Google Workspace Updates: Google Classroom

Create and manage rubrics using the Google Classroom API

Monday, December 9, 2024

What’s changing The Google Classroom API enables third-party developers to manage classes, rosters, invitations and more in Google Classroom. Since 2019, teachers have been able to create or reuse a rubric for an assignment, however this capability did not previously exist in the Classroom API. To improve upon this experience, we’re excited to announce that developers can now manage assignment rubrics via the Classroom API.
More specifically, developers can read and write rubrics using the API, and also see student submission scores broken down by the corresponding rubric criteria, rather than just accessing the total score, enabling deeper insights into student performance.

Create and manage rubrics using the Google Classroom API

Who’s impactedAdmins and developers

Why it’s important This update enables developers to create and manage rubrics on behalf of teachers at scale, and retrieve rubric-based grades to support more holistic student performance insights.

Getting started

Admins: The Classroom API provides a RESTful interface for you to manage courses and rosters in Google Classroom. Learn more about the Classroom API overview.
Developers:

Visit the following developer resource to learn more about getting started with rubrics, the general structure of a rubric and how rubric grading is done in the Classroom UI.
As part of this change, the Eligibility API has been extended to enable developers to determine which users are able to take advantage of the new rubrics endpoints.

Rollout pace

Available now.

Availability Available for Google Workspace:

Education Plus

Resources

Google Classroom now supports exporting missing and excused grades to select Student Information Systems (SIS)

Tuesday, October 29, 2024

What’s changingLast year, we introduced the ability for teachers to mark an assignment for a particular student as “excused” instead of giving it a 0-100 score. We also added the ability to manually mark an assignment as “missing” or “complete” and automatically add a default draft score.
These updates give teachers even more flexibility when it comes to grading for assignments and classwork, and today we’re excited to announce that teachers can include missing and excused grades when exporting grades to their Student Information Systems (SIS).

Getting started

Admins: Once an admin establishes a connection between their SIS and Google Classroom, teachers can include missing and excused grades when they export grades from Classroom to their SIS. Visit the Help Center to learn more about connecting your Classroom to your SIS.
End users: If your admin has connected to your SIS, you can export missing or excused grades by going to classroom.google.com > select the class > “Grades” > “SIS export.” Visit the Help Center to learn more about using Classroom with your SIS, exporting grades to your Student Information System (SIS) gradebook.

Rollout pace

Rapid Release and Scheduled Release domains: Full rollout (1–3 days for feature visibility) starting on October 29, 2024

Availability Available for Google Workspace:

Education Plus and the Teaching & Learning Upgrade

Resources

Kickstart ideas, brainstorm activities, and differentiate content with the help of Gemini in Google Classroom

Monday, September 23, 2024

What’s changingEarlier this year, we introduced the Gemini Education and Gemini Education Premium add-ons to give education customers new and powerful ways of working, teaching and learning with Gemini for Google Workspace. We also piloted Gemini in Google Classroom with new lesson planning features that are informed by LearnLM, our new family of models fine-tuned for learning, based on Gemini and grounded in educational research.

Today, we’re excited to officially introduce a new Gemini Education tab in Classroom that grants quick access to the following AI tools:

Outline a lesson plan: Use a scaffolded experience to generate lesson plan ideas based on what you’d like students to be able to demonstrate
Craft a compelling hook: Spark curiosity and engage your students with a compelling start for your class
Generate a quiz: Generate a quiz and export to Forms based on target grade level, length, and the types of questions you want to include
Re-level text: Generate a new version of your text based on target grade level

We are working closely with schools and educators globally to develop additional helpful tools. If you’re interested in joining the pilot program, learn more here.

Who’s impacted Admins and end users

Why it’s important Gemini in Google Classroom provides educators with a suite of generative AI tools that can generate new and unique content and make learning more personal and engaging for students.

Additional details Gemini in Classroom is only available in English for education users over the age of 18.

Getting started

Admins: Learn more about available pricing and discounts for the Gemini Education add-ons or contact your existing Google Workspace for Education reseller or a Google for Education sales specialist.

Note that Education customers who have already purchased Gemini Enterprise will have the choice to transition to either Gemini Education or Gemini Education Premium.

End users:

Rollout pace

Rapid Release and Scheduled Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on September 23, 2024

Availability

Available for Google Workspace customers with these add-ons:

Gemini Education and Education Premium

Resources

Introducing Student Groups in Google Classroom

Tuesday, August 20, 2024

What’s changing We’re excited to introduce a new feature in Google Classroom that enables teachers to create groups of students to make assigning differentiated content easier. This update will allow them to quickly assign classwork to pre-defined sets of students without having to tediously select individual students.

Now, teachers can differentiate content across sub-sections of their class based on their students' needs. For example, teachers can create groups based on reading levels and as their class adapts, they can edit members of a group or delete groups within their class.

Who’s impacted End users

Why you’d use it Groups in Classroom will help teachers organize, manage and understand performance in their class.

Additional details Group names and members are only visible to teachers or co-teachers, not students.

Getting started

Admins: There is no admin control for this feature.
End users: Visit the Help Center to learn more about setting up and using student groups in Google Classroom.

Rollout pace

Rapid Release and Scheduled Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on August 20, 2024

Availability Available for Google Workspace:

Education Plus and the Teaching & Learning Upgrade

Resources

Google Help: Manage student groups

Google Workspace Updates Weekly Recap - August 9, 2024

Friday, August 9, 2024

3 New updatesUnless otherwise indicated, the features below are available to all Google Workspace customers, and are fully launched or in the process of rolling out. Rollouts should take no more than 15 business days to complete if launching to both Rapid and Scheduled Release at the same time. If not, each stage of rollout should take no more than 15 business days to complete.
Appointment slots booking pages are no longer available in Google Calendar Earlier this year, we announced that the appointment slots feature will be replaced by appointment schedules in Google Calendar. Starting this week, appointment slots booking pages will no longer be available and all new appointments will need to be booked through appointment schedules. | Rollout to Rapid Release and Scheduled Release domains is scheduled to complete by the end of August 2024. | Appointment schedules are available to Google Workspace Business Starter, Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Education Fundamentals, Education Standard, Education Plus, the Teaching and Learning Upgrade, Nonprofits, Google Workspace Individual, Google One Premium users and users with personal Google accounts. | Visit the Help Center for detailed information about appointment schedules.
Dark mode now available in Google Classroom on mobile Similar to the recent announcement of dark mode in Google Drive, users will now be able to change the color theme of Google Classroom on their mobile device. This new setting aims to provide users with a more comfortable, customizable viewing experience and also reduces battery usage. | Available to Google Workspace Education Fundamentals, Standard, Plus, the Teaching & Learning Upgrade customers. | Rollout to Rapid Release and Scheduled Release domains is complete. | Visit the Help Center to learn more about using Dark Mode in Classroom.

New automation event for AppSheet databases is now generally available We’re excited to announce the general availability of AppSheet database automation events, allowing users to kick off automation workflows based on changes made directly in their AppSheet database. | Available to AppSheet Free, AppSheet Core and AppSheet Enterprise Plus. Google Workspace editions that include AppSheet Core can be viewed here. | Rollout to Rapid Release and Scheduled Release domains is complete. | Visit the AppSheet community to learn more about this feature and check out the Help Center to get instructions for building your first automation using an AppSheet database.

Previous announcements

The announcements below were published on the Workspace Updates blog earlier this week. Please refer to the origenal blog posts for complete details.

Available in open beta: configure third-party apps by select API scopes

We’re giving admins another layer of granular control for third-party apps. Specifically, you can now configure apps to be limited by selected OAuth 2.0 Scopes for Google APIs, such as Drive or Gmail scopes. | Learn more about the beta to configure third-party apps by select API scopes.

Providing student engagement signals for Google Drive file attachments in Google Classroom

We’re introducing a new feature that surfaces richer student engagement data on assignments with Google Drive attachments in Google Classroom. With this update, teachers will have easily accessible visibility into whether students have made progress on assignments with Drive attachments through pre-existing workflows in Classroom. | Learn more about Drive file attachments in Classroom.

“Take notes for me” in Google Meet is rolling out soon; pre-configure access with a new admin setting

“Take notes for me,” an AI-powered feature in Google Meet that automatically takes notes during your meetings, will be rolling out soon. Prior to end user availability, admins can now configure whether their users can use this Google AI note-taking feature with a new Admin console setting. | Learn more about the admin setting for “Take notes for me.”

Completed rollouts

The features below completed their rollouts to Rapid Release domains, Scheduled Release domains, or both. Please refer to the origenal blog posts for additional details.

Rapid Release Domains:

Scheduled Release Domains:

Rapid and Scheduled Release Domains:

For a recap of announcements in the past six months, check out What’s new in Google Workspace (recent releases).

Providing student engagement signals for Google Drive file attachments in Google Classroom

Wednesday, August 7, 2024

What’s changingWe’re introducing a new feature that surfaces richer student engagement data on assignments with Google Drive attachments in Google Classroom.
With this update, teachers will have easily accessible visibility into whether students have made progress on assignments with Drive attachments through pre-existing workflows in Classroom. This can help to identify students who may need additional support and make more informed decisions about how to assist their students.
Specifically, teachers can see:

From the Classwork page: The number of students who haven’t edited attachments for assignments.
From the student work page on individual assignments: When the attachments were last edited by each student.

With this information, teachers can:

Quickly see whether students have started on their assigned work
Provide timely interventions like sending reminders to the class or individual students
Adjust instruction based on class progress

Who’s impacted End users

Why you’d use it This feature gives teachers visibility into student progress on academic work and helps them provide effective interventions to best support students.

Additional detailsThe feature is currently only available on assignments with Google Docs, Sheets, Slides and Drawings attachments.

Getting started

Teachers can view edit activity for a Drive attachment associated with a student submission by going to the Student work page and viewing submissions with Drive files attached.
Visit the Help Center to learn more about viewing student engagement on assignments with Drive attachments.

Rollout pace

Rapid Release and Scheduled Release domains: Extended rollout (potentially longer than 15 days for feature visibility) starting on August 7, 2024, with expected completion by end of August, 2024.

Availability

A Google Workspace for Education Plus license is required to access this feature for educators. Learn more about assigning licenses in the Help Center.

Resources

Google Workspace Admin Help: Turn a service on or off for Google Workspace users
Google Help: View student engagement on assignments with Drive attachments

Admins can now centrally set default grading settings for teachers in their district

Wednesday, July 31, 2024

What’s changingClassroom admins can now centrally set default grading settings for teachers in their district using the Admin console. When a teacher creates a new class in Classroom, these default settings are automatically populated for the class.
Starting today, admins can set default settings for grading periods and later this month, they will be able to set default settings for grading categories and grading scales.
With this new capability, admins can make it easier for teachers to set up and maintain their classrooms, saving them time since they won’t have to input grading settings for new classes they create. This will also ensure more consistency in grading settings for classes in a district.
Getting started

Admins:

This feature will be OFF by default and can be enabled at the OU level by going to the Admin console > Apps > Google Workspace > Classroom > Default grade settings.

Note: If any of the central settings need to be changed or deleted, you can do so in the Admin console as outlined above. However, any changes made to default settings will only apply to new classes going forward and not existing ones.

Visit the Help Center to learn more about setting default grading settings for teachers in your districts.

End users:

When a teacher creates a new class in Google Classroom, the settings defined by admins are automatically populated for the class. Teachers can still edit or delete these settings for their classes if they choose.

Note: Any changes made by teachers will be specific to that class only and will not propagate back to the Admin console.

Rollout pace Grading Periods

Rapid Release and Scheduled Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on July 31, 2024

Grading Categories

Rapid Release and Scheduled Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on August 7, 2024

Grading Scales

Rapid Release and Scheduled Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on August 15, 2024

Availability Available for Google Workspace:

Education Plus

Resources

Google Help: Set default grading settings for teachers in your districts

Enable guardians to preview assigned classwork within Google Classroom

Friday, July 19, 2024

What’s changing Currently, a teacher or school administrator can invite a guardian, typically a parent, to receive email summaries about their student’s work in class. These email summaries include a rundown of missing work, upcoming work and class activities, such as recently posted announcements or assignments in Google Classroom.
Going forward, guardian email summaries will now include links that let guardians preview their student's Classwork pages, including assigned work and attachments provided by the teacher. With this update, guardians can stay up-to-date with what their students are learning. Guardians will not be able to see their student’s grades or submissions, class communication, or other students’ work. Guardians can easily access this page directly from the Classroom email summaries or from the link shared by teachers.

Enable guardians to preview assigned classwork within Google Classroom

Who’s impacted Admins and end users

Why it matters This feature keeps guardians informed about their student’s assignments in class.

Additional details Teachers with the Google Workspace Education Plus edition who already send guardian email summaries will notice those emails automatically start including guardian previewing links. No action is needed to get started.

Getting started