Complete Guide for Google Classroom 101 [Quick Start Guide and Tips]

With COVID-19 came the wave of online learning throughout the country, schools and colleges have started looking for flexible options that can replicate an actual classroom. Or at least provide better alternatives to manage resources and course content so that students may not be overwhelmed. 

Google Classroom has been able to provide you just that and maybe more. With collaborative options to various G- suite products, Google classroom has easily provided for diverse classroom needs.

If you are new to all of this and are worried that this is not your cup of tea. I guarantee you Google is made for everyone thus Google Classroom is no different. All you need is a little patience to go through this article sincerely.

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How can you access Google Classroom?

Firstly you would need a google account if you don’t already have one you can make one following this link:

https://bit.ly/2V9wU4c

Now, you can access not just Google Classroom, but also all other services by google such as doc, youtube, meet, sheet, forms, etc.

To get access to your google classroom simply follow the following link once you have signed in:

https://classroom.google.com/

You will be greeted by a screen that looks like the one below:

Now, to add your first classroom which will be the virtual replica of the classroom you will be teaching online, click on the plus sign.

Then Click On Create class:

If your school is not registered for G- Suite for education or haven’t used the Id provided by your institution, you’ll be prompted to the following screen. Do ask your institute to be registered on the service beforehand. But, if you are just exploring your options feel free to check the radio button and continue.

Once you do that you’ll see the following dialogue box. Fill in your class name and other (not required) information in such a way that your students can identify your class from various others that they are taking.

Once you have clicked Create class, you are good to go.

Hurray! You have created your classroom.

 Now, what is a classroom without students?  So let’s add a bunch of them. There are quite a few ways you can go around this:

1. Invite your students via Email
2. Invite your students using class code
3. Invite them using the class link

It is suggested to use the class code or the link method as it reduces effort from your side. But, inviting your students via email might be more reliable to you in some cases. So here’s how you can implement these methods

1. Invite Your Students via Email

Click on the “People” tab as shown by the arrow below:

Once you reach the people’s page, you need to click on the little person icon next to “Students” as shown below:

Once this is done you will see the following dialogue box, you can individually invite your students via E-Mail by typing in their emails on the field as indicated below and clicking on Invite.

Or you can copy the email link from the field above and circulate throughout your class.

2. Invite your Students using Classroom Code

This next method is most recommended as well as will reduce the need for your effort. You can simply copy the class code from the classroom stream screen and circulate it to your students.

Your students can join the class by simply typing in the code on the “Join Class” option.

How to create assignments and materials?

One of the most frequently done action would be creating assignment and assigning it to your students.

To do that first you would have to click on the classroom tab.

Once you reach the classroom screen click on the “Create” Button.

You can create assignments, quizzes, upload materials and whatnot. But, baby steps. Let us start with assignments click on the” Assignment” option.

Give your assignment a title with instruction for completion, then you may attach a google doc containing all the questions or just upload a PDF. If you do end up attaching a google doc, make sure you click on the right option as shown below.

If you would like for your students to only view your file and not have them edit the document then choose “Students can view file”. This will give students their choice of format to upload.

If you want your students to edit the file you sent to them then choose “Students can edit the file”. Be aware that this will allow all students to edit the same file. This might be confusing to you. So for this, it is suggested to select the third option “Make a copy for each student”. This will give each of your students an individual copy that they can further edit.

After you are done with this you can either assign or schedule it for a later date. Not sure about the assignment just save it as a draft.

Using Forms with Google Classroom

One of the benefits of using Google classroom would be the fact that it comes equipped with an arsenal of other applications that can further enhance your virtual classroom. One of them is the option to use google forms to create a quiz that can be easily graded by teachers. Zero hassle guaranteed.

For this, we have to go to the “Classwork” tab and choose Create> Quiz

The page you will be taken to would be similar to the one you just saw on the assignment page with only a minute difference in attachments. If you look closely it is a google form which you can click and edit with preferred questions.

Once you have added your questions, you ready to assign, schedule, or draft the quiz as you did to the assignments.

Grading and Leaving Feedback

You can see all the assignments created by you in the “Classwork” tab. From here you can view the summary of the assignments, quizzes, etc. Click on each individual assignment to do so.

You can see the number of students that the assignment has been assigned to, how many of them have done and submitted the assignment(Turn in), and how many have you graded or reviewed.

To see the detailed status of the assignment click on “View Assignment” on the bottom left corner of the assignment summary.
On the page that follows, you can see and assess individual assignments that are submitted by your students by simply clicking on their individual names.

You can also grade assignments by simply typing in the grade on the placeholder adjacent to the student’s name.

Overall grades of the class can be seen through the grades tab that is along with side people.

Communicating with your Students

If you like to leave a message to one of the students you can do so by clicking on the student’s name and typing in the message on the message box at the bottom of the page.

Or you can simply select the students and send them an email as well

You can also email your students through the “People” tab.

You simply have to select the students you want to email and then click on the action scroll down menu.

You’ll have several options like deleting the student from your class or muting the notification from the student. For now, select EMail so that you can send a mail to the selected students.

Congratulations! Now you are a google classroom wiz. A little practice here and there and you’ll be having fun in no time. Just remember- baby steps. Hope this article helped in some way, feel free to comment on your queries.

 Till then keep exploring and learning!

Also read: 7 Best E-Learning Apps for Students in Nepal

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