Google Snacks Volume 15 - Google Classroom Rubric

Google Classroom just came out with a new feature at the beginning of February 2020 to allow Rubrics to be created, reused, and imported so students can know what they will be graded on. Google also updated the look for creating Classroom assignments, which we will take a quick look at as well.

The new look for Classroom Assignments is below, with the addition of the Rubric option. Nothing too crazy, but I wanted to bring it to your attention since this is a change and you might be following along with the instruction.



Begin by clicking on the Rubric button then select the Create Rubric option. We will look at the Reuse and Import features later in this session.



Once you click on Create Rubric, a blank Rubric page will show, which will look like the image below.



Let's take a look at the elements of a criterion, since this will typically be your main focus.

A Title is required for each Criterion, while Descriptions are optional. You can set the points per level however you would like, but if you are syncing your grades from Classroom to Progressbook, you might want to keep that in mind when assigning points. Once you have added points for one level (title and description optional), you can add more points levels by clicking on the Plus icon.



Once you have filled out a Criterion with point levels, click on the Add a Criterion button at the bottom left to begin another Criterion.



A completed Rubric will look like the image below. Point values can be ascending or descending, depending on how you want it presented.



Next we will talk about exporting rubrics to Google Sheets, which will lead into importing rubrics from Sheets.



When editing or viewing a rubric, click on the three dots button in the top right corner to Export to Sheets. Below is an example of an exported Rubric.



The highlighted rows are required to be there, please be sure not to edit or remove them. (I added the highlights to this example, yours will not be highlighted.) You can create your rubric in advance by using a blank Sheet, but the rubric must have those top two rows to successfully import. I tested this myself by trying to import without the two rows or with only one row, but both rows must be there to import the rubric into a Classroom assignment.

You select Import from Sheets when you create a rubric on an assignment.



You will then be prompted to choose the Sheet to use. If the import fails, you will be told immediately, but you will not be told why or receive an error code. Most likely the reason is the missing two rows at the top, or the format for the criteria is not quite right.

Now we will look at reusing rubrics. When you choose this option, a window will open for you to select the rubric you want to reuse. Once you select the rubric, you can choose it immediately or you can Preview it and edit the criteria.



When you select Preview, the Rubric Preview window will open to allow you to review and choose this rubric or select this rubric to edit as an alternate version. The small arrows in the image below allow you to flip through rubrics to review all of them with ease.



I hope this helped to introduce you to this new feature of Google Classroom

Google Snacks Volume 14 - Classroom Integration with Progressbook

Hey Everyone,

The pictures attached below are essentially a roadmap of how to sync your Google Classroom grades with Progressbook without having to type those pesky grades directly into Progressbook. One thing to keep in mind during this process is that Progressbook will only accept grades that have been returned to students. Any draft grades or ungraded assignment will not populate a value and therefore be entered as a blank. You of course can always re-sync the same grade after grading every assignment and those blank grades mentioned before will populate without effecting the previously entered grades. You may also sync as many different assignments as you wish as long as the assignments all are within the same course on Classroom.

First, we need to make sure all the grades you want to enter have been returned to students and assigned a grade...

Next, we will navigate over to the Progressbook homepage and click on "Google Classroom Sync" near the middle-bottom portion of the homepage.

After clicking "Google Classroom Sync," you will be asked to sign-in to your Google Account. Once that step is complete, you need to select the class you are syncing from both in the Google portion (lower dropdown) and the Progressbook portion (upper dropdown).

Next, on the lefthand side of the screen, select which type of assignment you are syncing. This will will allow assignments to be placed in the correct categories for weighting. After selecting the assignment type on the left, select which assignment/s you would like to sync for this course. Remember you can sync as many assignments as you wish as long as the assignments are within the same course on Classroom.

Finally, you will click the Blue "Next" Button in the upper-righthand to proceed to the syncing process.

The next step requires one of two different things:

1. If this is the first time syncing this grade, you may proceed simply by pressing the blue "Sync" button in the upper-righthand and you are all done! (Picture 1).
2. If you are syncing a grade you have already synced before, you will need to select whether or not you would like to overwrite previous grades entered or not, and then complete step on. (Picture 2)

Finally if everything has gone accordingly, you should see the below page confirming that grade has been synced. You may also select "Synch New" in the upper-lefthand corner to start again with a new assignment or class.

Please email or call if you have any questions. Thank you!

Google Snacks Volume 13 - Google Classroom Advanced

Today we will be covering some of the advanced features of Google Classroom, which were not covered by the previous session. This session includes, looking at the Classroom folder in Google Drive, integrating other Google apps into Classroom, and exploring other assignment options.

After you create your first class, the Classroom folder will be automatically added to your Google Drive. Each class you create will have its own subfolder as well.

These folders will be where copies of materials, quizzes, and other classroom files are stored.

Switching back over to Classroom, on the Classwork tab at the top of a class, let's take a quick look at Quiz Assignments and how they differ from regular Assignments.

Quiz Assignments auto generate a Blank Quiz, which is the only difference between this and a Normal Assignment. 

Quizzes can be added to normal assignments, so Blank Quizzes are not added to your Drive. Blank Quizzes will show up in the folder associated with that class as seen below. This can be avoided by creating the quiz first and attaching it to a normal assignment.

Next, we will take a look at the Question option under Create.

Questions have additional options for making a self contained question on the Stream portion of Classroom. You can ask both Short Answer or Multiple Choice.

If you choose Short Answer, you can choose to have the students respond to each other or not. You can also choose if you want students to be able to edit their own answers.

The last option under the Create menu is Material.

Materials are just that, assignment materials. Materials cannot be graded, circled in the image below is where the grading option would be shown.

How does this all work together? The Classroom Basics session was a solid foundation for everything. This session, Classroom Advanced, builds on the Basics and ties in additional apps. Google Forms Quizzes allows you to create tests/quizzes you can use year after year, change up the answers, and even import individual questions from one test to another. Quizzes can be auto graded and the grades applied to Classroom, then synced to Gradebook. Finally, Comments in Docs and Slides gives you another option for assignments that can be graded (or not).

In our next session, which will be our last Classroom session for now, we will cover grading with Classroom. Grading covers a bigger discussion topic than originally anticipated, which is why it will have its own session. This will include how to grade, additional options for grading, and integrating Classroom grades with Progressbook.

I hope this helped you get to know a Google feature you didn't already know before. If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to leave them in the comments section.

Google Snacks Volume 12 - Google Classroom Basics

Google Classroom is a very powerful tool for teachers to use for creating assignments, grading, organizing, and so much more. This session we will cover creating a Classroom, creating Topics and Assignments, how to prepare and schedule assignments, and what the Stream does.

Begin by opening Google Classroom (the Waffle icon) and click on the plus icon in the top right corner and select Create Class.



A new window should appear asking you to name your new class. You can add Section and Subject, but only the name is required.



Once you create the class, the screen will default to the Stream. We will talk about the Stream towards the end once we discuss what ties into the Stream. For now, click on the Classwork tab at the top of the page.



The Classwork tab will look empty when you first start a new class, but it will quickly fill in. Start by clicking on the Create button to show the different options for things you can make. We will start with the Topics since this will help you organize your assignments.



Topics are used to keep assignments in sections, such as for different units, chapters, etc. You can use these Topics for organizing assignments however you want.



After you have created a Topic or two to get started, click on the Create button again and select Assignment.



A new window will open for you to begin creating your first assignment.



The only thing technically required for an assignment is a Title, but you can fill out the rest (including your Topic) as needed. You can edit assignments at any time, and the screen will look the same when editing as it does when creating. You can change an assignment Topic anytime, just in case you forgot to set the Topic when creating the assignment or you want to just move it around.

You can choose to prepare and schedule assignments in advance or just save them as drafts for later by clicking the arrow next to the Assign button.



Creating Drafts is nice if you are not sure when you want to assign something, or you are just getting some concept assignments in order. Scheduling assignments will allow you to plan out your year/semester/quarter better than just assigning things on the spot. If you do just click Assign, it will immediately assign the assignment to the class. You can always change the scheduled date of an assignment, just in case the class falls behind or snow days happen, or anything else that would cause you to reschedule.

Now that we have created some topics and assignments, we can switch back over to the Stream tab by clicking at the top of the Classroom.



The image below shows what an example Stream might look like, let's go over the different aspects.



The top icon with the arrow is the Stream Share field, this is where you can post a variety of things. Stream posts can be anything from reminders about assignments, class announcements, or supplemental materials. The circled icon is what a posted assignment will look like. The icon for the assignment matches the icon from the Create image previously shown in this post.

The Stream is similar to a Facebook wall, if that helps to make more sense. You can allow or deny students from posting on the Stream. You even have the same posting options with Stream as you do assignments. You can schedule a post, draft one, or post it immediately.

In Classroom Advanced, we will cover integrating other Google apps into your Classroom (such as Forms Quizzes covered previously) and also exploring other assignment options. I hope this helped you get to know a Google feature you didn't already know before. If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to leave them in the comments section.