This week I was a guest on Teachercast (http://teachercast.net) and was asked for 5 things that people do not know about Google Classroom. I have a blog post on 5 things you may not know about Google Classroom, but I came up with a fresh list for Teachercast.
- Google Docs Change Ownership: When students “TURN IN” an assignment in Google Classroom the ownership of the document switches from the student to the teacher. At this point the student can not edit the document until the teacher returns the document, or the student unsubmits it.
- Teachers Can Be Students: Teachers can join another teachers Google Classroom. They can observe another classroom from afar and learn best practices for using Google Classroom. Administrators can also start a classroom where the teachers are students to allow for campus collaboration
- Students Create Documents in Classroom: On the turn in page for students there is a create button. Students can create a Google Document right in Google Classroom without having to go to Drive. The assignment is automagically attached to the assignment, named with the assignment name, appends the students name and is saved in the Google Classroom assignment folder.
- Share/Rename/Move Classroom Folders: Files are not linked to Google Classroom by their location, but rather by the file ID. You can rename, move, or share folders or files and not affect Google Classroom. Go ahead, organize your Google Drive the way you want, including your Google Classroom folders! (Warning, if you are using Doctopus you should not rename the Classroom folder).
- No Anonymous Chupacabra: When you share a Google Doc as “Anyone with the link can…” the students who click on the link show up in the document as an anonymous animal. Google Classroom implicitly shares the documents with the students in the class so that the students are no longer anonymous. You can check participation in revision history and see which student wrote what.
