Teacher Tech blog with Alice Keeler

Paperless Is Not a Pedagogy

Alice Keeler

5 Hidden Features of Google Classroom

Google Classroom allows you to assign work and collect it from students. However, you can go further with your use of Classroom with these 5 hidden features of Google Classroom. Allow students to ask questions on an assignment and quickly access the comment bank.
5 hidden features of Google Classroom
5 Hidden Features of Google Classroom

Google Classroom is more than just a digital box for posting assignments and receiving student submissions. It’s a dynamic, interactive platform that offers a multitude of lesser-known functionalities. Beyond its basic features, Google Classroom harbors several hidden gems that can significantly enhance your educational experience. In this blog post, we’ll uncover 5 of these hidden features, shedding light on how they can transform your teaching and learning process.

Posting Assignments to Google Classroom

As you may know, you can create a class in Google Classroom by going to classroom.google.com. From there you can create your class which will appear as a tile on the Classes home page. Clicking on the class tile you will be taken to the Google Classroom “Stream.” This is NOT where you post assignments. Consider the Stream as your social space. Engage students in informal discussions. Share class announcements. Allow students to ask questions about the assignments.

Google Classroom is designed to be organized by topics on the Classwork page. Use the “Create” button on the Classwork tab to create topics. This Create button is also how you can create assignments for Google Classroom.

Tip: Go to the Classwork page. Copy the URL at the top of the classwork page and create a QR code. When telling students to go to Google Classroom, give them the link to the Classwork page so they can see the assignments organized by topic.

5 Hidden Features of Google Classroom

Not all features in Google Classroom are so obvious. Here are 5 hidden features to check out to help you get the most out of Google Classroom. 

1. Enable Show Attachments and Details on the Stream

By default Google Classroom will show a CONDENSED posting of your assignment. The problem with this is that it is difficult for students to ask a question about the assignment. Instead, click on the settings cog in the upper right of your class. Find “Classwork on the Stream.” Change the option to “Show attachments and details.”

Besides the fact that the settings are not obvious without going to the cog, there is a hidden feature called “Class comments.” Enabling “attachments and details” reveals the option to “Add class comment” on the assignment in the Stream. This makes it easier for students to ask questions about the assignment.

2. Assignments with a DUE DATE

Google Classroom integrates with Google Calendar. Each class has a Google Calendar automatically created for it. Going straight to calendar.google.com will allow students to see all of their calendars for each of their classes.

Assignments will automatically appear on the calendar. However, they do not show up on the assigned date. Only on the due date. Make sure you include a due date to facilitate the Google Calendar integration.

AI image of google calendar and classroom

Only assignments with a due date appear on the calendar.

3. Topic for One Student

Assignments not assigned to students are not visible to students. While that seems obvious, a topic will only appear to a student if there are assignments in the topic that are assigned to them. If you create a topic for next week and all the assignments in the topic are unpublished, the topic will be invisible. Students will not know it exists.

Create a topic for ONE student or a group of students. If all the assignments in that topic are ONLY assigned to that one student, or group of students, that topic will ONLY be visible to that student. The other students in the class will not know the topic exists. This allows you to differentiate assignments.

4. View All Shows Submitted Assignments

On the Stream on the left hand side is a bubble to view “Upcoming assignments.” These are assignments with a due date in the next week. Part of the bubble you will see “View all.” Click on this to quickly get to the “To review” page of Google Classroom, filtered for that particular class. Quickly grade submitted assignments.

When students click on “View all” they will see a list of assignments they still need to submit.

5. Comment Bank

When students have a Google Doc added to an assignment and you click on it to review student work it opens in the feedback tool. When you leave students feedback comments you can choose from a selection of comments that you add to the “Comment bank.”

In the rail between the student document and the feedback comments is the “Comment bank” option.

Use # in the Comment Bank

Hidden in the comment bank is the ability to use a hashtag # to access the comments. First, insert a comment into the students document. Use Control Alt M to insert a comment with a keyboard shortcut. Second, put the # symbol into the comment. Then start typing a keyword from the comment you wish to leave. Suggested comments from the Comment bank will show below for you to select.

© 2024 All Rights Reserved.

💥 FREE OTIS WORKSHOP

Join Alice Keeler, Thursday Mar 28th or register to gain access to the recording.
Create a free OTIS account.

Join Alice Keeler for this session for a way to create dynamic and interactive digital lessons. The Desmos platform is completely free and allows for any topic to be created or customized.

Exit this pop up by pressing escape or clicking anywhere off the pop up.