9 benefits of working with Google Classroom

Living and working in the past couple of years has been strongly affected by the forced standstill of the COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic, among many sectors, also adversely affected the education sector. It forced closing down universities, schools, and colleges due to the fear of spreading the virus even more and forced educators as well as students to search for alternatives in order to keep learning against the odds Among the alternatives was Online education, which has always been viewed as a mode suited for adult learners who wish to pursue some sort of higher education. But due to the emergence of COVID-19, everyone was forced to adapt to the mode of online teaching and classes. But thanks to our current pace of technology, switching to an online mode of education was possible due to our daily use of web-based devices. One of the applications that made this enormous transition possible was Google Classroom.

Google Classroom was created with the aim to simplify the process of creating, distributing, and grading assignments. It integrates within itself Google Slides, Google Docs, Google Sheets, Google Calendar, and Gmail which collaboratively provide the features and functionality of an offline classroom’s experience to the best possible extent. It is accessible from any computer via Google Chrome or mobile device irrespective of platform. Any files uploaded by educators and students are stored in a Classroom folder on Google Drive. They can access Classroom anytime, anywhere. Students are now free from the worries of crashed computers. Now, all that students were required to do was to join via an invite by the teacher to their respective classroom in the Google ecosystem. Each class has the function of creating a separate folder in the user’s Google Drive, which they can use to submit their respective work and assignments and in turn, the teacher in charge can access the work and assignments to grade. They can then move on to add comments and grades in the appropriate space provided. Due to the Google Calendar being present, due dates for assignments and exam schedule gets added to it and is easier for the students to remember due to reminders.

The salient features of Google Classroom to tackle the problems of online mode of education are:?

1. Providing exposure to grow

Classroom facilitates the exposure of students with an online learning system. Most university programs now require students to enroll and attend classes that are happening online. Exposure to Google Classroom helps the students transition to different learning management systems used in higher education.

2. Being paperless reduces the hassle

Classroom is completely paperless, so teachers and students won't have to shuffle a lot of paper. Teachers upload assignments and assessments to Classroom at the same time as they upload them to Drive. Students can use Classroom to complete assignments and assessments, and their work is saved to Drive. They are also able to access work that has been missed due to absences and find other resources that they may require.

3. Saves a lot of time

Classroom can help you save a lot of time. Teachers have more time to complete other tasks now that all of their resources are in one place and they can access Classroom from literally anywhere with the internet. Teachers and students can use their phones or tablets to participate in Classroom because it can be accessed remotely hence making the accessibility convenient.

4. Facilitates communication for better understanding

Communication with students and parents is a breeze thanks to built-in tools. Communication between teachers and students can take place through email, teachers can send private comments on assignments, and provide feedback on the work of students. Teachers have complete control over the comments and posts made by their students. They can also communicate with parents via individual emails or Classroom email summaries, which contain information such as class announcements and due dates.

5. Collaboration to keep the environment alive

Students can collaborate in a variety of ways in the classroom. Within the Classroom, teachers can facilitate online discussions between students and create group projects. Additionally, students can collaborate on Google Docs that the teacher has shared. This tries to keep alive the feeling of engagement of an offline class.?

6. Engagement that makes you feel inclusive

Most digital natives are familiar with technology and will be more likely to use it to take control of their learning. There are several strategies to make learning dynamic and collaborative in the classroom. Teachers can differentiate assignments, include videos and online sites into courses, and create collaborative group assignments with them.

?7. Differentiation to distribute work better

Teachers may effortlessly differentiate education for students using Classroom. When generating an assignment on the Classwork page, you can assign lessons to the entire class, individual students, or groups of students in just a few simple steps.

8. Ability to provide feedback to each individual

Giving meaningful feedback to students is an important aspect of any learning process. Teachers can offer feedback on tasks to each student using Classroom's grading function. Within the grading tool, you may also build a comment bank for future reference. Furthermore, the Classroom mobile app allows users to annotate their work.

9. Data Analysis

Teachers should review assessment data to ensure that students comprehend learning objectives in order to make learning more relevant. Assessment data can be readily exported to Sheets for sorting and analysis.

The pandemic has accelerated the blurring of the distinction between offline and online mode of education. Due to improved infrastructure and evolved skill sets that let people move?across different delivery systems, more educator choices are becoming the norm. Best practices in hybrid or blended teaching and learning have served as a road map for various instructional delivery combinations that have arisen in response to the shift to virtual learning. And this is being facilitated by one of the most revolutionary cloud based service out there, Google Classroom. It aims at simulating the experience of an offline class as closely as possible. This is the power of Google Cloud Systems.