Activity 6: Google Classroom

Imagine nerds, a device that could beam things around like a transporter in Star Trek.  Maybe we aren't ready for people yet, but we can now beam assignments to students with a few clicks of a button and when students are finished they can beam those same assignments back to us.

Google Classroom is a tool that can facilitate collaborative assignments, classroom discussion, and an easy and time efficient way to “beam” papers to students.  The main function of Google Classroom is called a stream where teachers post assignments or make class announcements in a most recent at the top format.  

For this Tech Nerd Camp activity, complete 2 levels of the Google Classroom activity; either beginner and intermediate, or intermediate and advanced. If you want to be a super nerd like Wesley Crusher, go ahead and complete all 3. After that, write your blog post.

__________________________________________________________________________

Beginner:

Setting up a class in Classroom: This is a video playlist. Watch videos 1, 2, 3, 4, and 7 from the list. You can select the video to watch on the right side of the screen.

Beginner Tasks

1. Go to classroom.google.com and set up a class for this activity.
2. Change the Classroom banner.
3. Invite your counselor and at least 2 other students to this class.
1. If you have not yet found 2 other students join my Classroom by using the class code kvb77a and add an announcement looking for 2 Nerds that are on this same activity or look at the announcements to see if someone has already posted and respond to their announcement.
4. Go to the about tab and edit some of this information. Add a syllabus or some other document on this page.

__________________________________________________________________________

Intermediate:

Assignments in Classroom from both the teacher and the student point of view.

Classroom assignment naming conventions blog - Read this blog and think about why having a naming convention is important.

This video shows 2 of the new features in Google Classroom; adding a co-teacher, and creating drafts of assignments.

Intermediate Tasks

1. If you didn't do the beginner level, create a class for this activity and invite your counselor and 2 other students.
2. Add an announcement with some directions.
3. Create a set of assignments, preferably ones that you would actually give your students, number the assignments using a numbering system, and add directions for the assignments.
• 1 assignment where students have to go to at least 2 websites. Include a “make a copy for each student” document for students to write down whatever they were doing.
• Note, for each of these tasks you need to create a document in Google Drive before you can include the document in a classroom assignment. This is similar to how Batman and Iron Man need to create blueprints for their cool toys before they can use them to vanquish vile villains (for you English nerds, go alliteration).
• 1 assignment where students watch a video or fill out a Google Form (We will cover Google Forms in activity 8 so if you don't know how to create one of these, go for the video). Include a “make a copy for each student” document for students to reflect on the video or Google Form.
• 1 assignment where a "students can edit file" document is shared with all students and there are instructions for how they will collaborate
• 1 assignment where you assign a “make a copy for each student” document.
4. Have the students in your class complete each assignment. We don't expect them to actually do the entire assignment, we would like them to open the assignment and turn it in so that they can see things from the student's point of view and you can see things from the teacher's point of view when they are turned in. When you create the assignment you can add a set of directions explaining this.
5. Read each completed assignment, return assignment 1 and 2 to your students and make a comment to each student.

__________________________________________________________________________

Advanced:

Use Doctopus and Goobric. I know that Doctopus and Goobric sound like the names of intergalactic space aliens, but relax and put your blasters away. They are actually really cool tools that are used to attach rubrics to student documents, grade student documents, and leave both written and audio feedback.

Advanced Tasks

1. Create a rubric that will work with Doctopus and Goobric.
2. Use Doctopus and Goobric to "grade" the 4th assignment from the intermediate tasks.
3. Add a written comment and a voice comment to each students submission.

__________________________________________________________________________

Blog

1. Post your thoughts on how you could use Google Classroom in your classes and what type of assignments it would work well for. 
2. Comment on 3 other Nerd's posts.