Back to school season is in full swing and Google is using it as an opportunity to release a bunch of new features and changes for those of its products geared towards educators. Google Classroom has been updated with question-driven discussions, reusable posts, calendar integration, and more.
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We shared last month that a number of changes were coming to Google’s Classroom service for educators and students, and now Google says that one of those changes is rolling out now: mobile alerts. Google says that the Classroom app for both Android and iOS will gain support for mobile notifications this week.
For instance, students will be alerted immediately when they receive new assignments or grades, notes from teachers, comments from fellow classmates, and more—allowing them to stay on top of their schoolwork even more easily.
To support the new notifications feature, Google released an updated version of its Classroom app for Android on the Play Store and iOS on the App Store this week. Google first announced the new alerts feature for Classroom, which it launched last year to help teachers and students manage classwork, alongside other upcoming changes coming to Classroom including a new developer API, a share button for sending work to other services, and the ability to re-use assignments.
Google is steadily improving its Classroom feature introduced last year that lets teachers set up lesson plans and students use apps in education. Today Google unveiled a number of improvements coming to Classroom including a developer API, a new share button, mobile notifications, and more.
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Google has announced today, in the midst of teacher appreciation week in the US, that it is bringing some new “Classroom treats” to its mobile app. Most notable among the changes is the ability to grade assignments from the app (as you can see above), and the ability to “add private feedback to give students guidance, encouragement, constructive criticism or personalized feedback.”
Other features are also being added, including the ability to create and edit assignments while on a mobile device, as well as the ability to create an assignment simply with the snap of a photo. Google says that teachers can learn more about how to use these features at its new Support page, which outlines how to create and modify an assignment within the app:
You can create an assignment in your class stream, attach materials to it, assign it to one or more classes, and grade and return it to students. After you create an assignment, all students in the class receive a notification by email (if they haven’t turned off notifications) and can see the assignment in the class stream.
These features should be rolling out “this week,” according to Google.
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Google announced today that it’s releasing mobile apps for its Google Classroom service for both Android and iOS devices. The company officially launched Classroom to its Apps for Education customers in the US during the summer offering them a web-based platform for planning lessons, handing out assignments, and working alongside students. Teachers and students will now be able to access those features from mobile devices through the new apps and Google is also adding a could of new features to the platform.
In addition to a new teacher assignments page and archiving functions for Classroom, Google notes that the mobile apps will let users snap a photo to share or attach to assignments, share content from other apps, and access content cached for offline viewing.
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Google today released what it calls “a guide to activating technology in schools” as part of its education efforts. Intended to assist teachers and IT administrators, Google says the new guide based on what other schools processes provides schools with the following frameworks to bring the web into the classroom.
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[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VXCH9T5Nnaw]
After watching a mother’s day video shot entirely on Google Glass and designed to bring a lump to the throat of even the most hardened viewer, we noticed it followed a video posted a week or so ago celebrating the work of teachers, with some not too in-your-face plugs for Google products …
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Google just revealed more than 1,000 schools have adopted Chromebooks in classrooms, and it is now working with DonorsChoose.org to “help budget-strapped classrooms across the country.”
DonorsChoose is an online charity that, as Google coined it, connects public school classroom to donors, and the Google partnership will subsequently allow teachers to request the Samsung Series 5 Chromebook at a discount price of $99. The special price is only for the holiday season and includes hardware, management, and support.
Google explained the details on the official Google blog:
If you’re a full-time public school teacher in the U.S., visit DonorsChoose.org and follow the instructions to take advantage of this opportunity by December 21, 2012. Your request will be posted on DonorsChoose.org where anyone can make a donation to support your classroom. When you reach your funding goal, you’ll receive your Chromebooks from Lakeshore Learning, DonorsChoose.org’s exclusive fulfillment partner for this program.