Posted by Jorge Lugo, Software Engineer, Classroom

(Cross-posted on the Google for Work Blog)

While it’s a new year on the calendar, many teachers and students are just midway through the school year. They’ve clearly been hard at work, turning in more than 30 million assignments with Classroom since it launched six months ago. If those assignments had been on paper instead of Google Docs, they would stretch from New York to Los Angeles when laid end to end. If every assignment had taken just one minute to print out, Classroom saved 57 years that would have otherwise been spent waiting for the printer.

Today we’re launching a native Classroom mobile app for both Android and iOS (also available in Google Play for Education) to help teachers and students connect from wherever they are, and save even more paper and time. We’re also launching two new features to help teachers stay organized as they head into the second half of the year: a teacher assignments page and the ability to archive classes.

With the mobile app, students and teachers can:

• Snap a photo: Right from the assignment page in the mobile app, students can snap a photo and attach it to their assignment — whether it’s the experiment they just did for a science class, or a drawing they made of their family tree. And if they’ve forgotten their homework, they can ask someone at home to snap a photo, text it and then turn it in with the app. Of course, if the dog has actually eaten it, Classroom can’t help you. 

• Share from other apps: Students can also easily attach images, PDFs and web pages from other apps to their assignments. For example, when you’re in a drawing app, you can create a graphic for an assignment. When you click “share” in that app, Classroom will come up as an option, and you can attach the graphic to an assignment. 

• Offline caching: Even when Internet access isn’t available, students and teachers can get information about their assignments in the Classroom mobile app. Class streams and assignment information are automatically cached every time you open the app with an Internet connection, so that you can see them when you don’t have a connection. 

For the best experience using the Classroom app, make sure you (or your students) also have the Google Docs, Drive and Slides apps. We’re looking forward to adding new features to the app on both iOS and Android in the coming months, so that students and teachers can get more done from any device they have.

Teacher Assignments Page

We’ve heard from many teachers that they want one place to keep track of all the work they assign across all of their classes. On Classroom for desktop, we’re launching a teacher assignments page. Teachers will have quick access to any assignment, track which ones they’ve reviewed and see how many students have completed their assignments.

Archive Classes

We also know that classes don’t go on forever. You don’t want to have to scroll through old classes to get to the ones you’re teaching or attending now, but you’ll likely want access to the valuable information in previous classes and work from them. That’s why today we’re launching the ability to archive classes. Archiving a class will remove it from the home page and make it read-only — teachers and class members can still view archived classes, but can’t make any changes or turn in assignments. We hope the new mobile apps and features for teachers will save you some time and paper this semester. Please keep sharing your feedback with us, and stay tuned for more new Classroom goodies before the school year is over.

Posted by Ego Obi, Global Lead of Access for Education in Emerging Markets

Whether you’re an IT administrator at a school with connectivity issues, or a teacher helping your school get online for the first time, you know that activating technology involves careful planning and decision making. What tools do your students and teachers need the most? How do you get the Internet access you need to support your academic programs when your school isn’t already connected and online? How will you train everyone to make the most of this new technology?

We’ve learned from schools who’ve gone through the process and compiled a guide to bringing learning online based on their ideas. Their experiences can help your school decide how technology will bring resources from all over the web – and around the globe – into your classrooms. You’ll see a framework for:

• Defining your goals 
• Investing in Internet access 
• Building your team 
• Offering web tools 
• Managing the change 

The guide is available in 10 languages and includes stories from schools around the world that have embraced online learning. For example, Nigeria’s Ladoke Akintola University of Technology (LAUTECH) has seen its student body jump from 6,000 to 30,000 in the past few years, prompting investment in its Internet infrastructure and improving access to web-based technologies.

“Through using Google Apps for Education to enable quick responses to queries over Gmail and access to course information via Sites, we’ve started to break down communication barriers between lecturers and students,” says Adebanjo-Paul Adebowale, Network Administrator, LAUTECH. “Now we see more communication and collaboration of all kinds across the campus, which is having a positive impact on the culture and the smooth running of the institution.”

In Morocco, the Université Cadi Ayyad now supports its online learning curriculum using Google Sites and Google Apps scripts. Students can easily access course material, request transcripts, receive their grades, and log onto the university’s eLearning platform.

Schools like LAUTECH and the Université Cadi Ayyad inspire us, and we’re looking forward to hearing more transformation stories. Join us. Share your school’s technology challenges and the steps you’ve taken to activate technology on your campus.

Posted by Jack Fermon, Technical Program Manager, Google for Education

(Cross-posted on the Google for Work Blog.)

Educators across Latin America are changing what it means to “go to school” by introducing new learning models that prepare their students for real-world problems. Inspired by their ambitious goals and innovative approaches, we’re highlighting a few ways that schools in the region have made strides with the support of technology, including Google Apps for Education.

Building the groundwork for equal access
The Municipality of Vicente Lopez (MVL) in Buenos Aires, Argentina, created a program to give all students the same access to technology, regardless of socioeconomic background. All students and teachers use Google Drive to share worksheets and presentations, provide immediate feedback on shared documents, and work in teams while in class or at home. Teachers now learn from students, who have become experts in technology and taken ownership of their education.

Going digital without an IT staff
Colegio Banting in Mexico City has equipped its students with the best tools for success, even without resources to spend on staffing for IT. By introducing Google Apps for Education, they’ve interested students in educational technology, helped boost test scores, and improved communication between teachers, administrators, students and their families. Google Classroom makes it easier to assign homework, helping teachers and parents keep track of student work and progress.

Connecting face-to-face across many miles
Argentina’s San Andres University (UDESA) adopted Google Apps to encourage flexible learning through virtual classrooms while replacing their unstable email solution with Gmail. While Gmail was the initial reason for the switch, UDESA uses the full range of tools in the Apps suite to bring learning outside the classroom. Students use Hangouts to present their thesis projects remotely, and teachers invite outside experts, no matter where they’re located, to present about different topics.

Involving parents and teachers
In 2007, The American School Foundation (ASF) became the first school in Mexico to use Google Apps for Education, moving its 3,000 students to Apps while introducing weekly “technology office hours” for parents and teachers. As an early believer in the power of cloud-based technology, ASF wanted to equip its students with tools that would prepare them for the future. Beyond simplifying day-to-day processes and administrative workflows, ASF has created a supportive environment for all members of its community.

As schools across Latin America continue to develop and integrate technology into their curricula, they’re exploring ways to build learning spaces for curious minds both in the classroom and beyond. We look forward to seeing what the future holds for schools in the region.

Posted by Pepita Gunawan, Google for Education Indonesia Lead

From downtown Manila to the remote reaches of West Java, technology is transforming education in South East Asia. A summit in Manila last week brought together over 400 principals, teachers and students who are using technology to enrich education in the Philippines. Meanwhile at the Jakarta Google for Education Summit, we learned how educators across the archipelago are creatively applying technology to engage students and run their institutions more efficiently.

A glimpse at the Google for Education Summit in Indonesia 

In Indonesia, dentistry students in Bandung no longer have to miss out on learning from the best teachers. Since implementing Google Apps for Education they now take lessons with the top lecturers over Hangouts and get feedback on their work in real time with Google Docs. They have also been able to work with students at other campuses in real time—drawing dentistry models using Google Draw and sharing them with Google Drive.

We heard from veteran math teacher, Tauhid S.P, who makes math more appealing to public school students in East Jakarta by bringing his teaching methods online. Instead of running traditional exams, Tauhid uses Google Forms to create digital quizzes, making tests a bit more fun for his students.

Technology is also helping these Indonesian institutions run more efficiently at an organizational level. Since moving to Google Apps, teachers at the Singapore International School have been better equipped to engage parents in what their children are learning. Instead of posting parents letters and forms, they can use Google Forms to get instant feedback and data, saving the school reams of paper and countless hours. Moving to Google Apps has also helped the Institut Teknologi Sepuluh Nopember in Surabaya go paperless, not to mention $200,000 annual savings on storage, electricity and manpower costs.

Educators at the Google for Education Summit in Manila

We've been working with schools and universities across the Philippines since 2007, and the Manila Summit was a great opportunity to hear directly from educators and students about some of the impact to date. We heard from The Mindanao State University Iligan Institute of Technology who has saved substantial IT costs since moving to Google Apps. Students at the Xavier School in Manila tell us that doing their homework is more enjoyable with Google Apps. After hearing about some of this positive impact technology is making in the classroom, members of the Philippines’ business community pledged to support more schools’ digitization process so that more students can experience the benefits of the web for learning.

We’re humbled to be working with schools, teachers and their broader communities to equip students across Indonesia and The Philippines with the skills they’ll need to thrive in the 21st century. Who knows what they'll come up with next.

Posted by Michael Bolognino, Product Marketing Manager

(Cross-posted on the Google Drive Blog.)

Last month, we partnered with National Novel Writing Month to see what happens when three writers come together, online from three different cities, to create a short story in Google Docs. The three authors—Edan Lepucki, Tope Folarin, and Mike Curato—had one hour to create the story, based on an opening line submitted by Docs user Lauren Lopez in Malaysia.

Watch this short (and pretty entertaining) video to see how it all went down:
You can read the final story at g.co/docsnano, and watch their unedited process and Q&A in the original Hangout on Air.

Posted by Cameron L. Fadjo, Computer Science Custom Search Project Lead

Computer Science (CS) is quickly becoming a key component of student learning. From engaging projects and after school programs to robust online educational programs and extensible programming languages, there are a wide range of online resources and materials that make learning how to code even more accessible. As all these new and exciting online CS programs and tools continue to become available, however, finding and exploring new resources can be challenging. If you are a teacher with limited exposure to, or experience with, CS or programming, we know that this initial search experience can be even more difficult.

To help address this challenge, we created Computer Science (CS) Custom Search, a search engine that has been customized with over 550 different CS websites to connect you to CS education-related resources. Because it can sometimes be difficult to find the right CS instructional material and program, we’ve made it easier for you to find instructional materials using common educational terms, such as ‘worksheets’ and ‘projects,’ as well as with queries on more complex search strings.

To help support users with different levels of experience with CS, there are example search terms to provide you with some context for your initial search. The suggested search queries on the landing page are intended to help less experienced users begin their exploration of CS and more experienced users discover even more CS programs or tools.

Research shows that educators significantly impact how students perceive and experience CS. Current employment trends indicate that there will be a shortage of trained computer scientists ready to fill the projected 1 million CS-related jobs in the U.S. by the year 2020 and so you have the opportunity to play an important role in preparing your students for future career opportunities. We hope that CS Custom Search will help you find the tools and programs you need to bring CS to your own classroom.

Please check out CS Custom Search and let us know how it works for you. Our goals are to continue to increase the number of sites on CS Custom Search in parallel with the ever-expanding list of new resources and to ensure that the search experience continuously reflects the needs of its audience - the education community.

Want to share feedback about your CS Custom Search experience? Send us an email at cs-custom-search@google.com

Posted by Jennifer Wang, Computer Science Education Outreach Program Manager

In an earlier post Working Together to Support Computer Science Education, Chris Stephenson describes how achieving systemic change in computer science (CS) education involves a multitude of factors including collaboration among researchers, educators, parents, policy-makers, students and the media. In addition to our own outreach programs and research, we also support organizations and invest in programs that are making strides to increase access to CS education in schools.

In October, we supported the Alliance for California Computing Education for Students and Schools (ACCESS) by convening some of the nation’s leading researchers and practitioners in CS education. The ACCESS gathering was an energetic and action-packed day for developing pathways for K-12 CS education in California, with a particular focus on equitable access for all. With the recent signing of three bills for CS education in California, this was a major step toward making quality CS available in California K-12 schools. The summary report of the convening can be found here.

These efforts in California, a key state in the national education picture, are critical to the forward momentum for CS education across the United States and globally, and they’re just the beginning. The importance of CS is recognized globally, and we aim to take advantage of these opportunities to increase quality and availability of CS education. In England, where Computing was recently implemented as part of its National Curriculum, we have been working in partnership with Code Club Pro to kick start a national program to train primary school teachers across the country and with Teach First to recruit and train CS teachers in secondary schools.

A big part of our focus on CS education is ensuring that everyone, regardless of background, has appropriate access to quality CS education. Issues of equity in education vary dramatically by location and situation. That’s why our efforts are supported by local Googlers in our offices worldwide, from Japan to Spain to Australia. Our global presence means that we can tailor our outreach locally to cultures and customs, because quality education does not have a one-size-fits-all scenario. Driven by data, we can provide strategic and effective support for CS education, in close collaboration with the local stakeholders. For instance, we empower our RISE partners to evaluate their programs so that they can understand what is effective for their specific organization as well as their students. We hold monthly Hangouts on Air to share the latest CS education research and best practices for these partners to incorporate and adapt for their programs.

At Google, we are working to empower the youth today to be the creators of tomorrow. It’s a long and complex journey, but in partnership with local organizations around the globe, we hope to ensure that everyone has equitable access to CS education.