One question I get asked a lot is whether or not you need to have Google Classroom and
a class website with Google Sites. The quick answer is that if you use Google Classroom,
having a class website with Google Sites is optional, but if you have a class website
with Google Sites, you do need to use Google Classroom. In this video I'm going to show
you why. My name is Sam Kary and this is my YouTube channel for The New EdTech Classroom.
The bottom line is that if you're at of G-suite for Education school, running a class website
with Google Sites is optional, whereas having Google Classroom is not. Let's jump over here
first to Google Classroom so I can show you what I mean. Google Classroom really has one
primary, unique function and that's to push assignments out to students and collect them
back in one central location. And Google Classroom is a particularly useful tool to use for distributing
and collecting assignments because it also allows you to make individual copies of assignments
that you can give to your students. So for example if you make a single slide deck, but
want to create separate copies of that slide deck for your students, you just need to choose
‘Make a Copy’ and that will assign a separate slide deck to each student. So you need Google
Classroom to push out assignments and to collect them back in, but why would you also want
to have a class website? Making a class website with Google Sites will allow you to create
a more customized, virtual hub for students and families. You can set up pages like a
custom home page, with information and images that are relevant to your particular class.
You can set up a customized About page that has information about the subjects that you
teach or additional information about you. And because Google Sites integrates seamlessly
with all other G-Suite products, you can also bring in other Google apps like Calendar and
then allow students to see the entire month view of all the assignments that they have
for that month, and then they can click on those assignments to get more information.
You can also set up custom assignment pages in Google Sites and embed resources and assignments
in a more visually appealing way than you can in Google Classroom. And since it seamlessly
integrates with other G-Suite apps, you can also bring in slides, and you can see that
those slide decks are viewable directly on the Google Site, or you can add things like
videos that can also be viewed right on your class website. Lastly you could also use a
class website to post student work and you can even create subpages where you can have
students set up digital portfolios and link their own websites that they create back to
your main class website. So you can see that a class website is pretty much fully customizable
and that a well-structured site can serve as a centralized hub for students and families
and that you can include significantly more information on a class website than you can
just on Google Classroom. So if a site is seemingly better than Google Classroom, why
use Google Classroom at all? As I showed you in Google Classroom, its primary function
is to be able to push individual assignments out to students and collect them back in,
in one single location. If you didn't use Google Classroom, students would have to do
things like share documents back with you and you’d have to come up with your own
organization system and it would probably get pretty messy, pretty quickly. So if you
do choose to make a class website with Google Sites, what you’ll want to do is set up
your site so that when a student clicks on an assignment button, it routes them through
Google Classroom, where they can pick up the assignment and then turn it back in when they're
done with it. So to do this, you can set up your Assignment page first in Google Sites
by dragging in a layout, then adding some text, and if you want to also bring in an
image or whatever additional information you want to have here about a particular assignment.
Then you'll want to go back to Google Classroom, set up your assignment the way you want it
set up, and when you're ready to bring it over to Google Sites, you’ll want to click
on the three dots on the top right-hand side of the assignment and then select ‘Copy
Link.’ Then when you return to Google Sites, you just need to turn the text into a hyperlink
and copy and paste the direct link to the assignment you just created into your class
website. And make sure you click ‘Publish Changes’ after you make any changes to your
website, so that those actually show up on the published link. Then when we're back on
the class website, you'll see that if the student clicks on this link, it will take
them directly to their assignment in Google Classroom. And note that a student would have
to be signed into their specific Google account in order to be able to access the assignment
in Google Classroom, so it's not like anyone can just click on the link and get into the
assignment on Google Classroom. Now another question I get a lot as whether or not having
a Google Classroom and a Google Site is basically just double posting the same assignment, and
on a practical level, yes, you are double posting assignments, but you would be doing
so to create a more custom, virtual hub for students and families. If you do go the route
of creating a Google Site, I would highly recommend that you communicate to students
and families that they should go to your site first and that’s the place where they’re
going to be able to find all the information that they need. If you set up a class website
you should really only treat Google Classroom as a practical tool that allows you to push
out those assignments and collect them back in. It is going to be important if you go
this route that you do post every single Google Classroom assignment to your Google Site so
that students and families know that they can reliably go to your class website to get
the assignments and other information that they need. So again the answer to whether
or not you need a Google Classroom and Google Sites is that it depends. If you’re a G-suite
for Education school, you do need to use Google Classroom as a way to push out assignments
and collect them back in. Having a class website is optional, but it will give your students
a more custom, virtual classroom hub where they can go to find a lot more information
than they would be able to find just in Google Classroom. And it is still important that
you use Google Classroom if you have a class website, because that's going to be your mechanism
for pushing out assignments and getting them back all in, in one place. If you have any
other questions or ideas about using Google Sites and Google Classroom together, please
put those in the comments below. Thanks so much for watching my video to the end. If
you're looking for support with how to use instructional technology, as well as how to
develop technology integrated lessons and curriculum, then I invite you to click on
the link in the video description for 21centurycurriculum.com in order to book a free strategy call with
me. In the video description you'll also find a link to my website newedtechclassroom.com,
where you can find additional resources for teaching with technology, as well as links
to my social media accounts on Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, LinkedIn, and TikTok, where I post
60-second quick tips about edtech. Thanks again for watching and have a great week!