The students are just not getting it. You’ve covered this material for the last three class periods, and they have checked out. So what’s the solution? Interactive games? More real-world applications of the material? Better examples? Maybe all of those things, or something else entirely. You need a way to find out what students need and tools versatile enough to give them whatever classroom changes will help them engage. Teachers will tell you that most of their work is outside the classroom. Class prep, grading, working individually with students, and creating assignments are monumental tasks. It is incredibly frustrating when technology lacks the capabilities you need or won’t interface properly and derails your flow.
Thankfully, Google Classroom and Promethean technology work together to let you tailor each class to the needs of students while streamlining the prep process.
What is Google Classroom? And how does it work?
Google Classroom is a learning management system (LMS) that interfaces with the rest of the Google Suite, including Google Docs, Google Sheets, Google Slides, and a large library of Google Classroom games. While there is no Google Classroom screen manufactured by Google, devices such as Promethean’s Chromebox or EDLA-certified OPS-A integrate seamlessly with Google Classroom systems.
The main advantage of having a screen that integrates with Google Classroom is the flexibility it brings. Unlike other LMSs, the Google Suite of tools lets you approach class in a way that works for your set of students. Before we get into how Google Classroom can reshape the way you teach, let’s look at a few core features to get a better idea of how the system works.
Assignments
Google Classroom lets you easily create standard assignments like essays, quizzes, and worksheets. You can create almost any type of task or assignment and give it a point value towards the overall class grade. Whatever you assign, students can see the due dates and point values so they know how much will impact their course grades. They can also submit work directly to Google Classroom, which makes it easier for you to provide feedback.
Grading and feedback
Since all the work is submitted into Google Classroom, teachers can log in and directly comment on students’ work. This allows students to see their numerical grades and specific feedback from teachers. Alongside leaving a comment for a specific student, you can save comments and add them to a bank of notes for a given assignment. For example, if you find that many of your students are making the same mistake in solving an equation, you can explain the problem in a comment and apply that same comment to everyone who made the same mistake.
Communication tools
The versatility of the Google Suite of tools makes communication with students easier than ever. The class stream is an ongoing feed of information where students and teachers can interact with each other’s posts. It is great for announcements, asking questions, and clarifying materials. Students also receive emails when teachers give them assignments, add comments, or have other updates.
With this basic understanding of how Google Classroom works, we can understand how interactive displays can work with the huge library of Google Classroom games and apps to boost student engagement.
Interactive displays: The perfect blend of in-person and virtual classroom
Teaching has rapidly changed over the last few decades – and the 2020 coronavirus pandemic kicked this into overdrive. Teachers learned that virtual classrooms have some great advantages, like Google Classroom games, access to a multitude of examples and simulations to illustrate material via the internet, and digital grading platforms that make it possible to effectively teach more students. That said, a virtual classroom can’t come close to replacing the experience of in-class instruction when it comes to student engagement, focus, and retention. But what if you could take those online classroom advantages and bring them into an in-class environment?
Both Promethean’s interactive displays and Google Classroom are valuable teaching tools in and of themselves, but combining them is a real game changer. Interactive displays utilize touchscreen technology so you can directly interact with digital content. They act as large tablet computers that can run apps, download files, and do what computers can do. Plus you get the added benefit of annotation, drawing tools, and with the Screen Share receiver included with Promethean ActivSuite, you can easily share your students’ screens to your ActivPanel 10 or ActivPanel LX. But, all this is without Google Classroom. Once you connect Promethean and Google Classroom, we can see how they work together to enhance teaching.
How to use Google Classroom on Promethean
Promethean’s EDLA certified OPS-A and Google Chromebox make accessing Google Classroom a breeze. Sign in via the app with your Google ID, and you’ll be looking at the familiar Google interface. The Chromebox provides access to Google’s vast library of tools, including Google Classroom games, productivity apps, and many others.
When it comes to hardware, Promethean’s ActivPanel 10 and ActivPanel LX allow you to display and interact with Google Classroom from your preferred device. When paired with Promethean ActivSuite the teaching experience is further enhanced by utilizing apps like spinner, timer, and whiteboard to name a few. Students can submit their assignments directly to their Google Classroom portfolios and teachers can share and manage lessons in real time. Google Meet also allows teachers and students to interact virtually should the need arise. When it comes to how this integration impacts your teaching, enhancing classroom engagement and streamlining class time are two key ways that Google Classroom and Promethean work together.
Enhancing classroom engagement
Tools like Explain Everything Advanced make it easy for you to create engaging lessons for your students that can be shared directly into Google Classroom. Explain Everything Advanced also lets you include interactive questions, graphics, and allows students to import their own work, so your class is constantly participating and engaged. But the interaction doesn’t end there.
Google Classroom games provides substantial options to deliver information and test your students’ knowledge. While you can get some apps via Google’s App Hub, Google Classroom also allows user-created content, which means you have access to all kinds of premade in-class games to help students test their knowledge.
Tips and best practices with Google and Promethean
The bedrock of teaching stays the same no matter what technology you’re using. You need to create engaging lessons to get students invested in the material. Let’s take a look at a few in-class best practices and classroom screen examples.
Create interactive quizzes and games
Tools like Explain Everything lets you create interactive lessons that students can interact with on the whiteboard. This is a great way to gamify your classroom. Since students can directly interact with the display, you can award points for correct answers or easily let students express their opinions. For example, you can create a quiz through Explain Everything or Google Forms on your attached computer, project the quiz on the board, and award points based on their answers. You can also conduct real-time polls with Explain Everything Advanced and use online simulations and games to reinforce the topics you are covering. Promethean’s touchscreen technology lets students come to the front of the class and directly interact with the material to help facilitate class discussions and debates.
Incorporate real-time annotation and collaboration
Google Classroom allows you to assign groups to work on shared docs, slides, or anything else in the Google Suite of tools. Then, you can use Promethean screen-sharing capabilities to display the group’s work in real time. The versatility of Google’s Suite of tools lets you incorporate them into a wide range of subjects. Google Slides allows you to create presentations on topics like history and science, while Google Docs can help record writing and research. The comment feature in Google Docs also lets students provide feedback to each other on assignments – which makes peer reviewing a lot easier. For example, if you are teaching a math lesson, you can put a problem on your ActivPanel and get students to work in small groups while annotating to show how they solved the problem.
Use the flipped classroom model
A flipped classroom allows students to explore course content prior to class and utilize the time in the classroom for hands on activities or assignments. Before class you can assign students short video lectures or readings through Google Classroom. Then in class, use a Promethean interactive display and Promethean ActivSuite’s tools, like Whiteboard and Annotate, to let students teach the class on their learnings. With Promethean and Google’s flexibility, students are empowered to showcase leadership and presentation skills through problem-solving activities and project-based learning. For example, suppose you are teaching a science class on thermodynamics. You cover the basics in a normal class lecture but then assign a group of students to conduct a lab experiment and give a short lecture explaining how they applied their knowledge. Google Classroom and Promethean allow students to easily access all the material they need and show it to the class.
Build a better classroom with Promethean and Google
We’ve only scratched the surface of what these tools can do in the classroom. If you’d like to see Google Classroom and Promethean in action at your school, set up a free demo and see how our technology works together to help you and your students maximize learning.
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