This year, RM’s resource team decided to implement a new technology: Google Classroom. Integrated with other free Google products, such as Google Docs, Gmail, and Drive, the technology provides an online forum for teachers and students to communicate. The school’s ultimate goal is to phase out Edline and replace it with a more versatile tool.

Google Classroom has many features that the school intends to use this year. These include sharing assignments with students, making announcements, and providing a place for students to turn in their work.

Teachers were given a brief introduction to the technology over the summer. “Our resource teacher had us use Google Classroom before the school year started, during our training, so that showed us all a little bit of how it worked,” science teacher Stacey Boccher explained, “but we weren’t given any specific training.”

Because the introduction to the technology was only cursory, some teachers have made more use of it than others. “Those teachers that use Google for other areas of their life jumped in on that and others are taking their time,” Boccher added.

Nonetheless, some teachers have found Google Classroom to be a very useful tool. Storing materials in the cloud, rather than on computers, can be very convenient and accessible for both teachers and students alike.“I like the phone app because if I am sitting at home and am having my coffee, I can literally just open the app and boom, it’s done,” science teacher Jerry Turner said.
Students can also access and turn in assignments with the app, attaching files and photos of their work. Students on sports teams or other after school activities have found these features particularly helpful. “I like it because it’s just another convenient app on my phone where I can access documents and turn things in without necessarily needing a computer, because I’m at school or on public transportation a lot,” senior Ann Weisgerber said.

Google Classroom describes itself as a tool to “save teachers time,” and this has certainly been the case for some at RM. Edline organizes classes separately, forcing teachers to manually upload the same links, files, and announcements multiple times.

“The good thing is that I can combine all of my like periods, put them all together, and send out one link, as opposed to posting three different things,” Turner said. “It literally saves me cumulatively hours of work.”

Google Classroom is growing rapidly, and students and staff may be underutilizing of many of its features. Recent updates to the technology include an ability to create discussion boards, add class activities and events with Google Calendar, and archive old classes or lessons.

“I’m interested in using it as a discussion board but I haven’t tried it yet,” Boccher said.

While the central hub of Google Classroom allows teachers to post videos, students to comment on assignments, as well as organize their files, Turner still finds it easier to do most teaching activites more traditionally. “For us as teachers, to grade 150 things, it’s still easier to have a stack of papers.”

However, some students have been critical of the new technology. “In some ways, it has improved learning, but in other ways it has simply complicated the learning process” said Junior Tyler Hoffman. Students need to use their school-monitored emails to access google classroom, which can be both inconvenient and invasive, which, according to Hoffman is “deeply unsettling”.
“Mr. Hines keeps his class rather old-fashioned, but I really enjoy it for his teaching and the fact that it works,” Hoffman said. “Update the system, not the technology,” Hoffman added.

Nonetheless, most students were ambivalent about the upgrade. “Google Classroom didn’t change very much as opposed to using Edline,” said sophomore John Luo. However, this may have more to do with teachers being unacquainted with Google Classroom’s new features rather than the technology itself.

It’s clear that any new piece of technology takes time to get used to. The school can only become more proficient with its use, as teachers and students alike are given time to familiarize themselves with this new tool.