New Polling Features in Google Classroom

New polling features are now available in Google Classroom.  This new feature is seen when you post a question to the stream page. You now have the option to ask an open ended question or a multiple choice question.  This will allow teachers to have more options to communicate with their students, assess students understanding, and gather information on feedback.  

Here are four ways you can use polling in your classroom:

1. Post exit tickets
2. Help students self monitor the skills/tasks at hand for an assignment or project
3. Guide discussions
4. Get feedback from the students about your lesson

Enjoy this new feature of Google Classroom.

Remember, the Google Classroom team is always improving the interface and application.  If you have a suggestion that is not available and you would like to see it implemented, you can always leave feedback to the team by clicking on the ? in Google Classroom.  They read all of the feedback, prioritize them and make improvements to the application on the next update.  

For more information about this new feature, you can visit the Google for Education Blog.

Google Apps Update: Set Reminders for Calendar

Launch of Reminders for Google Calendar on the web Posted: 05 Apr 2016 09:01 AM PDT Last year, we launched Reminders in the Google Calendar app for iOS and Android. We’re now happy to announce that Reminders are coming to Google Calendar on the web. Key features: Set a reminder for a specific time and date and get notified when it’s time. To create a reminder, tap on a time in the calendar grid, then select “Reminder.” Reminders carry forward to the next day, until you mark them done. To mark a reminder as done, simply click on the reminder, and click ‘Mark as done’. Reminders created in the Google app, Keep, and Inbox will also show in Google Calendar. Reminders on the web will sync to your Google Calendar Android and iOS apps. Please note: Reminders are private to calendar owners and are not viewable, even if your calendar is shared with others. Google Tasks users will not be prompted to use the Reminders feature. It can be enabled from the drop down menu on the Tasks calendar. Check out the Help Center for more information. Launch Details Release track: Launching to Rapid release, with Scheduled release coming in 2 weeks Rollout pace: Full rollout (1-3 days for feature visibility) Impact: All end users Action: Admin action suggested/FYI More Information Help Center