Recently, Google’s educational products, Classroom, Meet, and Chrome, have welcomed 50 new features to improve its 150 million students’ and educators’ learning experience.
Let’s take a look at some of Google Classroom’s most notable new features and changes coming in 2021.
What is Google Classroom?
Google Classroom is the first choice in learning management systems for many educational leaders. The usage of educational platforms has risen during the pandemic. A lot of people have been taking classes online and through other means across the globe.
Google Classroom aims to connect students and educators through a simple teaching and learning experience. Its new features stem from its users’ feedback, who have provided details about their changing needs to the product.
This year, Google Classroom will include updates to the user interface and improve workflows for educators. Remote learning will also become easier for students with Classroom.
1. Classroom to Work with Tools
Google Classroom will integrate external tools and content in the education sector. This integration will simplify the use of various tools.
With this, you’ll be able to choose the tools and content suited to your needs from the marketplace and assign them to students directly from Classroom.
Teachers using Google Workspace for Education Plus or the Teaching & Learning Upgrade will have access to add-on tools. Moreover, the login process will simplify, and admins can install add-ons for teachers in their domain.
2. Classroom Add-on Integrations
Education Plus users will be able to set up classes in advance, with rosters synched from Classroom with their Student Information System (SIS). This will improve the learning experience by supporting teachers using apps in their classrooms.
3. Marks Made Easy
Google Classroom will streamline grading with Grade Export. Educators can track marks and share them from Classroom’s Gradebook to their SIS, which facilitates recording marks.
4. Audit Logs for Admins
Audit logs will track events to simplify the process of sorting out any Classroom-related issues. This information will be available directly to the admins, who can view the date when that content was archived or movements between students were made.
5. Insights for Activity Logs
Education Standard and Education Plus admin users will derive insights relating to Google Classroom adoption and engagement. They will be able to customize the data templates to improve data visualization and export the audit logs.
6. Improved Hybridity
Google Classroom will improve the learning environment with the ability to track student engagement. These stats provide educators perspective on how students are doing in relation to specific student interactions within Classroom.
7. Offline Learning
The Android app will soon cater to offline or intermittent connections, allowing students to begin, review, open, and write assignments in Google Docs without needing an internet connection.
8. Improved Imagery
As more photos are shared in Classroom, it will soon be easier to attach and submit them for the educators’ review.
Students will be able to combine photos into a single document and edit the image’s size, rotation, and lighting. The Android app will allow for the scanning, editing, and attachment of images as well.
9. Simplified Workflows
Educators will be privy to simplified workflows with improved mobile usage of Classroom. This will include switching between and being able to view, complete grading, and provide feedback through the mobile app.
10. Rich Text Formatting
Using Google Classroom, teachers and students will be able to add rich text formatting to their assignments and posts, like bold, italics, underline, and bullet points.
11. Originality Reports
Originality report functionality that detects plagiarism will span new languages, including Spanish, Portuguese, Norwegian, Swedish, French, Italian, Indonesian, Japanese, Finnish, German, Korean, Danish, Malay, and Hindi.
12. CS First Integration
Google Classroom’s features include CS First integration, a completely free computer science curriculum. Students can sign in using a Google account, and educators can import their student rosters directly from Classroom to get started.
Download: Google Classroom for iOS | Android
Classroom’s New Features
The features introduced are all designed to improve the ongoing use of Google Classroom as a primary learning environment. The updates expected in 2021 will enhance the experience for both teachers and students. Moreover, users are encouraged to continue to share their feedback for future feature additions.
