This is the second in a two-part post on using Google Classroom. Part one can be found here.
Recently, we looked at Google Classroom’s ability to share assignments. This week we’re going to go over its roster functions.
Setting Up Your Roster
To start using Google Classroom, you need to add students to your class. You can invite the students through their Gmail account or the students can self-enroll by using the class code.
To add students yourself:
- Log onto Google Classroom and click on the “People” tab at the top of the page. You’ll be taken to your roster, which should at first only have your name.
- In the Students section, you can click on the button near the right to add students.
- Type in their emails in the box that pops up and press the Invite button at the bottom of the popup.
If you want students to add themselves, the code they need is at the bottom of the page. It goes away after you invite students, but you can find it again on your classroom’s landing page and the Settings page.
For additional tips on roster, check out the video below.
What’s next?
With your class roster set up, you can tap into Google Classrooms awesome features, such as sending students assignments and quizzes. The platform also allows you to communicate with individual students or assign work to the entire class at once. To do this, visit the stream page, which is also your class’s landing page. There you can send messages to everyone in your class, share files with them — even YouTube clips — and your students can do the same. It acts as a newsfeed, just like social media. You can control what students can do the stream (post, comments) through the Settings page.
You can use the roster to message students individually. Find the student you need to connect on the people page and click the checkbox by their name. Under the actions dropdown, you will find an option for email.
The Classwork page is where you can create assignments and send them to your students. You can also upload your extra material here to the class Google Drive. There’s also a link to the classroom calendar, making it quick and easy to schedule out due dates.
Through the roster, you can also connect to outside apps and services, such as Education.com. These sites connect your students to lessons, materials like glossaries and worksheets, even games. To see the kind of apps that connect with Classroom, you can visit edu.google.com.
Again, if you have more questions about Google Classroom, visit Google Support. For more tips, we also suggest visiting Super SchoolHouse on YouTube.
By Kevin L. Jones, former journalist covering the Bay Area.
