Differentiating assignments by student in Google Classroom

Google recently rolled out an update to Google Classroom allowing teachers to distribute assignments to certain students within a class, allowing for greater ease (and confidentiality) in differentiating assignments.

After initially creating the assignment, click on "All Students" as indicated below. You can select specific students from the resulting drop-down list. Only the selected students will see the assignment in their class stream.

See also this video:

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Uploading Artifacts to My Learning Plan

The uploading of artifacts to a form in My Learning Plan can be potentially confusing. You can upload files from your computer, and you can share files from your Google Drive. This video outlines how to do both.

If you would rather a printed set of directions complete with diagrams, check this out.

Make appointment slots in Google Calendar

You can use Google Calendar to create appointment slots that can be used to schedule meetings and conferences, etc. A link can be generated and sent to various recipients so that they can choose a time that works best for them. The video explains how.

Access Google Classroom from home

As teachers are increasing their usage of Google Classroom, the need for students to log in from home is also increasing. Parents may occasionally run into trouble helping their children access this, so here are directions and a video to help!

Directions - https://goo.gl/BQPC0B 

Upload Your H: Drive (for MPS users)

The directions for how to upload the contents of your H: drive can seem a little daunting in person, so here's a handy video to help!

Turn file conversion on in Google Drive

Besides creating Google format documents from within your Google Drive, you can (and should) upload locally stored files so that you can access and edit from any device. Most teachers will have a plethora of Microsoft Office file types like Word, Excel, and Powerpoint. You can choose to upload these files and retain the original file types, but this will present a problem when you try to share and collaborate, or push files out to students via Google Classroom. You can upload an individual Word document, but when you go to open the file, you are faced with a preview of the file, and a button at the top of the screen that says "Open with", prompting you to open the Word file using Docs. Upon opening the file with Docs, you are now creating another version of the file, adding to the potential confusion of "which file do I use for...". Then you will likely go into your Drive and delete the Microsoft counterpart. To save you the trouble of doing this incessantly, you can check one tiny box that will save you the trouble going forward.

From within Drive, click the gear cog icon in the upper right>settings>check the box "Convert uploaded files to Google Docs editor format". This will automatically change Word files to Docs, Excel files to Sheets, and Powerpoint files to Slides. Note that in the cases of complicated formatting, some minor changes may have occurred, so check your documents before using them, rather than blindly trusting that they will look like you expect them to.

The video shows how to navigate to the file conversion setting.

Using QR Codes in the classroom

When it comes to directing students to class content quickly and efficiently, teachers have turned to the use of QR codes. Chances are you have seen one at some point in your daily travels, either on certain product packaging or on signs and billboards. To make use of these, you would need to download and install a QR code scanner on your device, whether it be a phone, tablet, or Chromebook. I have The QR Code Extension added to my Chrome browser, which was used to generate the QR code above. This extension will generate a code for the active web page. This code can then be scanned on screen, or printed out and posted for students to scan on their devices. Think of this as a real-world hyperlink.

When selecting the app or extension you would like to use, be sure to note if the app is simply a QR code scanner or generator, or both. As a teacher, you will be creating content and posting it somewhere online, like on your class website, YouTube, or via a shareable link from your Google Drive. Then you will need to generate the QR code so that your students can scan to access your content.

As mentioned previously, The QR Code Extension can be used to create a code to link to the active web page. Or, you can go to one of many QR generators online and you will see a place to paste hyperlinks or select data types, ranging from websites to Twitter feeds to telephone numbers. A site I like to use is http://www.qrstuff.com/.

Some possible real world applications could be as follows;

• Set up learning centers in your classroom where students scan the QR code at each center to access relevant content
• At conference time, post codes on students' desks so that parents can scan and see student portfolios or other student work
• Add a QR code to a homework assignment that links to help 
• Display a code on your interactive whiteboard so students can connect on their own devices
• Class scavenger hunts where students scan codes at various locations giving them clues
• Adding to books by including author or story information
• Attach you your devices and link to online product manuals

Take some time and experiment, try out something new, and post any exciting ideas or experiences in the comment section below!