If you are on the fence about using Google Classroom, this post is all about convincing you that Classroom is the way to go. There are lots of Learning Management Systems (LMS) out there, and many people have their favorites. Google Classroom is the best for 21st century schools, and here’s why.

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The Google Classroom App and IOS (Apple mobile operating system) functionality is great.

There was a time in the short history of Google and Apple relations that many thought a cold war would erupt between the two. Peace abounds in the land of tech, however, and the 2 superpowers have made peace, perhaps because of a threat of mutually assured destruction? The Google classroom App and web software is a prime example of this peace. The App allows for amazing collaboration opportunities while integrating Google Apps For Education (GAFE) seamlessly on the iPad.  

Students(and staff) already have Gmail and Google Apps.

The idea that all students and school staff have GAFE is kind of a big deal. GAFE is not just email and Google classroom/ Google Docs. It consists of incredible learning tools that include interactive website building, unlimited Cloud storage, Spreadsheets, Forms, Scholar, Presentation, Drawing and many other software applications. Even other software providers like Microsoft and Adobe are also fully integrated into Google (not perfect), but GAFE users are able to upload/ download almost anything to their Drive account. All of this techy talk means 1 important thing. Google Classroom is the education portal to this world.

Google is constantly upgrading, innovating and a leader in Education.

Google views education as incredibly important (rightly so of course). They take a long view on the integration of technology into the K-12 classroom, continuing to expand, upgrade and enhance their ed offerings. Since Google Classroom launched a little over a year ago it has attracted millions (yes millions) of users, launched an App, and upgraded a ton of features. In one year. Google Classroom will only continue to upgrade and improve.

Google classroom is elegantly simple for educators and students.

With classroom, Google has created a totally easy user experience. Documents. Links. Uploads. Videos are added with incredible ease. Students are added with a little code login that is unique for each class a teacher sets up.(no data entry) The assignments, announcements, questions, discussions all scroll similar to a Facebook or other social media “feeds”. Ease of use is a great strengths for Classroom, yet through the GAFE environment, learning opportunities or truly endless.   

Google skills are marketable, transferable and generally build to further tech skills.

Employers want their workers to have tech skills, this is without question in a learning economy of the 21st century.  Google is the backbone for so many parts of digital life including, Android, Youtube, Google Apps, to name just a few of the familiar. Google Classroom offers the best LMS to get students using all of the Google tools. If an employer wants a data analysis, there is a Google App for that, if they want presentation skills, marketing, research, writing, design, coding, almost anything techy, Google has at least a hand in it. Are there more “robust” tools that do what Google does? Of course, but Google is an entry point. If you know Google sheets, for example, you can also use Microsoft Excel.
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There are some really strong offerings in the Learning Management System/ Workflow category, with some probably having features that are unmatched by Google Classroom. However, if your school is a fully integrated Google Apps environment, it stands to reason that Google is the direction to go when managing a digital classroom. Finally, ask yourself what is a better skill to list on a resume?