Google+ Education: Part 5

Previously, I wrote a post about organization tools for every teacher and mentioned Edmodo, Schoology, and Engrade as a few good options for teachers wanting to go paperless or at least digitize some materials. Now, for part five of this series on Google+ for education, I would like to introduce Google Classroom, a new learning management system (LMS) from Google that was released this past summer.

Classroom appears to offer similar features to other LMSs such as grading and assignment options, but has the additional features of many other Google products, like Google Drive and Gmail, which are seamlessly integrated into its design. Teachers are able to organize students and classes, while students can easily keep track of all their classes and assignments on just one site.

Everything seems to update automatically so that you can see which students have submitted papers or completed tasks in real time. As you grade items and leave feedback, students receive notifications, too. For many educators who are already so familiar with other Google products, this will definitely be a good option and may encourage some who have not yet adopted an LMS to try it out.

Unlike most other sites I share with you, however, I am completely unable to access Google Classrooms at this time. It is currently only available to Google Apps for Education users, but it would be remiss of me not to bring it to your attention—for those of you who can access it, and for the rest of us whom will hopefully gain access soon. I am sure that as more users try it out, we will all learn more about how it compares to the other options out there and whether or not it will stand the test of time.

If you have tried out Google Classroom, what do you think?