Google Classroom -What does Google have in store for teachers?

I have been using Google apps and products in my classroom for some time now.  I waited impatiently as they unveiled Google Drive which changed how I manage my classroom. I use Google Forms to create quizzes and embed them onto my classroom website; I do the same with Google Presentations. There is an ad on script called Flubaroo that is used to grade those quizzes and email them back to the students. The Calendar that Google offers is also easily embedded onto my site, this way my kids can always look back to see what they had missed or look ahead as to when an assignment is due.  I can create videos then store them on my Drive and share them with my students either directly via Drive or by embedding them on to my site. The list goes on and on of all the free things Google has to offer besides its list of growing educational apps. This is all good if your a bit on the geek side and am able to figure out how to use it. That is were Google Classroom comes into play.

Preview video found at http://www.google.com/edu/classroom/

What is Google Classroom? Well it is hard to say as of today as they have kept things pretty tight lipped but here is what we probably have in store. Google realized it was losing a lot of business to both Schoology and Edmodo so I think it is going to be safe bet that they will be adding a Learning Management System (LMS) to their apps.  As I said above I used a lot of Google products but managing them was tricky and probably overwhelming to teachers that have not kept up with how Google Drive works. It looks like teachers would be able to set up their class list and the app would automatically connect with that students Drive to allow for seamless sharing of documents in both directions. This is possible now but you have to be on top of your file management game to have it work. Teachers would be able to push out homework, view it in real time, and make comments on it, without ever actually taking it from the student.  Quizzes and test are also likely to be an addition, this is rather self-explanatory but in a nut shell teachers would give an assessment in the Drive and it would be graded and then returned via email.  Basically they are making a user interface with what they already have, this will tie it all together. I for one welcome this as it is much needed.

I knew something was coming a few weeks ago as I was in a conference with some of the top figures in the Google Apps for Education division and they seemed excited as to what was coming but couldn't talk about it. A trial by invitation has been launched in the last few days; Google will select who gets to try it in BETA. The public version is slated to be released for next school year. I for one am excited and signed up for the trial and hope to be picked.

Corey Szyikowski
TechEd LLC 

www.techedlearning.com

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