Tag Archives: Google Classroom

A new issue tracker for G Suite developers

Posted by Ryan Roth, Developer Programs Engineer and Wesley Chun, Developer Advocate, G Suite
You may have read recently that the Google Cloud Platform team upgraded to Issue Tracker, the same system that Google uses internally. This allows for improved collaboration between all of us and all of you. Issues you file will have better exposure internally, and you get improved transparency in terms of seeing the issues we’re actively working on. Starting today, G Suite developers will also have a new issue tracker to which we’ve already migrated existing issues from previous systems. Whether it’s a bug that you’ve found, or if you wish to submit a favorite feature request, the new issue tracker is here for you. Heads up, you need to be logged in with your Google credentials to view or update issues in the tracker.
The new issue tracker for G Suite developers. 

Each G Suite API and developer tool has its own “component” number that you can search. For your convenience, below is the entire list. You may browse for issues relevant to the Google APIs that you’re using, or click on the convenience links to report an issue or request a new/missing feature:
To get started, take a look at the documentation pages, as well as the FAQ. For more details, be sure to check out the Google Cloud Platform announcement, too. We look forward to working more closely with all of you soon!

Building #withClassroom: stories of real schools using Classroom integrations

By Lindsay Rumer, Product Marketing Manager, Google for Education
A few years ago, we launched the Classroom API to make it easier for developers to integrate their applications with Classroom, and for administrators to manage classes. Since then, hundreds of applications have integrated with Classroom to help teachers gamify their classes, improve students’ writing skills, build interactive presentations and more.

Using the API, developers can build deep integrations that manage Classroom rosters, assignments and grades. Or they can simply embed the Classroom share button to let users quickly share content. For teachers and students, these integrations create a seamless experience between Classroom and their favorite education apps.

Valuable integrations have been built to support the needs of teachers and students in the classroom that showcase the creative possibilities available through the Classroom API. Today, we take a look at how some schools are using Classroom integrations.

Enriching lessons with rich content from BrainPOP 

In the words of Mike Jones, a teacher at Illinois State University’s K-8 Lab School, “Class time is precious. Why would I want to waste any of it with a process that can easily be automated?”

Improved automation is one of the key reasons we’ve seen education applications integrate with Google Classroom and one of those applications is BrainPOP. BrainPOP offers digital educational content that engages students through animated movies, learning games, quizzes, concept mapping, movie-making, and more.

The team at BrainPOP recognized that manually setting up individual student accounts for My BrainPOP could be a tedious task for teachers. Utilizing the Classroom API, the team at BrainPOP developed an integration that allows teachers to import their classes directly into My BrainPOP, automatically creating single sign-on-ready, student accounts and allowing students to log into BrainPOP through the Google launcher menu. According to Jones, the integration “allows all staff to easily access the benefits of BrainPOP and do what they do best: help children learn.”

Adjusting teaching tactics in real-time with Edulastic 

Egg Harbor Township in New Jersey holds an intensive summer program for its Title I elementary students who aren’t ready to enter the next grade level. During last year’s program, the school had just 12 days to address learning gaps, which meant teachers had to stay laser-focused on deficiencies and adjust teaching tactics quickly to help their students achieve success. Given the tight timeframe, the school turned to Edulastic, an online assessment system that gives teachers instant teaching insights, and Google Classroom.

Edulastic’s Google Classroom sync meant the summer program could be set up quickly with no additional passwords or logins for teachers or students. As a result of the pilot, Egg Harbor Township Title I teachers used this integration beyond their summer program and the entire school subsequently decided to use it for their assessments as well.

Simplifying setup and syncing with Little SIS 


Classroom integrations can also give IT leaders insights and administrative powers in Classroom. For instance, Little SIS for Classroom, an app designed and built by the team at Amplified Labs, is using the Classroom Courses and Guardians APIs to automate the setup and daily sync of Google Classroom classes, rosters, and guardian invites from information in the school’s SIS.
San Francisco Unified School District is piloting a roster-integrated approach to Google Classroom that they hope to scale to their 57,000 students. Executive Director of Technology & Innovation David Malone first approached Amplified Labs with guarded optimism because of the district’s size, but since installation he feels much more confident. “Despite being new to the market, I am really impressed at the maturity and thoughtfulness of the Little SIS app. It loaded our entire district’s G Suite users and 7,500 Classroom classes in just a few minutes, and allowed us to get a great baseline on the current state of adoption.”

We’ve been thrilled to see what developers have created using the Classroom API capabilities and the impact that it's had on teachers, students and administrators. If you’re interested in learning more about the Classroom API, check out developers.google.com/classroom or search for google-classroom on Stack Overflow. You can also join our announcement list to keep up with updates to our API.

Taking learning beyond classroom walls with new features for Back to School

Posted by Dina Kachintseva, Classroom Software Engineer and Felix Wang, User Experience Designer

As any teacher would tell you, the classroom isn’t the only place where learning happens — it’s just the tip of the iceberg. From parents who help students with homework, to extracurriculars, field trips and more, there are so many ways students can learn beyond the walls of the classroom. This is why today we’re announcing new features to help teachers inspire learning for students, regardless of place or time.

Parents and guardians stay informed with Google Classroom email summaries


Parent participation has a major impact on student learning. Today, we’re launching a new feature in Google Classroom that will automatically share summaries of student work with parents. Once invited by a teacher, parents and guardians can receive automated daily or weekly email summaries of student work and class announcements, making it easier to stay up-to-date on what’s happening in the classroom.
“I enjoy helping my children prepare for assignments that they have coming up – and the earlier I know about them, the better,” says Michelle Barrette, a mother of five Medfield, Massachusetts students and pilot user of the new Classroom feature. “This way I can prevent them from missing deadlines and see if they need help brainstorming topics or solutions.”

Annotations help students color outside the lines — and the classroom


When teachers want to help students understand complex math or science concepts, visuals — like drawings on a whiteboard — can help. But how does this work when students and teachers aren’t in the classroom together? Today, we’re announcing the ability to annotate documents in the Google Classroom mobile app.

Using annotations, students can complete assignments, sketch out math problems or even create visuals of creative ideas directly on their devices. This gives students a portable classroom whiteboard on which they can easily draw and sketch. Now, thinking through complex homework challenges from home, school or on the bus is even easier. 

Teachers can use annotations to quickly grade assignments by writing directly on the student’s work, or highlighting the most important passages in a text or novel. Anne Farrahar, an English teacher in the Medfield Public Schools district, explains how her lessons benefitted from her high school students annotating a critique of Shakespeare’s "The Merchant of Venice." “They highlighted all the ideas they thought were convincing arguments in one color, and all the ideas they disagreed with in another color,” says Farrahar. “This gave me the chance to assess students' individual understanding and, based on their responses, gather ideas for future lessons.” 


More Expeditions thousands of miles away or inside the human body


Have you ever wondered what it would be like to visit the White House Kitchen Garden or what it would be like to travel inside the human body? Today we’re announcing new Expeditions that bring students far beyond the usual places they can travel. With these adventures, like a visit to Bhutan or an exploration of the human vascular systems, teachers are able to deeply immerse students in lessons, creating vivid and memorable learning experiences.
In addition, the Expeditions app is coming soon to iOS. More teachers, including those who use iPads, will be able to share Expeditions with their students by using full-screen mode on the devices in place of a VR viewer. With over 200 Expeditions available, we’re excited for them to experience these virtual field trips on more devices. 

More Google for Education features for busy teachers and curious minds


 In celebration of the new school year, we’re excited to share more new tools for teachers and students to break down traditional barriers within the classroom: 
  • A more organized Classroom. To make Classroom even easier to use, teachers can organize the class stream by adding topics to posts, and teachers and students can filter the stream for specific topics. Plus, users can now preview documents, PDFs, images and videos, all without leaving Classroom. 
  • Share your screens wirelessly at school. With the latest Chrome update, Cast for Education is now available to all teachers and students. This free Chrome app carries video and audio across complex school networks and has built-in controls for teachers — no new hardware required. Look out for updates including support for secondary domains coming soon. 
  • Google Forms get an upgrade with images. In Forms, teachers can now add images to questions or as multiple choice answers. This is perfect for subjects like math when students need to show their understanding of diagrams and graphs. 
  • Inbox by Gmail for the classroom. Inbox by Gmail is rolling out to Google for Education users. Coming soon, email notifications from Classroom will be intelligently grouped in Inbox, making it easy for teachers and students to find important updates and highlights. 
Whether students are at home or in the classroom, teachers can continue to inspire and support their curiosity with Expeditions, Classroom, Apps and Chromebooks. Stay tuned this week on Google+ and Twitter for more details on these exciting new tools. 

Taking learning beyond classroom walls with new features for Back to School

Posted by Dina Kachintseva, Classroom Software Engineer and Felix Wang, User Experience Designer

(Cross-posted on the Google for Education Blog.)

As any teacher would tell you, the classroom isn’t the only place where learning happens — it’s just the tip of the iceberg. From parents who help students with homework, to extracurriculars, field trips and more, there are so many ways students can learn beyond the walls of the classroom. This is why today we’re announcing new features to help teachers inspire learning for students, regardless of place or time.

Parents and guardians stay informed with Google Classroom email summaries

Parent participation has a major impact on student learning. Today, we’re launching a new feature in Google Classroom that will automatically share summaries of student work with parents. Once invited by a teacher, parents and guardians can receive automated daily or weekly email summaries of student work and class announcements, making it easier to stay up-to-date on what’s happening in the classroom.
“I enjoy helping my children prepare for assignments that they have coming up – and the earlier I know about them, the better,” says Michelle Barrette, a mother of five Medfield, Massachusetts students and pilot user of the new Classroom feature. “This way I can prevent them from missing deadlines and see if they need help brainstorming topics or solutions.”

Annotations help students color outside the lines — and the classroom

When teachers want to help students understand complex math or science concepts, visuals — like drawings on a whiteboard — can help. But how does this work when students and teachers aren’t in the classroom together? Today, we’re announcing the ability to annotate documents in the Google Classroom mobile app.
Using annotations, students can complete assignments, sketch out math problems or even create visuals of creative ideas directly on their devices. This gives students a portable classroom whiteboard on which they can easily draw and sketch. Now, thinking through complex homework challenges from home, school or on the bus is even easier. 

Teachers can use annotations to quickly grade assignments by writing directly on the student’s work, or highlighting the most important passages in a text or novel. Anne Farrahar, an English teacher in the Medfield Public Schools district, explains how her lessons benefitted from her high school students annotating a critique of Shakespeare’s "The Merchant of Venice." “They highlighted all the ideas they thought were convincing arguments in one color, and all the ideas they disagreed with in another color,” says Farraher. “This gave me the chance to assess students' individual understanding and, based on their responses, gather ideas for future lessons.” 

More Expeditions thousands of miles away or inside the human body

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to visit the White House Kitchen Garden or what it would be like to travel inside the human body? Today we’re announcing new Expeditions that bring students far beyond the usual places they can travel. With these adventures, like a visit to Bhutan or an exploration of the human vascular systems, teachers are able to deeply immerse students in lessons, creating vivid and memorable learning experiences.

In addition, the Expeditions app is coming soon to iOS. More teachers, including those who use iPads, will be able to share Expeditions with their students by using full-screen mode on the devices in place of a VR viewer. With over 200 Expeditions available, we’re excited for them to experience these virtual field trips on more devices. 

More Google for Education features for busy teachers and curious minds

In celebration of the new school year, we’re excited to share more new tools for teachers and students to break down traditional barriers within the classroom: 

  • A more organized Classroom. To make Classroom even easier to use, teachers can organize the class stream by adding topics to posts, and teachers and students can filter the stream for specific topics. Plus, users can now preview documents, PDFs, images and videos, all without leaving Classroom. 
  • Share your screens wirelessly at school. With the latest Chrome update, Cast for Education is now available to all teachers and students. This free Chrome app carries video and audio across complex school networks and has built-in controls for teachers — no new hardware required. Look out for updates including support for secondary domains coming soon. 
  • Google Forms get an upgrade with images. In Forms, teachers can now add images to questions or as multiple choice answers. This is perfect for subjects like math when students need to show their understanding of diagrams and graphs. 
  • Inbox by Gmail for the classroom. Inbox by Gmail is rolling out to Google for Education users. Coming soon, email notifications from Classroom will be intelligently grouped in Inbox, making it easy for teachers and students to find important updates and highlights. 
Whether students are at home or in the classroom, teachers can continue to inspire and support their curiosity with Expeditions, Classroom, Apps and Chromebooks. Stay tuned this week on Google+ and Twitter for more details on these exciting new tools. 

How ebooks can encourage reluctant students to discover the joy of reading

Posted by Andrew Caffrey, Assistant Headteacher at Streetly Academy

Editor's note: Today’s post comes from Andrew McCaffrey, assistant headteacher for data and technologies at The Streetly Academy in Sutton Coldfield, United Kingdom. Caffrey, a passionate supporter of technology in classrooms, recently received the Inspirational Educator Award by the Worshipful Company of Educators. We invited him to talk about the value of ebooks in encouraging students to read.

As a teacher, I know what a gift reading can be — we all wish we had more time to tackle the books on our own lists — but not all of my students feel the same way. It can be an uphill battle to convince students that books will open up new worlds. Every day at Streetly Academy, we brainstorm ways to encourage students to find and read what they love.

To start, we set aside dedicated reading time for students so they learn the value of this fundamental skill. Reading time is scheduled into the school day, just like any other subject, which telegraphs its importance for students. During these sessions, some students bring in books from home, and some read them on their Chromebooks, which use the RM Books system so we can offer as many different titles as possible. For students who are resistant to reading, variety matters. These students often believe there’s nothing out there that they’ll enjoy, so access to different genres and topics can help pique their interest.

We’ve also noticed that reluctant readers will warm up to books on screen, since students are used to devices at home and in school. Research backs up our observation: a recent study from the UK’s National Literacy Trust found that boys in particular become more avid and confident readers when they have access to ebooks.

“A lot of students, normally boys, consider reading boring and don’t even want to attempt it,” says Rebecca Leason, an English teacher at our school. She’s seen the difference that ebooks can make with both boys and girls, as well as changing student thinking about how a “book” is defined. For example, Rebecca gives students excerpts from longer books.
Students at Streetly Academy have enjoyed the greater choice that reading with ebooks has brought them
“Students often think that reading must always involve a novel,” Rebecca told me. “The extracts give them the opportunity to look at a range of texts instead of focusing on just one. Sometimes they’re the beginnings of novels, but can also be nonfiction. A lot of students then go on to read the full texts for the subjects they enjoy.”

Greater choice of reading material is key to encouraging students to read more. Now that RM Books can be used with Google Classroom, we can select and share books even more easily with our students. We can also highlight the pages that we want to students to read so they know exactly how much reading to complete.

Along with offering students a wider range of reading choices, we also experiment with different ways to read. Rebecca, for instance, switches her teaching format depending on how students respond to a reading selection. In addition to giving students independent reading time, she’ll gauge whether small groups or a whole-class session would be more appropriate for a discussion. If students are struggling with a text, she might introduce an audio book option, or suggest that students read short articles on a subject before they move on to the full versions.

It’s heartening to see more students change their attitudes toward reading, and in some cases, to really embrace literature. One of Rebecca’s students started the school year with little interest in reading. After several months of reading short texts and discovering subjects she enjoyed, she grew so confident that she won the English award. Another reader on her way to a lifetime of discovering books!

Teach and learn from everywhere in the classroom with Google Cast for Education

Posted by Max Kirsch, Product Manager, Cast for Education

Editor's note: Yesterday we announced four new ways to help teachers engage their classes using Google educational tools. This post dives deeper into one of the those announcements: Cast for Education. If you’re at ISTE in Denver, visit us at booth #2511 in the expo hall to come check it out in person.



In his 11 years of teaching at Hillcrest Elementary in the Lake Stevens School district in Washington State, Bob Coleman has witnessed how educational technology can help advance collaboration and engagement in the classroom. So when the 4th grade teacher found his students stuck on a common math problem, he gathered the class in front of the classroom projector. Sitting behind his desk — now in front of his students and not among them — Mr. Coleman realized that the biggest screen in the room was only available to the teacher.



In Mr. Coleman’s classroom — and for millions of students around the world — both education and technology are expected to be collaborative. But today, the classroom projector is most often out of reach for students. Educators are eager to overcome this barrier, so much so that wireless screen sharing for schools was one of the top features requested by teachers in 2015.
Teachers, we heard you loud and clear. Yesterday we announced Google Cast for Education, a free Chrome app that allows students and teachers to share their screens wirelessly from anywhere in the classroom. Cast for Education carries video and audio across complex school networks, has built-in controls for teachers, and works seamlessly with Google Classroom. And because the app runs on the teacher’s computer that’s connected to the projector, it doesn’t require new hardware. Teachers run the Cast for Education app, and students share their screens through the Cast feature in Chrome.
Teacher view (click image to see larger)
Student view (click image to see larger)
To gather feedback on the product, we had teachers like Mr. Coleman and his colleague Tony Koumaros pilot Cast for Education in their classrooms. Mr. Koumaros knew his students would be excited to share their work with the rest of the class, but he was surprised to discover that they were eager to share even when they didn’t know all of the answers. “Casting makes it fun to ask for help,” he said. “My students enjoyed working through challenges together.”

Erin Turnbach, a 2nd grade teacher who piloted Cast for Education at Tom’s River Regional School District in New Jersey, found herself “co-teaching with a 2nd grader” during a lesson on animals. When the class got stuck during research time, Ms. Turnbach was able to work one-on-one with a student while another casted to the rest of the class. “We’re always trying to encourage teamwork,” Ms Turnbach says. “The end product is stronger when you collaborate and build off each other’s ideas. With Cast for Education, everyone engages and the students take ownership of their learning.”

“It’s hard to imagine not using it now that we have it”, Mr. Coleman says. “Sharing student screens was a big need for us, and now Cast for Education is our daily classroom tool.”

*Note: Visit g.co/CastForEDU to try Cast for Education today in beta, with full availability for Back to School 2016. Chrome management admins can install the new Cast for Education app for all teachers, and the Google Cast extension for their entire domain.

Updates from ISTE: 4 new tools to help teachers do what they do best

Posted by Jonathan Rochelle, Director of Product Management, Google for Education and Cyrus Mistry, Lead Product Manager, Devices and Content, Google for Education


(Cross-posted on the Google for Education Blog.)


Editor's note: This week our Google for Education team will be joining thousands of educators at the annual ISTE conference. Follow along here and on Twitter for the latest news and updates.

Teachers are great communicators, collaborators, creators and critical thinkers. It takes a teacher to empower students with these skills and create the leaders of our future. As technology becomes an increasingly integral component of our classrooms, the role of teachers becomes even more important.

Today at ISTE, we’re announcing four more ways for these everyday heroes to engage their classes and empower their students using Google tools. Look out for a deeper dive on each of these launches on the blog throughout this week.

Bring curriculum to life: introducing the Expeditions app
Since we launched the beta Expeditions Pioneer Program in September of 2015, more than one million students across 11 countries have taken one of our virtual reality trips. Today, we’re making Expeditions available to everyone. To get started, all teachers need to do is download the Expeditions app onto a set of devices. With more than 200 Expeditions to choose from, students can journey far and wide, learning from immersive new experiences. Our content offering has also grown and now includes Expeditions made by established educational content providers including Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Pearson is beginning work on Expeditions content as well. The app is available today for Android and will be available for iPhones and iPads soon.

While Expeditions can be used with many of the devices schools or students already have — either smartphones with Google Cardboard or tablets in 2D full screen mode — Best Buy Education will also be making Expeditions kits available for schools to purchase. These kits will contain everything teachers need to bring their classes on amazing Expeditions: a tablet, virtual reality viewers and a router to connect them all. Kits are available for pre-order and will ship in time for back-to-school. We’ll also publish clear specs for partners interested in working with us to create their own kits.
Empower student-driven classrooms: Google Cast for Education 
Collaboration is key to student success, but in most classrooms today the biggest screen in the room is out of reach for students. If students want to share their screens with the class, they have to physically connect their devices to the classroom projector. When teachers present, they’re tied to the projector at the front of the room. Educators are eager to overcome this barrier, so much so that wireless screen sharing for schools was one of the top features requested by teachers in 2015.

Today we’re announcing Google Cast for Education, a free Chrome app that allows students and teachers to share their screens wirelessly from everywhere in the classroom. Cast for Education carries video and audio across complex school networks, has built-in controls for teachers and works with Google Classroom so it’s easy to invite your students. And because the app runs on the teacher’s existing computer, it doesn’t require new hardware. Teachers run the Cast for Education app, and students can share their screens with the existing Cast feature in Chrome. Check out the Cast for Education video.
Teacher view (click to enlarge) 
Student view (click to enlarge)
Accelerate the feedback loop: Quizzes in Google Forms
Getting feedback early helps students learn and teachers teach. Starting today, Quizzes in Google Forms will allow teachers to auto-grade multiple choice and checkbox questions — so teachers can spend less time grading and more time teaching.

Teachers can also add review materials in the form of explanations, supplemental websites or review videos — so students can get quick, actionable feedback. Plus, teachers can get instant feedback on student progress, so they know which lessons need more explanation and what to teach next. We’ve also added a common request from educators to disallow students from sending themselves a copy of their responses.
Ignite student creativity: creative apps on Chromebooks
We’re on a mission to discover Chromebook tools that foster skills of the future, including problem-solving, digital literacy, leadership and creativity. We listened to teachers in Chromebook classrooms and collaborated with EdTechTeacher, and we’re excited to announce a collection of creative apps on Chromebooks that schools can purchase as a bundle.

Explain Everything, Soundtrap and WeVideo are creative apps that help students demonstrate their understanding of curriculum through their own unique voice. We’ve worked closely with our partners to offer these apps to schools at a special price when all three apps are purchased together. They may be purchased alongside Chromebooks or on their own, and they’re available as an annual subscription per license from Chromebook resellers in the US. Contact your school’s reseller to learn more.


Students use creative apps at Muller Road Middle School in South Carolina (watch video here)

Look out for a deeper dive on each of these product updates on the blog throughout this week. If you’re at ISTE in Denver, visit us at booth #2511 in the expo hall to demo these tools. And check out our sessions — taking place in room #103 — where educators and Googlers will be giving short presentations throughout the conference.

Canberra Public Schools use Chromebooks and Google Apps for Education to help students to "Learn, Anywhere"

Posted by Daniel Bray, Program Manager, eLearning, Australian Capital Territory Education Directorate

(Cross-posted on the Google for Education Blog.)

Editor's note: Today’s guest author is Daniel Bray, Program Manager, eLearning, for the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) Education Directorate. A former teacher, Bray initiated a districtwide digital program, which brought Chromebooks and Google Apps for Education into all Canberra public schools. The “Learn, Anywhere” program has since been recognised at the federal government level as a finalist for the national eGovernment Excellence awards for Project and Program Management. You can read full the full ACT case study here.

I work for the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) Education Directorate, which serves 45,000 students from preschool through year 12 in the 87 schools comprising the Canberra Public School system. In 2013, the Directorate launched a district wide digital transformation program with the goal of empowering students to "Learn, Anywhere.”
Students at Amaroo School, a 'super' school in the Canberra district, that has classes from Kindergarten to Year 12
While we were thrilled at the prospect of helping students learn both inside and outside of the classroom, making this goal a reality came with it’s own unique set of challenges. Our first step was to bring all of Canberra Public Schools into a single, centralised network. We soon realised that our learning management system didn’t scale, and that many schools’ laptops were beyond obsolete. A group of our students, frustrated with computer log-in times, sent our CIO an assignment that recorded log-in times of up to 7 minutes on multiple laptops. That was one of our 'a-ha' moments, and since then, we've taken every effort to use student feedback to inform our overall program strategy.

When we realized that we needed to overhaul the district’s entire technology infrastructure, Chromebooks and Google Apps for Education (including Google Classroom) stood out as a clear choice for us.
Primary students at Amaroo School collaborating on a class project
Chromebooks were affordable and intuitive; Google Apps would let students work from anywhere, on any device; and Google Classroom would let teachers share assignments, track student progress and grade papers — all without printing a single piece of paper.

In 2014, we ran a pilot test with 208 Chromebooks and Google Apps in four primary and secondary schools. During the pilot, the students using Chromebooks and Google Apps experienced super quick logon times and went from 2GB of network storage to enjoying unlimited Google Drive storage. As a Directorate, we couldn’t have been happier with the results: the pilot was a huge success for students, parents and teachers. Most importantly, Google was the choice selected by the schools. Not me. Not the CIO. The schools.

Based on that pilot, in 2015 we decided to roll out Google Apps accounts for all teachers and 32,000 students across the Canberra Public Schools. We also purchased 4,500 Chromebooks (and counting) for schools across the district.

Today, we equip students and teachers with a “Digital Backpack” that comes with Google Classroom and Google Apps, all available in one dashboard. Students get a single login and password for their Google accounts, which stays with them from primary through secondary school.

It’s amazing to watch student learning portfolios grow from year to year. Families can track student development and celebrate achievements, and teachers have a richer, more holistic view of student progress.

By adopting Chromebooks and Google Apps districtwide, we’ve greatly improved the way our students share ideas, give peer feedback and collaborate with each other, in real time. These intuitive and helpful technologies have helped us achieve and exceed our “Learn, Anywhere” vision.


You can read full the full ACT case study here.

Technology fast-tracks success for students with language-based disabilities

Posted by Margaret Kuzmicz, director of technology at Carroll School

(Cross-posted on the Google for Education Blog.)


Editor's note: Small schools are seeing great success with Google for Education tools. We spoke with educators and administrators from smaller districts across the United States to better understand how technology has helped them innovate, create more efficient processes, and make a positive impact on their students. This is the third in a series of posts where we explore the impact small schools are making on their students. To learn more about using Google for Education tools, visit us here.

All over the country, innovations in technology are showing us that it’s possible to provide more access to information than ever before. At Carroll School, located in Lincoln, Massachusetts, we rely on these innovations to bridge the divide for our students with language-based disabilities by alleviating their challenges with reading, writing and organization skills.

Students with language-based disabilities, like dyslexia, are extremely bright, curious and creative. But they oftentimes struggle in regular classrooms to build the core skills they need to excel in school. This is why Dr. Edwin Cole, a neurologist, and a small group of passionate individuals were inspired to found the Carroll School in 1967 and dedicate it to helping children with language-based learning disabilities.

Our faculty and staff at the Carroll School meet the individual needs of students by creating small, supportive classroom environments They use innovative approaches like cognitive intervention, founded in emerging scientific research. We’re also a very technologically progressive school, and our cloud technology, Google Apps for Education, allows us to create interactive experiences for our students. To our delight, incorporating technology has made a big difference for our students, who say that it’s made it easier for them to learn how to write, stay organized and get feedback from teachers

Students can overcome writing challenges


Students with language-based disabilities have to overcome an extra set of challenges while learning to write, specifically with spelling. Many of our students use Voice-to-text, a feature in Google Docs that uses voice recognition technology to dictate essays, stories and other writing projects.

“When I’m writing, Voice-to-text in Docs helps me concentrate on just talking about the subject, rather than worrying about how things are being spelled. I think it's even better than Siri on my phone,” says one eighth grade student at Carroll School. With Voice-to-text, students can share their unique perspectives and opinions, without getting mired by their challenges with writing.

Teachers can give instant, personalized feedback


Our students each have different needs and learning styles; we keep our class sizes small so teachers can provide individualized help. The cloud has made getting personalized attention faster and easier. Now, teachers share assignments through Google Docs and can then give students instant feedback on their work.

“I have difficulty with writing, but it’s easier when I can get help from my teacher. Before using Docs, I’d have to wait a few days or weeks after turning in an assignment to see my teacher’s edits. In Docs, [my teacher] can suggest the edits to me and I can make them myself before turning in the assignment,” says one fourth-grader at Carroll School.

This ongoing feedback and interaction also helps our students stay engaged and on-task. When students see their teacher in a shared homework assignment, responding to their work in real-time, it motivates them to stay on top of their work.

Organization is now a given


Kids of every age — and many adults too — struggle to stay organized, especially when keeping track of multiple assignments, papers and resources. Organization is important for students to succeed in the classroom. By using the cloud to store their work, our students’ now complete and turn in more assignments in an organized way, and stay on top of their tasks.

Students can access their schoolwork easily in class or at home. Says one ninth-grader, “I find myself printing way less. Last year, I had to print out almost all of my homework, but now I can just turn it in with Google Classroom.” Additionally, students say they feel more prepared for class. “With Classroom I have all of my classes in one place, so I don’t have to run around to each teacher to check on stuff,” says a ninth-grader at the school.

Technology is making a visible impact. It’s helping our students succeed in the classroom. Now, both students and teachers say that more assignments are turned in on time and students are more confident. There’s one downside, says one fourth-grader at the school, “Unfortunately, this means we can’t use not knowing the assignment as an excuse for not doing our homework anymore!” Though I think that’s one downside we can live with.

Technology fast-tracks success for students with language-based disabilities

Posted by Margaret Kuzmicz, director of technology at Carroll School

Editor's note: Small schools are seeing great success with Google for Education tools. We spoke with educators and administrators from smaller districts across the United States to better understand how technology has helped them innovate, create more efficient processes, and make a positive impact on their students. This is the third in a series of posts where we explore the impact small schools are making on their students. To learn more about using Google for Education tools, visit us here.

All over the country, innovations in technology are showing us that it’s possible to provide more access to information than ever before. At Carroll School, located in Lincoln, Massachusetts, we rely on these innovations to bridge the divide for our students with language-based disabilities by alleviating their challenges with reading, writing and organization skills.

Students with language-based disabilities, like dyslexia, are extremely bright, curious and creative. But they oftentimes struggle in regular classrooms to build the core skills they need to excel in school. This is why Dr. Edwin Cole, a neurologist, and a small group of passionate individuals were inspired to found the Carroll School in 1967 and dedicate it to helping children with language-based learning disabilities.

Our faculty and staff at the Carroll School meet the individual needs of students by creating small, supportive classroom environments They use innovative approaches like cognitive intervention, founded in emerging scientific research. We’re also a very technologically progressive school, and our cloud technology, Google Apps for Education, allows us to create interactive experiences for our students. To our delight, incorporating technology has made a big difference for our students, who say that it’s made it easier for them to learn how to write, stay organized and get feedback from teachers

Students can overcome writing challenges
Students with language-based disabilities have to overcome an extra set of challenges while learning to write, specifically with spelling. Many of our students use Voice-to-text, a feature in Google Docs that uses voice recognition technology to dictate essays, stories and other writing projects.

“When I’m writing, Voice-to-text in Docs helps me concentrate on just talking about the subject, rather than worrying about how things are being spelled. I think it's even better than Siri on my phone,” says one eighth grade student at Carroll School. With Voice-to-text, students can share their unique perspectives and opinions, without getting mired by their challenges with writing.
Teachers can give instant, personalized feedback
Our students each have different needs and learning styles; we keep our class sizes small so teachers can provide individualized help. The cloud has made getting personalized attention faster and easier. Now, teachers share assignments through Google Docs and can then give students instant feedback on their work.

“I have difficulty with writing, but it’s easier when I can get help from my teacher. Before using Docs, I’d have to wait a few days or weeks after turning in an assignment to see my teacher’s edits. In Docs, [my teacher] can suggest the edits to me and I can make them myself before turning in the assignment,” says one fourth-grader at Carroll School.

This ongoing feedback and interaction also helps our students stay engaged and on-task. When students see their teacher in a shared homework assignment, responding to their work in real-time, it motivates them to stay on top of their work.
Organization is now a given
Kids of every age — and many adults too — struggle to stay organized, especially when keeping track of multiple assignments, papers and resources. Organization is important for students to succeed in the classroom. By using the cloud to store their work, our students’ now complete and turn in more assignments in an organized way, and stay on top of their tasks.

Students can access their schoolwork easily in class or at home. Says one ninth-grader, “I find myself printing way less. Last year, I had to print out almost all of my homework, but now I can just turn it in with Google Classroom.” Additionally, students say they feel more prepared for class. “With Classroom I have all of my classes in one place, so I don’t have to run around to each teacher to check on stuff,” says a ninth-grader at the school.

Technology is making a visible impact. It’s helping our students succeed in the classroom. Now, both students and teachers say that more assignments are turned in on time and students are more confident. There’s one downside, says one fourth-grader at the school, “Unfortunately, this means we can’t use not knowing the assignment as an excuse for not doing our homework anymore!” Though I think that’s one downside we can live with.