Using Google Drive to Share/Edit Classroom Documents

I’m finding it very convenient to use Google docs for all of my classes. I can share docs with my students and edit their work. They can work on team projects, and if they don’t have access to printers, they can share their work with me and I can print their work as needed.



Share with students.
This works for students that do and don't have Google accounts. I like to share files with my elementary students on my class webpage. Uploading files to Google Drive allows you to easily share files with students. You can upload pictures, pdfs, docs, spreadsheets, even videos to your 15GB of Google Drive space. Then you can select File->Share

you will get a link you can copy and share one your class webpage or in an email or even on ProgressBook attached to an assignment. Make sure you change your permissions, I usually share with anyone with the link. Once students visit the link they can download the file to their local computer view it, read it, or…do it!

Students share their work.
For students that have Google accounts they can share work with you too. Students will type their document once signed into Google Drive. (Select Create -> Document) Then students will save their work (it also saves automatically). I can view their work when they share it with me. Students will select File -> Share type your email address and the doc will appear in your google docs. You can create a folder to save all of that class/project and go through and grade them. You can elect to print them as is OR you can select Insert ->comment throughout the document to add comments. The comments are on the document and you can save the file and the student still has access to see your individualized comments.

Want something to send home after you made comments??? Select File->download as -> word document then you can print the document with your comments from Word.

I like the share method because for me I can have my laptop with me (must have Internet access), go through and grade the assignments, and save the changes and print only as needed. So if the assignment is a formative assessment I can see where the student stands without printing but I can still provide feedback this is awesome for rough drafts! They can even share with each other for peer editing.

Of course at any time you can print and add your comments in handwriting if you prefer. :-)

Google Docs and Schoology
All of my students now have their Schoology accounts linked to their Google account. Any document they worked on in Schoology can now easily be submitted to a Schoology assignment dropbox by selecting Resources. From resources they will select Google Docs. Connect their account (may have to enter Google username/password), then they can select any of their Google docs to submit to an assignment.

I really like this because we can comment back and forth for editing in Google Docs then the final submission can be turned in to the assignment’s dropbox for me to grade. (See past blog for putting Schoology grades into ProgressBook.)

I also like the Google Drive connection to Schoology as a teacher because files I already have in my drive can be added to assignments, or shared resources. Easily!