Manage Learning With Google Classroom

We continue with our review of tools to facilitate teaching and learning

Google Classroom is an excellent Learning Management System that can assist teachers in managing remote learning.

 

Why Google Classroom?

As the name says, it is a tool that transforms the online learning space into a Classroom. It shares some features of physical classrooms like interactions, classroom activities and homework. 

Unlike other Nearpod and other online platforms, Google Classroom does not have lesson planning and development features. On the contrary, it is a space for managing lessons planned using different tools.

It can be used online, in person, as part of blended and flipped learning.

 

Some excellent features of Google Classroom

Easy to use

Google Classroom is one of the less fussy learning platforms. It has a straightforward and user-friendly interface. There are very few links on the homepage except links to create a class or set a calendar. All classes in which students and the teacher are involved are listed on the homepage of the teacher’s account. This is where the teacher manages all his/her lessons.

 

Creating a class is quick and easy.  To facilitate the management of different classes, Google Classroom assigns different colours and banners to each class. To access a class, students need the class code. The dashboard of each class has four tabs:

The Stream tab for a live discussion with the students. The teacher can modify the settings to allow students to post and comment, comment, post, or comment only.

The Classwork tab is where the teacher creates assignments, quizzes, questions, and materials. These can be organised under different topics. 

Quizzes can be administered in multiple-choice or short-answer formats. MCQ quizzes are administered using integrated Google Docs. 

Assignments can be sent to students individually or to the entire class. They can be sent as attachments in videos (from YouTube, for example), word documents, Google Drive, etc.

The People tab is where other teachers and students can be invited for a joint project.

Lastly, the Mark tab is where the teacher views and manages his/her students’ grades.

Google Classroom introduced a To-do feature to keep teachers and students on track with deadlines and work. This feature is linked to the Calendar and sends notifications about deadlines, homework, and students’ performance, missing and completed tasks.

 

My take

Google Classroom is simple and user-friendly to facilitate remote learning. It can run on all devices, including mobile phones. 

Have you ever used Google Classroom to facilitate remote learning? Leave your thoughts in the comment section!

(All images credit: Nearpod)

Mobile Learning With Nearpod

 

Today, we go mobile in our journey to explore tools and resources to facilitate teaching and learning.

The mobile phone is one of the wonders of the digital world. Mobile phones have taken the lion’s share in the lives of 21st-century citizens. Even in the remotest corners of the earth, mobile phones have made their way into households. Students are not left out. In fact, they are the majority of users of mobile phones.

There is a hot and ongoing debate on whether to allow mobile phones in the classroom. The discussion is proof that mobile phones have a vital role in the field of education.

While hoping that partisans of mobile phones in schools win the debate, let’s see what to do with the mobile phones out of the classroom.

In this article, I take a look at Nearpod.

What is Nearpod?

Nearpod is an all in one solution for classroom activities. It is an interactive online platform for creating teaching and learning activities. Think of PowerPoint slideshows, Google Slides, PDFs, Videos, and YouTube content and how you can streamline all of them on a single platform. Nearpod offers just that!

How Nearpod works

First, get your PowerPoint, videos, and slides ready for the lesson you want to teach. If you are a busy teacher, pick from ready-to-use customizable formats from Nearpod. 

The platform boasts more than 15500 ready-made formats to choose from. So there are formats to suit all needs.

In addition to being an incredible lesson plan builder, Nearpod also transforms the lesson into interactive content.

The platform can transform the content of your lesson into a game to engage your learners. These games can be in the form of quizzes, polls, formative evaluations, simulations, and interactive media.

Also, with Nearpod, a teacher can assist learners in groups or individually to improve an area of difficulty. Nearpod offers a report on a student’s performance. Teachers can give assignments to students and receive a report of their performance via email.

You might now be asking what mobile phones have to do with this. Nearpod works like Kahoot. It has a lesson planning platform and an interactive platform for remote learning. Each content created by the teacher has a code to interact with the content.

There are two options to deliver the content. The content can be delivered in a live session with students participating in the class with the teacher at the same time. It can also be delivered in a remote session where students participate from the comfort of their homes.

Students can access the content through their mobile phones and at home. In a context where mobile phones are not allowed in the classroom, the live session might be challenging for the teacher using mobile phones. That is only possible in a context where the school provides other digital tools like laptops.

This is where the remote session comes in handy. All the students need is the code to the lesson to access it from their mobile from home. It is excellent for flipped learning, where students are exposed to the material to be covered in class before the actual lesson.

 Cons

Like any good tool out there, there are not always perfect. In the case of Nearpod, accessing all the platform's features requires a subscription. There is a free plan, but the features are basic and limited. The free version makes it possible to save data for only 100 MB. 

My take

Nearpod is a tool worth exploring. It is very useful for large classroom management where it is not possible to attend to the need of individual students within the time frame of a lesson. Via students’ individual reports, a teacher can organise remedial classes. 

Have you ever used Nearpod in the classroom or to improve your speaking skills? Leave your thoughts in the comment section!

(All images credit: Nearpod)