Author Archives: Nitin Kashyap

Learning on the go with Classroom on Android

The past two years have seen a rapid rise in the use of educational tools by teachers and students everywhere – driven primarily by the need for distance learning. Now that educators and schools have experienced the benefits of these tools, their use continues to grow, even as many schools return to in-person and hybrid learning.

While this industry-wide shift to more hours online can be an opportunity for many, it can also be a challenge for some teachers and students, especially in places where communities rely heavily on mobile phones or because of limited internet connectivity.

Google Classroom and other Google Workspace for Education tools are designed to be used anytime, anywhere and on any device. In many countries around the world, the investments we’ve made in our mobile apps have already helped tens of millions of students keep learning remotely by using personal or shared phones.

With this in mind, we’ve launched three new features to improve access to Classroom in mobile-first and limited internet conditions.

Use Classroom when you’re offline

With the Classroom Android app, students can now continue to work and learn,, even when offline or when faced with spotty internet connections. Now students have the option – when they are online – to download assignment attachments to their phone for viewing and editing later when they are offline.

Although the ability to submit and download assignments, or pose questions and get answers, still requires an internet connection, offline mode gives students the flexibility to take schoolwork anywhere and keep learning on the go.

Gif showing how to make a file available offline in Google Classroom

Scan and upload multiple pictures with ease

Many more students today are taking and submitting photos of assignments that are easier and more ideal to complete by hand — like math or science homework.

The Classroom Android app now has a handy scan feature, which students can use to capture and combine multiple pictures into a single file. The upload action in the app now allows for easy selection and submission of multiple different types of files in a single step.

These improvements will help students submit their assignments more efficiently, even if they’re in a rush to meet a deadline.

Gif showing smart image capture in Google Classroom

Easier grading on mobile for teachers

For teachers who are primarily using a phone, we’ve made big updates to the experience of viewing and grading assignments on the Classroom Android app.

Teachers can now seamlessly swipe between students and assignments and add grades on the app. Teachers can also give feedback to students by enabling comments on individual files, even if there are multiple files in an assignment. They can comment on a file or highlight specific passages to leave more targeted feedback pinpointing improvement areas for students.

Gif of grading on mobile in Google Classroom

The vast majority of people who are new to the internet today use phones rather than computers. With these new Classroom Android app features, we’re providing students and teachers everywhere with a better mobile experience.

We are fully committed to investing in helping educators and schools spark learning and close equity gaps with more supportive, inclusive, and productive educational tools

Celebrate International Literacy Day with Read Along

Earlier this year, we made our early age literacy app, Read Along, available in nine languages and in more than 180 countries to help families from around the world looking to improve their children’s reading skills. Ten-year-old Williams was one of the many students who started using the app after his mother Martha heard about it and decided to give it a try. Williams previously had to change schools four times because of his struggles with reading. Today, he spends more than 90 minutes reading every day, and has fallen in love with it. 


Positive impact on reading outcomes

William’s story and similar feedback we’ve received from many other parents and children is encouraging,  especially in the light of COVID-19 related school closures. To date, children have cumulatively read more than 32 million stories and for more than 3 million hours on the app. Our internal analysis shows that beginner readers (those who read at a speed of less than 45 correct words per minute) see an improvement of anywhere from 38 percent to 88 percent in their oral reading fluency after reading for 100 minutes on the app. And in an assessment conducted by an independent partner with more than 3,500 students in three languages and across five states in India, 40 percent more students who used Read Along saw an improvement by one or more reading levels as compared to students not using the app.  

ILD Blog Impact Assessment Image.png

New features, plus Arabic support

While we’re excited about these results, our work doesn’t stop there. Read Along now: 

  • Supports Arabic, one of the most requested languages on the app

  • Has more than 700 unique books across all languages, with a refreshing new look for the content library 

  • Features improvements that make it easier for multilingual kids to switch languages or get phonics support when they tap a word

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The Read Along team is also working on features to support children’s learning experiences, such as comprehension questions and the ability for educators to create local reading groups and track student’s reading progress. We’re also making Read Along more accessible in landscape mode.


Celebrate the joy of reading with our Story-A-Thon 

This International Literacy Day, we’re inviting parents to read to their kids—both with and without Read Along—and share stories written by their children during the month of September. Read Along will publish some of those submissions on the app. We’re also sharing a handbook for educators (even those in the most low-tech classrooms) with ideas to help them leverage Read Along in their lesson plans. 

Reading enables creativity and confidence in children, and Read Along by Google is committed to help every child, like Williams, learn to read.