Google Classroom Tutorial and Student Guide
So, you’re starting a brand new school year and your teacher is using Google Classroom. One small problem though – you’ve never used it before. What do you do? You watch today’s Google Classroom Student Guide, of course. We will explore how students can use Google Classroom easily and effectively for the 2019 – 2020 school year and beyond.
Let me set your mind at ease. Google Classroom is not a difficult program to learn, and today we are going to take a look at 4 main processes that you’ll need to know in order to be successful with the program. We are going to take a look at:
If you are already familiar with Google Classroom and just need a little refresher, click on the links above to take you to the Google Classroom Student Guide for that topic.
Getting Logged In
The first step to getting logged into Google Classroom is navigating to the login page. You can do that by entering classroom.google.com into your web browser. Mid-way down the page, you will notice a blue button that says “Go To Classroom”. Click on that button.
You will then be prompted to sign into your Google account. This is where you will place your school email. Following that step, you will then be prompted to enter your password. This will be the password you selected for your school email account. Once you’ve typed that in, press the “Next” button.
At this point, you will see the Google Classroom logo pop up. You will also see a spot towards the bottom that confirms the account you are trying to login with. If all looks correct, click the “Continue” button.
Now, you will choose your role. Because you are a student, you will click on “I’m A Student”.
You are now on your Google Classroom dashboard. This is where you can see all of the classes you have been invited to join or have already joined.
Finding Classes and Assignments
Anytime after your first login, you will be brought to your Classroom dashboard. This is where you will be able to see and access all of your classes. Now, in order to join a class, it’s nice and easy.
From your dashboard, you can take a look at the classes that you have been asked to join. You will notice a blue “Join” button. Simply click that “Join” button to access the class. Do not click “Decline” because you will then need to contact your teacher for either the class code or to be invited again.
Now that you’ve joined the class, you will be taken to the “Stream”. There are a number of items you can view on this page – one of them being the upcoming assignments on the left-hand side. This will indicate any assignments coming due within the next week. Additionally, in the middle of the page, you will be able to see any type of updates that your teacher or other classmates have posted. Now, what you see there actually depends on the settings your teacher has placed onto the class itself. So, for example, in my classes you will simply see announcements I make for the class. In other classes, you might see a combination of announcements as well as various other assignments that have been posted or comments from classmates etc.
The “Classwork” page is where all the magic happens. This is where all your assignments are laid out, in the order they should be completed and divided by topics.
Submitting Assignments and Finding Grades
There are a number of different types of assignments that you can be given on Google Classroom. Let’s take a look at what some of them might be.
The first thing I want you to notice on the Classwork page is that you have some icons that are grey and others that are a nice, bright colour. You see, the ones with the nice, bright colour are the tasks where you have something to complete and hand in. It is a fantastic, coloured system that helps us to be able to see really easily, which tasks on the Classwork page have something that needs to be completed.
Question Tasks
The first type of assignment that you might end up coming across is a question. In order to access the assignment, click on the title and it will expand your view to be able to see more detail. Then, you will click on “View Question” and that will take you directly to the assignment page that will provide all the details as well as any additional attachments your teacher might want you to have access to
Over in the right-hand corner, you will see your options for answering the question. In the example provided in the video, you are given a multiple choice question which means there are a few options for your answer. You will make your choice and then click “Turn In”. You will confirm that it is indeed the answer you want to provide and then click “Turn In” again.
Another thing that you are able to do directly on the assignment page is send a private comment to your teacher. Private comments are located on the right-hand side of the page. All you need to do is click on the space, type your question or statement, and then click “Post”. This will send a notification directly to your teacher so they know there is a comment on an assignment that they need to take a look at.
Something interesting to note and one thing that I really do like about the Classwork page, is that once you’ve handed in an assignment, the icon is no longer that bright colour. The icon is now greyed out. That makes it very easy to see which tasks you have completed and which tasks are still left for you to do.
Marking As Done
Sometimes, you might have an assignment given to you where you are not required to submit any files for evaluation, but you have a task that you are to complete. In that case, you will be directed within the instructions to mark the task as done. In order to do this, open the assignment, take a look at the instructions and any files that have been uploaded for your use, complete the task, and then on the right-hand side under “Your Work”, click the button that says “Mark As Done”.
The other type of assignment you might be given is one where you will need to supply work that you’ve done. You will upload a file, create a file, or work on a file your teacher has given to you. Once again, open the assignment from the Classwork page, read and follow the instructions provided on the centre of the assignment page, and then on the right-hand side under “Your Work”, if your teacher has provided a document for you, you will see it listed there. You can click on the document to access it and begin working on the task.
However, if there is no file already there for you to work on, you simply need to click on “Add or Create” and then choose to add a file from your Google Drive or computer OR create a new Google Slide, Doc, Sheet, or Draw file.
Once you have completed all the work for a particular assignment and you’ve made sure that all the appropriate files are attached, click the “Turn It In” button.
Communicating With Your Teacher and Classmates
Finally, we’re going to take a look at a few ways that we are able to communicate with other people in our class.
The first way is directly on the class Stream. If you recall, I mentioned that is a place where all the announcements and things of that sort are posted. Well, if your teacher allows it, you can actually make comments on announcements. That way, you can communicate back-and-forth in that manner.
Additionally, there is a third tab at the top of our screen that we haven’t fully investigated yet. It is the “People” tab. On this page, you’re able to see who your teacher is as well as who your classmates are. Not only that, you might also notice the envelope icon on the right side of everyone’s names. If you click on this icon, it opens up a Gmail message addressed directly to them.
Well, there you have it folks. Congratulations on sticking through until the end. I’ll see you in the next Google Classroom Student Guide! 🙂
