Learning management Systems

Mobile App Now Available for Google Classroom

• By Michael Hart
• 01/14/15

Google is introducing a mobile app that will allow teachers, students and administrators to access its Classroom learning management system (LMS) anywhere and at any time. At the same time, Google is introducing two new features to Classroom for desktops intended to help teachers with their work.

The new Classroom app, available for both iPhone and Android, will have several new features.

For one, students will be able to use their smartphones to take photos that can then be attached to assignments they are working on. For instance, they can visually document a science experiment they're conducting or a drawing or painting they have completed for an art class assignment.

They can attach images, PDFs and Web pages from other apps to their assignments. If a student is using an unrelated drawing app to create a graphic, when he or she clicks on "share" in that app, Classroom will come up as an option and the graphic can be attached to the assignment.

Because class streams and assignment information will be automatically cached every time the app is opened with an Internet connection, students don't have to worry about being able to access information when they are in a location where they do not have an Internet connection.

Google representatives suggested that, for the best experience, anybody downloading the Classroom app should also have the apps for Google Docs, Drive and Slides.

As for the new Classroom features for teachers, there is a new teacher assignments page that will give them quick access to any assignment, track which ones have been reviewed and which students have and have not completed the assignments.

Teachers will also now have the ability to archive past classes, offering more convenient access to information from previous classes. An archived class will be removed from the current home page and available as read-only, meaning teachers and students can view the archived content but not make changes to assignments.

The Classroom LMS, launched only six months ago, is already being used by way of desktop by 40 million teachers, students and administrators, and students all over the world have turned in 30 million assignments so far.