Just a few days after Google Apps for Education made headlines because it would no longer include email scanning for advertising, Google has updated its education offering with Classroom. The Classroom service is meant to help teachers and students with assignments by providing a place where the assignments can be organized, created, and eventually updated with feedback.
Google Classroom is currently available by invitation only and is making its way into a handful of school districts while the service is in beta. Once it moves out of beta and the trial run goes well, it will presumably become part of the main Google Apps for Education offering which is used by 35 million students and teachers already.
Given the pictures that have been released of Classroom, it looks like a pretty straightforward tool–albeit simplistic–that includes all of Google’s usual design components.
Assignment management systems like Classroom are nothing new but since there has yet to be one released that is truly worthwhile, a standard has not been created. However, Google Apps for Education is used by so many school districts around the United States and abroad that in some ways, it is a standard. So, it is possible that Classroom will be a major success as well. If school districts are already using Google for Gmail, Drive, etc, why not check out this application as well?
The following features are including in the service, according to Google:
- Create and collect assignments: Classroom weaves together Google Docs, Drive and Gmail to help teachers create and collect assignments paperlessly. They can quickly see who has or hasn’t completed the work, and provide direct, real-time feedback to individual students.
- Improve class communications: Teachers can make announcements, ask questions and comment with students in real time—improving communication inside and outside of class.
- Stay organized: Classroom automatically creates Drive folders for each assignment and for each student. Students can easily see what’s due on their Assignments page.
Summary: Google has announced Classroom, a tool for students and teachers. Classroom will be used to create, organize, and provide feedback on assignments. It is currently in beta and only available to some schools.
image via google