Google Classroom

Unpacking Google Classroom: What it Does and What You Need to Know

by Alan Regan

There has been quite a bit of buzz about Google Classroom for the past several months. Back in May, Google launched a PR campaign and asked interested teachers to sign up for a preview.  It started with a limited set of folks, then in July they started to roll out more and more sneak peeks.  Now Google has officially announced the release of Google Classroom to all Google Apps for Education customers.

What Can You Do With Google Classroom?

Google Classroom is new. As such, it only has a small number of features. If professors are expecting equivalent features to a full-blown learning management system, they will be disappointed. However, Google likely plans to build on this platform and roll out additional functionality over time. In the meantime, what can Google Classroom help you do today?

• Announcements. Professors can post text announcements that appear in the "classroom" in the announcement stream. The announcement can include a file attachment, link to a Google Drive item, YouTube video, or website link.
• Assignments. The teacher can create a basic assignment that students can submit for grading.
• Course Description. In the "About" area, the teacher can post a description for the class, list the room details, and post materials.
• Email. From the "Students" area, a professor can email individual, select, or all students through Google Mail integration.
• Invite Students. To populate the class with students, the teacher can "Invite" the participants to join the class.
• Materials. At the bottom of the "About" area of a class, the teacher can upload attachments, link to existing Google Drive items, link to a YouTube video, or share a website link.

 If you explore or experiment, you'll see that it has a similar feel to Google+ since the main page is the "stream" where postings of announcements and assignments can be found.

So What Is Missing from Google Classroom?

While Google Classroom is interesting to explore, it would be difficult for a university professor who expects more advanced functionality to teach with this tool. Again, it is likely to expand over time, but as of this writing the service is missing some core functionality:

• No Gradebook. While professors can create assignments and grade each student within the assignment, there isn't a central gradebook to summarize the overall progress of each student.
• No Automated Course Creation. At this time, there isn't a mechanism to automatically create classes based on official class data from WaveNet.
• No Automated Student Enrollment. At this time, there isn't a mechanism to automatically enroll or unenroll students based on official school registrations. Professors must "invite" students manually and students must accept the invitation (or join by using a join code).
• No Plagiarism Detection. There isn't a tool or feature to scan an assignment submission for potential plagiarism. Google is the master of search, so perhaps this could happen in the future.
• No Sequenced or Modular Learning. While there is a stream where you can scroll back chronologically to past announcements or assignments, and an area in the Abour section to post materials, there isn't a place to create a series of text and media rich content for learning modules or lessons. 
• And the list goes on...

What are the Gotchas?

With any system, there is usually a set of gotchas or known issues. The key gotcha relates to the assignment process. Actually, it's not as much of a gotcha as a "be sure to be aware" notice.

When a student submits a document to a Google Classroom assignment, that document will transfer from the student to the teacher's Google Drive folder (moving it) and switching the permissions.  The teacher becomes the owner and the student will now only have view privileges. On return of the document to the student, however, the professor's permissions shift, the student becomes the owner (and if the professor wants to edit the document, he or she will need to request permission from the student). So it's key that both teacher and student understand these permission and location items.

Wishlist Items

• Integration of Hangouts.
• Integration with Sites (or similar or something new) to create structured learning opportunities.
• Plagiarism Detection.
• Gradebook.
• LTI Integration to plug Google Classroom into learning management systems or visa versa.

If a Pepperdine Professor Wants to Explore...

Google Classroom is enabled on our Pepperdine Google Apps for Education service. Professors simply need to visit http://classroom.google.com, log in with their Pepperdine University Google Apps account, choose "Teacher," and explore away!

• If a professor hasn't already signed up for a Pepperdine University Google Apps account, visit http://google.pepperdine.edu, click "Sign Up Now," and follow the on-screen instructions.
• Visit http://classroom.google.com with your Pepperdine Google account.
• Reference Google's Classroom Help at https://support.google.com/edu/classroom/?hl=en#topic=6020277

Conclusion

In summary, Google Classroom is a basic tool with promise.  It seems perfect for K-12 teachers in schools that don't have a central learning platform.  For higher education, though, it is not poised to replace a formal learning management system. At least not right now.  We'll keep an eye out and see what new features or enhancements Google may roll out down the road.

Resources:

• Introducing Google Classroom: http://www.google.com/edu/classroom/
• Early Announcement about Classroom: http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2014/05/previewing-new-classroom.html
• Main Google Classroom Help: https://support.google.com/edu/classroom/?hl=en#topic=6020277
• Understand Classroom Assignments: https://support.google.com/edu/classroom/answer/6020260?hl=en 

Checking Your Own Papers With Turnitin

by Alan Regan

Checking Your Own Work With Turnitin

Dotting the i's for your own academic integrity

A professor asked how he can check his own work for citation issues. The professor was working on a journal article with peers and students and wanted to be sure that everything was cited properly before it went to publication. He knows how to set up an assignment to check student work, but he wasn't sure how to check his own work using Turnitin.

It's easy to check your own work with Turnitin by following three simple steps:

1. Create a project site on Courses (powered by Sakai)
2. Create an assignment with Turnitin enabled
3. "Submit as student"

These steps will take about three (3) minutes to create and submit the assignment, plus the amount of time that Turnitin takes to generate the report.

STEP ONE: CREATE A PROJECT SITE

Every professor should have his/her own project site. These are private sites where you can draft content for your classes, collaborate with your peers, and experiment with the features of Courses (powered by Sakai) without impacting your official class sites.

Create a Project Site in Courses and be sure to add the "Assignments" tool.

Time to complete: Approximately one (1) minute.

STEP TWO: CREATE AN ASSIGNMENT WITH TURNITIN

Once you have your project site, you'll create an assignment. You can create a new assignment for each document you wish to check.

Create a Turnitin Assignment in Courses.

Time to complete: Approximately one (1) minute.

STEP THREE: "SUBMIT AS STUDENT"

Once your assignment has been saved, you now need to submit to the assignment yourself. The easiest way to accomplish this is to click the "Student View" button in the toolbar. This will change the view and enable a new link below the assignment, called "Submit as Student." This allows you, the professor, to submit a document to the Assignments tool as if your account was a student account instead of a professor account. This tool does not allow you to submit the document on behalf of a specific student; it simply allows you to take your own assignment and verify that it is working properly.  In this case, it also allows you to upload your document and submit the assignment for Turnitin OriginalityCheck.

1. Click "Student View"
2. Click "Submit as student"
3. Attach your document
4. Submit the assignment

Time to complete: Less than one (1) minute.

Now, you'll return to instructor view by clicking the blue reset arrows or clicking the "Assignment List" button in the Assignments toolbar. Wait the 10-30 minutes for Turnitin to process your document and then click "Grade" below the assignment title.  (Turnitin says that papers could take up to 24 hours, but it usually doesn't take that long.) Next to your own name in the grade roster will be the Turnitin column and the badge and link will appear once the report is ready. Review Reviewing Report Results for more details on interpreting the Turnitin report.

TIPS AND REMINDERS

• Keep the selection "None" under "Submit papers to the following repository." You don't want to accidentally save your own document permanently in Turnitin's paper database.
• Follow the guidelines for Turnitin submissions. For example, submit a Word document less than 10 MB in size for best results, and always include the file extension in the file name (e.g. mypaper.docx).