Google has made its Classroom tool open to teachers around the world who are looking for better ways to communicate with students.
The project was first introduced in May in a limited preview as a service that teachers could use to give students assignments and feedback while staying in touch with them, according to TechCrunch. The search giant said that since the tool's unveiling, over 100,000 educators from 45 countries have signed up to try it out.
The service has been made available for anyone around the world with a Google Apps for Education account to use.
Classroom combines Google Drive, Docs, and Gmail to help boost communication between teachers and students, CNET reported. Teachers can use Google School for assigning and collecting work, looking at who has and hasn't completed assignments and creating separate Drive folders for each student. Students are able to post a "stream" of content as a way of connecting to other classmates.
Students can also use Google's apps on their Google laptops, write their papers on Google Docs and submit them through Classroom, TechCrunch reported.
The tool is available in 42 different languages, and has been made free as part of the Google Apps for Education suite.
Teachers also have the option to attach files from Google Drive, which includes Docs, Word and Excel, and make a copy of assignments for each student, CNET reported.
Feedback was offered by teachers in the preview stage to make changes to Classroom. Such updates include letting teachers provide feedback before assignments are turned in, as well as the addition of an "About" page that displays information and materials about classes. Google Classroom Product Manager Zach Yeskel wrote in a blog post that Google is focusing on helping teachers "spend more time teaching and less time shuffling papers."
Fontbonne Hall Academy in Brooklyn, N.Y. was among the first schools to try out Classroom, CNET reported. Sister Rosemarie DeLoro, who has been teaching for 60 years, was able to use the service as an easier way to assign digital assignments to students in her Italian class and give them direct feedback.
"You can't stay in teaching and keep going to the old ways," Sister Rosemarie said.
