Google Classroom: What to do when the class is finished?

It's the end of the year (or semester...or quarter) and you are wrapping up your use of Google Classroom with your students.  What now?  What happens to the files and folders you created?  Can you start the same class with new students, or do you need to create a new class from scratch?  Here are your answers!

Archive

New courses will always need to be created when old courses finish.  At the end of the school year or a semester, you may want to archive a class to preserve the class materials, any assignments, and any postings to the class stream. You can still access any class files in Google Drive, but the archived classes are moved to a separate area to help you keep your current classes organized. An archived class can be viewed by you and the students in the class. However, when the class is archived, you can't edit or add anything to the class until you restore it.

To archive a class:

1. Sign in to Classroom at classroom.google.com.


2. On the class card, click  and select Archive.


3. To confirm, click Archive.

To view an archived class:

1. Sign in to Classroom at classroom.google.com.


2. Click   and select Archived Classes.


3. Select the class you want to view.

To restore an archived class:

1. Sign in to Classroom at classroom.google.com.


2. Click   and select Archived Classes.


3. On the class card, click  and select Restore.

To delete an archived class:

1. Sign in to Classroom at classroom.google.com.


2. Click   and select Archived classes.


3. On the class card, click  and select Delete.

 

Final Details

Your folders in Google Drive for your Classroom courses will NOT be removed unless you choose to remove them.  You may wish to rename these folders so that you can keep them separate from your soon-to-be-created courses.  For example, "Science" may be renamed "Science 2014-2015".  To take that a step further, you could create a folder named "Archived Courses" in Google Drive and move all of your old course folders into this folder.  Organization, as we all know, is the key to maintaining sanity with folder management.

One last note; if you have assignments that you have not returned to your students through Classroom, you are still the owner of those files.  If you then delete (or remove) these files from your Drive, they will be gone forever and the student will not be able to retrieve them.  If you return all of your assignments, however, the ownership switches back to the students.  Deleting (or removing) them does not then delete them permanently, but only removes them from your view.  Since the students are now the owner, they are the only ones who can permanently delete the files.

If you have any questions about this, or any end-of-the-year process', please contact your instructional technology coach.

Sean Mullins | Instructional Technology Coach

Start Your Personal Learning Network with Google+

Social media has ushered in a new wave of professional development for teachers all over the world.  Personal Learning Networks (PLNs) are simple systems that teachers have in place that help them keep up to date on new trends in education.  Social media can and should be leveraged to develop your PLN.  Many teachers already frequent Pinterest, Facebook, Twitter, etc... for educational collaboration opportunities.  I would like to suggest adding Google+ to that list!

With your district Google account, you have the ability to set up Google+.  It is very simple, and only requires you to click on the "+You"  link found by your login name once you have signed into your Google Account.  You then fill out a few screens of information, most of which you can skip over.



Once you are set up, you can navigate to "Communities" through the menu on the left of your screen and start connecting with educators all around the globe who are trying to accomplish the same goals as yourself.  For example, I belong to communities that discuss "Science in Google", "Google Apps for Education", and "Education Revolutions"...and the list will surely grow.



The great thing about these communities is that they are created and moderated by regular people, not organizations.  That also means that you can create a community yourself and invite like-minded U5 educators.  As an example, I encourage everyone to join the U5 Instructional Technology community (direct link).  It's a great place for us all to share, discuss, debate, and encourage around the topic of instructional technology in Unit 5.  We will be adding content to it regularly, and encourage you to do the same!

Similarly, maybe your department wants to create a community to share web resources and have discussions around curriculum.  If we think even bigger, why not have a U5 Science community and invite all of the science teachers (or anyone for that matter) to join?  The possibilities are exciting!

If you would like more information on PLNs or Google+, please contact your district instructional technology coach!

Sean Mullins | Instructional Technology Coach