The Google Classroom is now open for all Google Apps and is now part of Google's Apps for Education Suite. Announced in May, the new classroom will be powered by Google's own tools. These would include Google Docs, Drive, and Gmail. The online tool is designed to encourage teachers to use the Classroom's services in web-based assigning and collecting of their students' works. It's also designed to boost teachers' and students' communication channels whether they are inside or outside of the classroom.
Classroom, which is compatible with 42 languages, is basically a web-based platform for easier management of assignments and projects. Apart from assigning projects, educators can also dispense information, collect assignments and initiate real time discussions. They can easily add and remove students from their classes and give them feedback as well.
It may well be described as the "classroom of the future." The tool can also allow students to maximize the way they use their Google laptops. When used together with Google's apps, students can write their papers and submit their work through Classroom. Teachers and parents are given the option to decide on making Google the central tool in educating the students. On the whole, it's a more convenient way for everyone involved to stay and be regularly updated since a single ecosystem is used.
Google piloted the scheme with more than a dozen schools and universities. After it has completed the pilot phase, the Google Classroom project can now be previewed by educators. The announcement was made in a blog post by Zach Yeskel, Google Classroom Product Manager. Its goal is to enable teachers to "spend more time teaching and less time shuffling papers," said Yeskel.
According to the tech company, there are over 100,000 educators coming from over 45 countries that have signed up to the project in order to take a look. Fontbonne Hall Academy, which is located in Brooklyn, New York, is one of the first schools to use the Google Classroom. Sister Rosemarie DeLoro, who has been teaching for more than 60 years, said that the free service has made assigning digital worksheets to her students in the Italian class a whole lot easier. Moreover, it's easy for her to provide feedback directly. "You can't stay in teaching and keep going to the old ways," said Sister Rosemarie.
Google Classroom also works well on mobile gadgets and popular screen readers. Google promises to roll it out to more users on a daily basis. In order to gain access, a user can go to classroom.google.com and use his Apps for Education account.
