Google has done plenty so far to assist education, from creating the Google For Education program to checking out Chromebooks to students on university campuses across the U.S. Now they have developed and released an app onto the Play Store designed to help teachers and students that are using the Google apps for Education program stay on the same page and use Google Apps for Education on the go. To use the Google Classroom app you need to have a Google Apps for Education account, which is a free suite of tools for use in the classroom like Gmail, Docs, Sheets and more.
The app is aimed at making the work in the classroom as seamless between the teacher and students as possible. Teachers can create and collect assignments without ever having to write things down or type them up and print them out. Everything can be done paperlessly. Students can then in turn, keep track of what’s coming up with a due date soon, see what assignments they have new, and they can even begin doing their work with a simple tap.
Perhaps the best part for teachers is they can easily see who has completed their work just by glancing at the Google Classroom application, and then provide real-time feedback to students. Other useful features though include the ability to make copies of documents created in Google Docs for each student, and everything is easily organized within Drive folders separated by assignments and students. The home page makes for an easy overview of all a students classes with the teachers name and which period they have that class. Teachers and students can even engage in classroom-wide discussions if teachers create announcements, and if someone in the class is missing or in need of something to help with an assignment, students can share resources with each other easily and quickly. It’s a wonder it took Google this long to release an app like this as it makes Google Apps for Education feel more well rounded. If you’re a student or a teacher that attends or works at a school using the Google Apps for Education program you can grab Google Classroom from the Play Store as of now.
