Google seems to always be working on changes to the products that teachers and students use most. One of those products is Google Classroom. Two important changes are happening to Classroom this fall. First, the old version of Google Classroom is going away. Second, a new rubrics feature is being added to some Google Classrooms.

Old Google Classroom Version Going Away on September 4th
Last fall Google rolled-out the Classwork page for new Google Classrooms. Older, existing Google Classrooms didn’t see the Classwork page. It has been a year and now Google has decided that on September 4th all Classrooms that don’t have the Classwork page will be migrated into the new format with a Classwork page. What’s important to note about this is that existing content in the “class settings” page will not be automatically moved into a Classwork page. That content will be saved in your Google Drive and you can manually add it to a Classwork page. More details can be read here.

Rubrics in Google Classroom!
Earlier this summer Google opened applications for schools using G Suite for Education to participate in a beta test of a rubrics feature. The rubrics feature lets you create rubrics for each assignment that you give to student via Google Classroom and then use that rubric for scoring the assignments in your Classroom gradebook.

Schools that applied to participate in the beta program are now starting to see the rubrics feature appear in Google Classroom. You can check if your school has access to the rubrics feature by either sending your IT person a pesky email or by creating an assignment in any of your existing Google Classrooms. When you make the assignment you will see a “create rubric” link next to the date and topic field. If you don’t see a “create rubric” link, your school doesn’t have access to the rubrics feature, yet.

On a related note, in September I’m launching a new self-paced course featuring practical and engaging ways to use G Suite for Education in your classroom. Learn more here.