During this time of mass remote learning, there are many institutions that do not utilize LMS-like platforms like G Suite for Education or Microsoft 365. For the teachers in these districts, you can still start your own Google Classroom and get your students going with remote learning using this platform. You can have a Google Classroom with any email address, as long as you create a Google account. Once your Google account has been created and verified, you can set up yout Google Classroom.

But, before we walk you through that process, let’s review the differences between having a G Suite for Education account and not having one. There are some feature limitations that are helpful to know about up front.

Let’s get going with Google Classroom

 
1. Click on the Google Apps Launch icon, then the Classroom icon.

2. When the app opens, verify the Google account you wish to use for Classroom by clicking “Continue.” When this is verified you can now start to create your own class for your students to join.

3. Click on the “+” icon, and you will see two options: Join class -or- Create class. Choose “Create class.”

4. When creating a new class you will have to verify that you are not a G Suite school and that you are planning on using personal/private emails. This should ONLY be done if your students are 13 years or older. If your students are under 13 years old, please use a parent/guardian email address. These are some Federal and State guidelines that must be followed. Click the blue links for more details.

5. When creating a new class you will need to provide a class name – be unique here! The other sections are not required.

6. To get students to join your class, simply have them go to classroom.google.com and use the “Join Code” option. If you have a list of email addresses, send the code via email. If not, use the next step (#7).

7. If working remotely, this works best if you have a list of student/parent email addresses. With that list, copy and paste the list of email addresses, and press the space bar. This will isolate the individual addresses. If not, start typing in the email addresses separating them by comma, space, or semicolon.

8. From this point forward, you will follow the course like any other G Suite for Education account. Please check with our OTIS for educators platform for best practices for utilizing the Google Classroom with your students. We have a trove of courses and sessions to help you learn best practices, tricks, and more.

In light of the COVID-19 pandemic impacting our schools and learning, Teq is making all of our PD courses FREE to help schools and districts implement distance learning and online professional development. Individual teachers, sign up for a FREE Basic account.