The coronavirus is causing the number of students who are teaching from home to skyrocket. There are many alternatives to teach online at a distance , but one of the ones that is gaining more popularity in recent days is Google Classroom . We explain how to use it and all its details.
Google Classroom was launched in August 2014, and since 2017 it can be used by Google personal accounts without having to have a G Suite subscription. It was initially designed with the aim of saving paper, but its usefulness has surpassed its initial use to distribute tasks or evaluate content. As its name indicates, it allows virtual classrooms, not only allowing teachers and students a more fluid interaction at a distance, but also allowing parents to be more informed about the entire educational process. And as we are going to see, it is probably the best tool we have to teach online, since it also allows you to join Hangouts Meet for video calls and have a complete virtual classroom experience .
How to create a class with Google Classroom
Accessing Google Classroom is really easy. We just have to create access to classroom.google.com with our email, either our personal account or one that we have created specifically for classes if we do not want to reveal ours. From there, we’ll be inside.
In the upper right part we get a “+” icon, in which we can sign up for a class if we are a student, or create a class if we are a teacher. In the case that we are a teacher, it is important that we know that if we are going to teach in an educational center with students, we will have to have an account created for G Suite for Educational Centers, which is free.
To create a class, we can create a class, section, subject, and classroom name. Thanks to this, students can easily identify subjects and classes. From there, we will have our class created, with the class code that we will have to give to the students to get them into.
In the panel we can select the topic of the class, upload a personalized photo, send messages to all students, create class work with assignments and questions and organize the work. We can also manage students and teachers with access from people , and finally also can judge the work of students in the section Ratings .
In the section on creating jobs we can choose Tasks, questionnaires, questions, materials, etc. We can assign points to each task, and set due dates. In the case of tasks with questionnaires, they can be done by multiple choice using Google questionnaires.
Entering as a student is even easier
For students, the process is simpler, since they only have to click on Join a class, and enter the code provided by the teacher. Once we enter as a student, we will be able to access all the tasks that are available in the virtual classroom.
In short, we have a multitude of ways to continue evaluating students from home with all kinds of daily homework and homework, although unfortunately the exams cannot be done remotely in the same way that they can be done in class. Despite this, as a temporary solution for the next few weeks (and probably months) that lie ahead, it will help the children not to lose the rhythm of class. It is important to remember also not to overload children with homework.
In case you want to use a tool for video calls together with Google Classroom, Hangouts Meet , from Google, will be available for free until July 1, 2020 , so it can be used by teachers at no cost to communicate with students and give distance classes.
