Google Classroom [Feature Updates 2018]

Google has made several changes to Classroom that will affect teachers' workflow. These changes are welcome but do cause us to take pause as we learn the best ways in which to navigate its use.

Here, I will list out and briefly explain those changes while also providing a few resources that you can use as you dig in.

Major Updates

New Classwork Page

Assignments and Questions are now created and posted here. By making this change work is now separated from communication. The Stream is now strictly for announcements and responding to student posts. As you post assignments on the Classwork page, an announcement of that post is made in the Stream.

Topics, Classwork Page

Additionally, topics reside on the Classwork page, too. Topics have been around for a little while, but the beauty now is that assignments and questions can be organized within Topics. Alice Keeler has a lot to say on this in her blog post, Google Classroom: Topics as Dates. I HIGHLY recommend you read this short article as it will really help you think through how Topics might work for you.

New Grading Tool in Classroom

Okay... this is just SWEET! Talk about being efficient and effective in grading and commenting on assignments in Google Classroom. You have to watch this short two (2) minute video!

Minor Updates

New People Page - Find your student roster and co-teachers here
New Settings Page (the gear) - Teachers can find Classroom codes and the setting to allow ONLY TEACHERS to post and comment
Copy a Class - Useful if you want to keep an existing class structure (Skyward sync cannot/does not use this feature)
Control Class Notifications (Classroom Menu > Settings > Scroll to bottom) - Now, teachers can turn off notifications for individual classes

For more updates and more detailed information on each of these updates, please visit...

Need a video on how to do that thing...

32 Videos to Get Going in Google Classroom

Have a great start to organizing your school year!

Paul

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