Google Classroom for Online Learning

 Google Classroom for Online Learning

The world is transiting to an era of globalization where the race for the innovation and implementation of new technologies in developed as well s developing countries. In this rapidly globalizing world, a company’s name is frequently i.e., Google. Google is a well-known term or lets me put it this way, it has been a household name where it is being used as a synonym for the word “search”. I have heard lots of people using the phrase “Google it” instead of “Search it”. And as suggested in the article, the most effective way of mastering the overpowering technology is by introducing technology in the arena of education (Ketut Sudarsana et al., 2019).

Google company has brought a new online tool Google Classroom to Google App for Education in 2014 which has been facilitating educators to create and organize the assignments quickly with feedback and interact with the class virtually in an asynchronous mode. The study conducted shows that around 80% of respondents used the internet several times a day and 20 % of them use the internet many times a day. The study found that overall students are satisfied with Google classroom (Shaharanee et al., 2016) which proves that it has created effective influences as an active learning tool.

Recently, this tool has been used in Nepal mostly during and after the pandemic of Covid-19. The pandemic forced all the teaching-learning activities to be halted as all the educational institutions were compelled to shut their gates. But this chaos started a new revolution in the educational domain as E-Learning was explored and practiced even through trial and error. As an educator, I also used this tool to continue the teaching-learning process during this lockdown phase and found that those who were rigid to using e-learning tools also were keen to learn and use the tool to its optimum.

As per my experience many users especially educators are confused about the synchronous and asynchronous modes of the e-learning platforms. The synchronous mode enables the user to communicate simultaneously using the platform which can be also named Video Conference. The applications which come in this category are MS Team, Zoom, Google Meet, Skype, etc. Whereas this Google classroom comes under Asynchronous mode which works as a database where the learners can access the uploaded materials according to their convenience. It is also known as LMS - Learning Management system and examples of this system are Moodle, Google Classroom, Blackboard, Skillsoft, etc. This also supports teachers in managing assignments, different classes, resources and even assessing the whole activity.

The benefit of Google classroom over other LMS is that it is free and ready to use with just acquiring a Gmail account which can be found in the google app section. So, anyone who has a Gmail account could use this system for organizing their digital learning and become an expert in no time.

What can you do with Google Classroom?

User	What you can do with Classroom
Teachers	Start a video meeting. Create and manage classes, assignments, and grades online without paper. Add materials to your assignments, such as YouTube videos, a Google Forms survey, and other items from Google Drive. Give direct, real-time feedback. Use the class stream to post announcements and engage students in question-driven discussions. Invite parents and guardians to sign up for email summaries with a student's upcoming or missing work.
Students	Track classwork and submit assignments. Check originality, feedback, and grades. Share resources and interact in the class stream or by email.
Guardians	Get an email summary of your student’s work. Review announcements and activities.
Administrators	Protect data and set permissions for your users. Set up classes and rosters. Add or remove students and teachers from classes. Get 24/7 support.

(Google, 2022)

Video Tutorial for using Google Classroom

• Creating Google Classroom using smartphone (Hindi)
• Creating Google Classroom using a laptop (English)

Reference

Google (2022). About Classroom. Retrieved from Classroom Help: https://support.google.com/edu/classroom/answer/6020279?hl=en

Ketut Sudarsana, I., Bagus Made Anggara Putra, I., Nyoman Temon Astawa, I., & Wayan Lali Yogantara, I. (2019). The use of Google classroom in the learning process. Journal of Physics:                 Conference Series, 1175, 012165. https://doi.org/10.1088/1742-6596/1175/1/012165

Shaharanee, I. N. M., Jamil, J. M., & Rodzi, S. S. M. (2016). Google classroom as a tool for active learning. 020069. https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4960909