material (usually a doc/slide/website, etc), a question, and a quiz.
• With gamification taking on a new lens in education, there really isn't any way to use gamification elements with Google Classroom. There isn't any way to create Individual learning paths, or use badges and micro-credentials within Classroom. Outside programs would have to be used.

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• Hero had the Hero Homeroom where teachers could collaborate and receive rewards but that was discontinued. I think that a similar reward system for those who are supposed to be inputting information would be helpful, where consistency for the required input is rewarded. For example: teachers were to be recording points for all their students every period every day - if they received points for completing their input & could then choose to spend those points on rewards that would help encourage participation to make it more successful overall.
• Too hands-off in making sure that implementation is as successful as possible.
• Too techie for non-tech savvy people.

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• Student engagement is high when using Google Classroom. Students are more willing to work on projects continually when provided a digital platform.
• Since teachers have instant access to student work, they can pinpoint weak areas for remediation, thus increasing test scores for mastery.
• Google Classroom also saves time for teachers when used as an organizational tool as student work is all in one place with easy access.

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• Definitely worth the money. The kids are happy, they're using the program as often as they can, and they appreciate the opportunity to be rewarded for their good behavior.
• We've been able to sustain a store, and that's super awesome. I know we wouldn't be able to without the help of Hero and the ways in which we keep the hype.
• I think I need more help with teacher adoption. We have a lot of initiatives at our school, so we're trying to take on a little more than we can chew at this point. We're getting there though!

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