Why Google Classroom is the way forward in education.
September 17, 2015
Why Google Classroom is the way forward in education.
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Overall Satisfaction with Google Classroom
We are using Google Classroom in many of our own classrooms at NDE. I personally use it for all of the classes I teach, which are 6th, 7th, 8th grade science, and 8th grade religion. I use it to post assignments, presentations and any cool videos or links that I find that are relevant to what we are learning in class. The students also use Classroom as the main way to submit work to me. Following their submissions I grade their work on Classroom, before then returning it to them. Classroom has allowed me to essentially take my classes paperless which is very helpful for students because they lose their work less frequently, helpful for me because I do not lose or misplace papers, and helpful for the environment because we are using less paper.
- Google Classroom is a great tool for students to submit papers electronically. I think this is probably Classroom's biggest strength, as well as the integration of the documents being submitted via Classroom with your linked Google Drive account.
- Google Classroom is also very helpful in making important information available to students. Posting videos and articles that are relevant to our topic that are extra pieces of information for those students who are interested.
- Google Classroom is a great tool for supporting students with extra needs. It allows teachers to post presentations and extra support for students to access at their own individual pace. It's also helpful for students who were absent for a particular class because they can catch up on information that they missed.
- Google Classroom could be improved in its interface when grading student work. It is not user-friendly if you are also transferring grades into another gradebook program.
- Another area that Classroom can be improved is in notifying students that graded work has been returned. Many of my students frequently tell me that they have no idea that I have graded and returned their work.
- Students are more likely to turn in work, and on time.
- Less papers get lost!
- Students don't review their work as much as they do if you give them a hard copy of a paper back to them in class.
Edmodo's claim to fame is that it is similar to Facebook, but for education. I personally find Edmodo to be clunky and not as streamlined as Google Classroom. With more options it is attractive, however for middle schoolers it can be confusing as to where to turn work in. One thing I did like about Edmodo was the notification system of when work has been graded. Much like Facebook, a little flag would appear at the top of the page to notify you that work had been graded. Google Classroom needs something similar to this.