The global coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has forced teachers and students alike to resort to online learning platforms like Zoom and Google Classroom to continue classes and stay connected while quarantined. As a result, online services like these have suddenly seen a surge in usage as well as popularity. For those unaware, Google Classroom is a free app for schools and non-profit organisations that aims to simplify creating, distributing, and grading assignments in a paperless way. The primary purpose of Google Classroom is to streamline the process of sharing files between teachers and students. In addition, students can share resources with one another and provide answers to questions on the stream. According to AppBrain, the Classroom app wasn’t even in the top 100 education apps until early March 2020. However, starting March 10, the app saw a huge spike and went to reach the top 5 most popular apps in the U.S. last week. Besides the U.S., the Classroom app is also amongst the most installed apps in Mexico, Indonesia, Canada, Italy, Finland, and Poland. With over 50 million downloads on the Play Store, Google Classroom has become the number one free education app on Android. It is also one of the top five education apps in the U.S. on the Apple App Store. Classroom is a free service for schools, non-profits, and anyone with a personal Google account. Classroom makes it easy for learners and instructors to connect—inside and outside of schools. Classroom saves time and paper, and makes it easy to create classes, distribute assignments, communicate, and stay organized. Teachers can add students directly or share a code with their class to join. It takes just minutes to set up. The simple, paperless assignment workflow allows teachers to create, review and mark assignments quickly, all in one place. Students can see all of their assignments on an assignments page, and all class materials (e.g., documents, photos, and videos) are automatically filed into folders in Google Drive. Classroom allows teachers to send announcements and start class discussions instantly. Students can share resources with each other or provide answers to questions on the stream. Like the rest of G Suite for Education services, Classroom contains no ads, never uses your content or student data for advertising purposes, and is free.
