UCSC Google Classroom

classroom image

Classroom is designed to help instructors manage classroom assignments, keep classes organized, and improve communication with students. Students can keep track of what's due on the Assignments page. Instructors can quickly see who has or hasn't completed the work, and provide direct, real-time feedback and grades right in Classroom.

Google Classroom isn’t a fully robust learning management system like the UCSC learning management system. Classroom may be useful for additional class communication or supplemental instruction. It can also help with document management for classes and for non-teaching activities where people need to share documents associated with a specific event.

Overview

Using Classroom

Important to Know

Here are recommendations for instructors on how to avoid violating FERPA when using Google Classroom:

  • When inviting students to join a class, use a Google Group that contains the students' email addresses and invite that Group to join the class instead of using individual email addresses. Google Group Instructions
  • If the class is an official university class, only students enrolled in that class should be invited to join. Inviting someone else would be a violation of FERPA. 
  • Do not give the course ID code to anyone you don't want to join the class. Someone with the course ID code could join and see the other student names in the class.
  • The instructor will need to manually invite adds and delete drops from the class. If a dropped student remains in the class, it is a violation of FERPA.
  • Students with Non-Release of Information (NRI) will show up in Google Classroom as "cruzid cruzid" for their first and last name to protect their identity. The instructor should inform the NRI students about this identity protection. 

Get Help

Contact the Support Center for assistance or visit the Google Classroom Help Center for more information.