CESD Google Classrooms – Archiving

CESD Google Classrooms – Archiving

by | Mar 29, 2022 | GSuite

Why do some classrooms have small text that says “Leave class, don’t archive?”

Those classrooms are shared classrooms that may have up to 20 teachers in our district added to them as teachers. (20 is the limit that Google Classroom currently has).  When you archive it to get it off your screen, you archive it for the 19 others who may not be done using it.

If it is cluttering your screen, you have a couple choices.

When you are on the screen that has the “cards”, as shown on this screen, you can drag the cards around, meaning you can put ones you don’t use regularly down at the bottom of the screen.

You also have the choice to “leave class”. This will unenrol you from classrooms that have been shared to you that you are no longer using. Doing this does not remove the classroom from any other teachers as archiving does, and it gets rid of it permanently for you.

All CESD owned classrooms are now marked with the message “Leave class, dont archive!” to make it very clear which classrooms are shared classrooms. This should save you having to double check on them to be certain.

Google Classroom Changes Coming for Fall

Google Classroom Changes Coming for Fall

by | Mar 16, 2021 | GSuite

Google is rolling out some fantastic changes to Google Classroom with the expectation that they will be up and running for fall 2021.  Keep providing your suggestions to Google via the question mark icon in the bottom left corner of Google Classrom; we have more proof that the Engineers at Google are listening to us!

 

Google Classroom Student Data - fall 2021

Student Data

Perhaps the most exciting of the new features is the improvement to the student metrics. In the updated Google Classroom, teachers will be able to see when a student was last active in Google Classroom, what and when their last submitted assignment was, as well as the most recent comment (which are often questions from students) from students.

This feature is a class-by-class feature that will provide teachers with some excellent data for both in-person learning as well as online!

Improved Photo Tools in the Google Classroom app

Thanks, in large part, to feedback from teachers around the world using Google Classroom, they are adding camera access inside the Google Classroom app. So, students who operate their Google Classroom through their phone will be better equipped to photograph (it will be built more as a scanning type app that utilizes the phone’s camera) completed work and easily submit it to the teacher for grading.  At first, this will only be on Android devices, but will come to Apple devices once the Android app is running smoothly with this new feature.

Offline Mode

Many of our rural students who live in areas with limited wifi access already use offline mode with their Google Drive. Now this feature is going to include Google Classroom. Students will be able to access classroom while at school, and then when they get home, their device will have retained the data to allow them to have access to this important data while at home, or away from wifi.

Originality Reports

Teachers and students will both have access to enhanced originality reports. Students can run a report prior to submitting a written assignment so as to have clarity as to the success of their personal writing.  

Rubrics

The creation of rubrics in Google Classroom has also improved – teachers can now export their rubric to sheets, or import a rubric from sheets.

Full Webinar

Below is the full 30-minute webinar that Google offered this morning to bring us all up-to-date with respect to the changes to Google Classroom!

Glitches in Google Meet

Glitches in Google Meet

by | Nov 25, 2020 | GSuite

If you are experiencing challenges with either of these Google Meet glitches, this blog post will offer the solution.

1. The link that Google Classroom generates is glitchy. We have learned from our remote learning troubleshooting this fall that using the Meet link that Classroom publishes on the banner does not always ensure that the teacher is the owner of the session.

 

We realized these links were glitchy when we had one of our remote teachers log in to her own Meet first (ahead of all students) – 8:50 am according to the Google server log. At 8:58 her first student logged in, and that student was in control of the meet.

2. A Meet address that you have created seems to have expired. This seems to occur when the meet is given a nickname. 

 

To Solve These Issues

1. Go to meet.google.com and click on “Join or start a meeting”.

2. Do NOT give the Meet a nickname.

3. Copy the URL (web address) that Meet generates.

4. Paste the URL into Google Classroom as a material and apply a topic to it (I’d call the Topic “Google Meet Link”) and then drag that topic to the very top of your classwork tab in Google Classroom.

If at any time your Meet link begins to glitch (Michelle has used the same link since the first Covid quarantine in March of this year), repeat the above steps, but you’ll only need to edit the material in step 4.  You might also consider pasting your Meet link onto your staff bio page on your school’s website. Michelle has pasted hers onto her CESD staff bio if you ever need it!

Other Challenges

When things have glitches, it is often “the network” we first blame for the problems. If you are physically in a CESD school, it is highly unlikely to be the network. However, what students have open on their device can present challenges.

If students have a large number of tabs open, this can place a burden on their device, causing Meet to not have access to the local resources it needs to run. This can cause a student to be “booted” out of the meet, or can cause their video to be glitchy.

If students are at home on a PC or Mac computer, other programs they have open can steal valuable processing from that computer. Things like Fortnite running in the background, or YouTube open to play music while they listen can be quite problematic in Google Meet.

Students accessing the meet on a mobile device (smartphone or tablet) not using the actual app for Google Meet may experience challenges.

Lastly, the network in the personal space (homes) of the participants can have an impact on the meeting. The CESD network is unlikely to be at fault, but home networks may be.

 

z-ETTTH Emails

by | Nov 23, 2020

Ed Tech Tips, Tricks & Hacks Archive

2021-2022 (Volume 4)

2020-2021 (Volume 3)

2019-2020 (Volume 2)

Adding Parents in Google Classroom

Adding Parents in Google Classroom

by | Oct 14, 2020 | GSuite

Inviting parents to Google Classroom is a process that must be done using the “invite parent or guardian” link that appears on the people tab, between the student’s name and the email icon.

This video was designed for teachers and parents to be able to see what they can expect to have happen when they are correctly added to Google Classroom.