Google Classroom

Making the shift to learner centered, personalized learning practices can seem like a daunting task, but making the shift becomes much easier with the purposeful integration of technology such as Google Classroom.

Below are some implementation strategies for Google Classroom to help you make the shift in your practice from teacher centered to student led, student owned:

Differentiate learning with technology

Through your use of G Suite for Education, you and your students have access to a library of diverse collaborative tools, such as Google Docs, Sheets, Forms, and Slides — and don’t forget YouTube videos.

By combining paper-and-pencil with technology, students can approach learning in different ways, such as through audio, visuals, or text.

Check In On Student Progress - Empowering Students To Own Their Learning

Google Classroom introduced a few updates this fall to help teachers stay organized and make better personalized learning decisions.

One cool addition is the ability to view a dedicated page for each student where teachers can see the status of each assignment as well as all their work in a class. You can even set filters to see assigned, missing, or returned and graded work.

Teachers can also check in with a student’s understanding through real-time assessments, like Quizzes in Google Forms (soon, you’ll be able to import grades from Quizzes into Google Classroom), which features batch (question-by-question) grading and the option to leave feedback.

As noted above, with Google Classroom, you can differentiate assignments depending on a student’s unique ability and learning style, and there are lots of different tools to do it with. That means you — and your students — can get creative with assignments in order to foster student-driven learning opportunities.

They can request feedback on an assignment in Google Classroom if they prefer to talk with the teacher privately (rather than in front of the class) or hop on a Google Hangout with them for face-to-face conversation.

Allow and Support Student Collaboration

One of the best applications of Google Classroom is that it can support peer collaboration. We know that all students learn in different ways, which means they can teach one another in different ways, too. This is a practice that deepens understanding for everyone.

Allow your students to reflect or present on what they’ve learned together in class or in online discussions in Google Classroom’s class stream. Have them show what they know.

Consider using Google Hangouts to collaborate a school or professionals from another community. Students can submit questions in Google Forms or the the Google Classroom discussion board, and use them as a launch point for presentations, videos, and more.

Google Classroom can help to create learning moments outside of the classroom, too. For example, a teacher may use Google Classroom to enhance a student led passion project. The group might meet in person once a week, but share resources and ideas and collaborate online to extend the learning experience.

Google Classroom Tutorial