Month: October 2025

Google Classroom Consistency

Our district, grades 3-12, decided to give a fresh look to Google Classroom. This year our district is working towards streamlining how homework and tasks for students are reported. This came from a district homework committee, that was put together over a year ago, analyzing how and what teachers are reporting as work needing to be accomplished. The committee discovered that there was absolutely no consistency. It was determined that from this committee, all teachers, especially grades 5 – 12, would report homework through Google Classroom.

Many students and teachers were unaware of the fact that Google Classroom helps organize the learner automatically for them whether it’s using the calendar mode to view assignments or the to-do list mode to see what has been completed or not completed. In the to-do list, there is also a missing column letting students know exactly what they are missing from all of their classes. Students also are able to see what assignments has to be done right on the main page of Google classroom in the classroom tiles or from the chrome device itself by clicking on the date and seeing right away what assignments are due very soon without even needing to be on the Google Classroom page in chrome.

One big change for this year is asking teachers to report work that students need to complete in Google classroom whether it is a digital assignment or not. This was something really new, especially at the high school level, as a teacher may not necessarily have assigned non-digital work through Google classroom because there wasn’t something to turn in online. As a result, we’ve had conversations with students about how they need to honestly use the “Mark as Done” button when it is something that isn’t physically being turned in. We also took this opportunity to remind students to create files right from the assignment itself if a teacher isn’t pushing an actual template to the students. By encouraging them to create the file right inside the assignment, not only will Google Classroom name the file for them, it will also keep the file organized. On the teacher’s side, this also allows the teacher to see student work right away and not have to wait until the assignment is physically turned in to see how and what the student is doing throughout the writing or creating process.

We’ve also taken the opportunity to send invites to guardians letting them know they have the opportunity to receive Google classroom guardian summaries weekly, or daily. These summaries let the guardian know what their child has or has not been completing as well as upcoming assignments that they have in their classes. Not only is this a great tool,  it’s automatically doing the work for the teacher of communicating to parents, if they want that communication. We took this opportunity to let teachers know what access parents/guardians would have now that parents/guardians can click on a link in the Guardian Summaries email and get ‘view only’ access to the classworks page of the Google Classroom.

In order to make this all work, we had to thoughtfully think about how we were going to educate all parties involved. We’ve had to educate administrators and what things would look like. We’ve given reminders to teachers who utilize Google classroom on a day-to-day basis…things that they should consider or maybe new techniques or approaches to use this year. We’ve reminded students five ways in which they can be notified what tasks or homework assignments they have to complete and determine which approach works best for them and their learning styles. Lastly, we’ve educated the community of what guardian summaries are all about, what they have access to and not have access to, and provided resources on our district tech website to help guide guardians and or students. The Digital Learning Specialist Team has curated resources on our district technology site to help parents/guardians and students. Click HERE to view. On the teacher side, we have provided resources in our in house google classroom that provides many best practices and how to’s with Google Classroom.

We still have a lot of work to do, but I am very proud of the work everyone has accomplished thus far.

And that is my Spiel…

Part 2: GenAI & Coding Interactive Activities (Comparison of Tools)

Last month, I wrote a blog post, “Gen AI & Coding Interactive Activities“. I gave three different examples of things that I was trying with Gemini to code for me. Then it dawned on me this week that Canva Code now allows users to copy html code from a prompt in Canva. When Canva Code first came out, this was not available. Now that it is, users are able to copy the code and then provide the interactive activity on a platform other than Canva, such as Google Sites. (One thing that I do like about Canva Code is the ability to hit the use in a design button and choose between what type of file it should live in, within Canva. You can choose Canva website, presentation, doc or whiteboard. However there are times where I think that being able to copy the code and place it on a different platform can be beneficial).

What I decided to do was to take two of the prompts from the previous blog post, the FDR timeline and the Family Feud activity, and put them into Canva Code. I then copied the code for each of them and embedded the interactive activity on the google site that already had Google Gemini’s version of the activity. You can view the sample timeline HERE and the Family Feud activity HERE.

This can be a great learning opportunity for students and teachers. As long as the prompt is exactly the same (I can’t promise mine is 100% the same but it is really close), it could be a great opportunity for students to learn that not all LLM’s are treated or designed the same. I also think it speaks to how working with one model might be good for one reason, but maybe realize not as good for a different reason. Just some food for thought.

For instance, I like how Canva AI interpreted the timeline in a vertical format, rather than how Gemini built it horizontally. I found it interesting that Canva AI used emojis with its timeline whereas Gemini did not. When you look at the Family Feud activity, they are both designed differently with different colors as well as with the organization of work flow of awarding points. Those are just a couple of examples of how even though the prompts are the same (or almost exactly the same), the LLM interpreted the result differently.

This then connects with the idea of if humans are going to work with genAI, they really need to be able to think critically with the tool. Humans need to be thinking about the output. The thinking needs to go beyond is the information right. Humans need to think about, was this information expected, is it organized correctly, is it telling the right story, etc. Critically thinking is important.

And that is my Spiel…