Professional development: Google Classroom setup

Image credit: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Google_Classroom_Logo.png

To start off my professional development series I am going to work on showing the tool google classroom.

image credit: 

Google classroom is a powerful tool that is part of the google apps for education suite that teachers and administrators can use to hep organize assignments, observations, conduct professional development and more. I liken it to social media for the classroom, as it is more a communication tool than what some might call an LMS (Learning Management System) like Blackboard, Schoology, and others. Classroom does not have all the bells and whistles of a true LMS but it is a powerful tool in helping kids learn organization and communication skills.

To start off the Classroom series I show you how to set up classroom as a classroom teacher and how to invite students. Some important things to keep in mind as you start your journey into Google Classroom.

• When first signing up make sure to sign up as a teacher. If you sign up as a student you don't get access to all the features and to switch your account takes some work
• There are 2 views, Teacher  & Student. It can be frustrating if you want/need to show students their view
• Be prepared for an upswing in the amount of email you get.
• You can manage this in the settings by turning off email notifications

As I mentioned earlier Google Classroom is more a communication tool than a true LMS. It has some features of an LMS like:

• Assignment distribution and turn in
• Interactive questions
• Messaging (Announcements)
• Google Calendar and Google Drive syncing

However currently some of the features it is lacking are:

• Linking to an LMS or IMS (information management system) like Skyward
• One stop shopping for grades, payments, announcements, etc.
• School and district info

There are numerous ways classroom teachers and administrators can use google class. Here are a few suggestions (please share how you are using it as well):

Classroom Teacher:

• Classroom homepage
• Classroom Communications
• Assignment distribution and collection
• Formative assessment (questions)
• Classroom library (about tab)
• Lesson Planning 

Administration:

• Professional development portal
• Evaluation portal
• School resource library
• Staff meeting portal
• Observation document repository

I am sure there are many more uses to which I can't wait to hear more about. 

Too start off these series I have a video below on how to setup Google Classroom. In future videos I will show you how to utilize the 3 tabs (Stream, Students, About), as well as how to submit feedback.