G Suite, Google Apps, Google Classroom … Google has made a big push into the education world, and keeping all the terms straight can be a little overwhelming. But it’s important to understand what they mean, especially if your school is making the switch to Google’s platform.
G Suite for Education and Google Classroom might sound like two separate programs, but they’re actually not as different as you think.
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What is Google Classroom?
Google Classroom is a learning management system that enables teachers to set up a digital space for their classroom where students can submit assignments, collaborate and share feedback, and keep all their work organized in one place.
It’s a good way to teach digital literacy, or the ability to use technology in a meaningful and resourceful way, which is an important skill in today’s world and will be a vital part of students’ success in their future.
Google Classroom creates opportunities to teach students to think beyond the limits of paper, pencil, and textbook and learn to leverage the many (often collaborative) digital tools at their disposal.
What is G Suite for Education?
Google Classroom can be a vehicle for your classroom’s digital endeavors, but it’s only one piece of a whole powerhouse that is G Suite for Education, formerly known as Google Apps for Education.
G Suite is just that: a suite of Google tools and features that your school can use. It includes Google Classroom as well as other core services, including Gmail, Calendar, Docs, Sheets, Forms, Slides, Hangouts, and more. Additional services include products like Chrome and YouTube.
And you and your students can access them all with one simple Google login, across multiple devices.
How should you use them together?
Whether your students are collaborating on a document or presentation slides or even taking a self-assessment quiz, you can use all the tools that come in G Suite to do it and keep everything connected.
For lots of ideas on how to leverage Google Classroom for more personalized learning, click here.
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Classroom Management