G Suite tools for teachers

Google specifically designed G Suite for educators to empower teachers and students. It’s a set of online tools that will help students learn how to innovate together, and give teachers control over their classrooms while allowing their students the freedom to explore.

Teachers have never been more free to challenge their students to work in new ways. Students are also free to explore new concepts on their own and collaborate with each other. At the same time, teachers have more control over how this is done and more oversight to ensure students remain safe and on track.

A closer look at the actual tools in G Suite for educators

• Gmail - Email is a safe, reliable form of communication that provides you with a formal paper trail. Use it to keep your students on track with assignments, inform parents/guardians about school events, or to stay in touch with your colleagues.
• Calendar - Set up all your due dates for projects, times for tests, special events at school and more. You can share this calendar with students, faculty and parents/guardians. Make each class or type of event a different colour to help with coordination.
• Hangouts - Have informal chats with individuals or groups either via messenger or as a video call. You can set up office hours where your students can ask questions or get feedback outside of class time.
• Groups - Create forums for class discussions. Your students can ask questions and try to help each other find the right answers. This fosters collaboration and communication.
• Drive - A cloud-based storage facility for files, documents and images. Create folders for different classes, lessons, projects, etc. and access them from any device at any time. You can also share specific folders or files with whoever you need to.
• Docs, Sheets & Slides - The classic tools needed for most school work and projects. They are all cloud based and allow more than one user to edit the content at the same time, making them ideal for fostering collaborative skills.
• Forms - An ideal way for gathering information online. Teachers can use them to give students tests and then mark the answers in a Sheet instantly. Teachers and students can also use them to conduct surveys for school projects.
• Sites - Teach your students how to build their own websites for a variety of different projects. Teachers can also use the tool to build a website for hosting their curriculum and other important information that students and parents/guardians may need.
• Jamboard - Turn touch-screen devices into an interactive whiteboard that allows teachers and students to create mind maps and other visual methods of brainstorming. All connected devices have access to your designs and drawings.
• Vault - Keep all data safe by configuring your security settings to the standards dictated by your school or district. Teachers and IT administrators can also enroll, monitor and manage devices on the school’s system.
• Classroom - A dashboard to help teachers manage their curriculum. You can distribute assignments, mark them and monitor class progress all from one place.

Teachers can streamline workflows

With G Suite for educators, you can really streamline your classroom. Everything you do, from administrative tasks to assigning and marking work, is all based in one place. Teachers can pull data from all the different tools and get a succinct overview of where they are in the year, and where each student is too.

The best part is that all of the tools in G Suite, plus the work that you do using them, lives in the cloud. This means that you never lose your work - and there’s no more room for “the dog ate my homework” excuses.

When everything is at your fingertips like this, teachers often find that there is more space for lateral thinking. They are able to really challenge their students to engage with the curriculum and to think critically.

Connectivity builds a supportive environment.

You can connect with your students instantly, and they can connect with each other. This will help to build a real sense of community within your classroom. Troubleshooting problems becomes easier as students actively engage with each other. You are also there to help steer conversations when needed.

This level of connectivity also helps teachers to see how well their students are grasping the lessons. This gives them the freedom to tailor lessons for the individuals in their classroom but still ensure that everyone is working towards a common goal.

Track your students’ progress

The Classroom tool allows you to see a snapshot of where you are in your curriculum. It holds all of the assignments you’ve handed out, as well as the ones that are coming up. It also has all of the grades you’ve given for each piece of work. This is an essential part of ensuring that your students understand the syllabus and won’t get left behind come exam time. As the teacher, you also have all the necessary information at your fingertips to adjust lesson plans or assign extra tasks to the students that need it.

Pair this tool with the Mobile Guardian classroom management solution, and you’ll have unprecedented access to information about how your students are doing. You’ll also be able to see what they’re getting up to in and out of class.

Built-in security

One of the cornerstones of G Suite for educators is that the apps are secure and so are your profiles. You can encourage your students to personalise their profiles without worrying that someone could be taking this information and compromising their privacy.

The core services within G Suite are all COPPA and FERPA compliant. Google also promises that none of the information stored in your G Suite account will be used for advertising purposes.

For added security, the Mobile Guardian's Learn solution solution tracks the physical location of devices that are enrolled. Teachers can also monitor how the devices are being used from their own dashboard.

Use G Suite for educators in your classroom

G Suite for educators is really a remarkable set of tools, especially considering the fact that they are all free to use. Teachers all over the world are using them in various ways to build innovative and interesting lesson plans. Isn’t time you got started too?

Onwards

Robyn Hobson

Team Mobile Guardian