3 Reasons to Add This Free Google Classroom App to Your Toolbox

If you are looking for a Google Classroom app that will sync seamlessly with Google Classroom, make sure Edulastic is on the list. This Google Classroom app will allow you to easily create and deliver robust assessments and interactive learning activities to your students at the click of a button.

Google Classroom is a popular LMS choice for teachers and students, mainly because of its ability to integrate seamlessly and simply with hundreds of ed tech tools. With Google Classroom, teachers easily import class rosters with a simple code. With just a few clicks of a mouse, all of your assignments, applications, grades, and other learning and classroom management tools are hosted neatly on one page where teachers and students collaborate to enrich engagement and support modern- day communication skills.

Google Classroom accommodates hundreds of  “Google Classroom apps”, which are designed especially for the purpose of seamless integration and sharing resources on the Google Classroom platform. Google Classroom also seamlessly tie together functions within Google for Education and G-Suites (such as Google Calendar, Gmail, Google Drive,  Google Hangouts, Google Docs, Google Sheets, Google slides, and other cutting edge Google ed tech tools that are used regularly in classrooms). All of this is offered with unique domain name, provided by the customer or educational institution.  

Edulastic is a leading ed tech app for all grades and subjects that specializes in standardized test preparation and data driven education tactics. Edulastic is free for teachers and is among the most flexible, standards-based; streamlined Google Classroom apps available for 21st century classrooms.

Whether or not you already use Google Classroom, Edulastic, or both simultaneously, adding Edulastic to your Google Integration “Toolbox”, or the other way around, is a powerful addition to a rigorous and standards based virtual classroom.

Here are 3 reasons to add this Google Classroom app to your blended learning experience…

1.) Seamless Integration with Google Classroom

Teachers all around the country benefit from using Edulastic as a major Google Classroom app and learning tool. 

Integrating Edulastic as a Google Classroom app empowers teachers as they design coursework in all content areas. With Edulastic, teachers can easily create classes and distribute assignments. Students also benefit by regular skills practice on Edulastic through a variety of activities teachers can create within the Edulastic application itself. Most importantly, students easily access and engage with rigorous, digital assessments by simply visiting their Google Classroom page and accessing a URL with instructions, and a due date.

By using Edulastic in the classroom for content creation, teachers and students together become knowledgeable of specific computer functions required of students to engage with Tech Enhanced Items (TEIs) on high-stakes assessments.

Importing and syncing your Google Classroom classes into Edulastic is simple

Like I said, it’s simple. With a click or two, teachers can locate their unique class code from Google Classroom, and import classroom students into Edulastic classes. As this integration only requires one “Class Code”, it saves teachers time, and enables teachers to automatically sync class rosters and therefor add students. From there, teachers can import assessments onto Google Classroom with the click of the assign button and students from classroom can immediately access the assignment without even leaving the Google Classroom page.  This process to quickly create classes and distribute assignments saves time for both teachers and students, and makes it easy to stay organized.

2.) Resource Bank: Standards-Aligned Assessments

Using this free Google Classroom app, teachers can take control of and carefully orchestrate state-test preparation plans, in addition to various other standards-based activities. Using Edulastic is a game-changer because it provides regular and relevant standardized test preparation through access to use of a robust resource bank.

Within the Edulastic Google Classroom app, pre-built and teacher made/shared assessments are stored in a searchable database (resource bank). This database contains questions/materials that cater to all states and sets of learning standards. Teacher users select filters to help them search for relevant, standards-aligned assessments in within Edulastic’s robust database of resources. Most importantly for teachers, Edulastic gives users unlimited access to standards-based assessments.

Although question content and types may vary per state and specific sets of standards, Edulastic accommodates this by offering filters to search for specific assessment materials. The resource bank of assessment materials contains individual questions (over 30 types!) and full-length assessments (including practice tests). These top-of-the-line assessment items come straight from the authors and companies who create state test questions and choose question interaction types that actually have appeared on high-stakes tests. I have personally assigned 4 passages to my ELA class and students that appeared on the actual Ohio ELA AIR (grades 7 and 8) tests. This was eye-opening for teachers and students in my district. But more importantly, this exposure/engagement with materials beforehand seems to have had a positive impact on our overall scores in ELA, especially writing. They all came out of testing screaming “DUST BOWL, DUST BOWL!” This shows us again, teachers and students both can win with Edulastic in the toolbox! 

To illustrate the assessment creation process using Edulastic, pictured below is an example of a test I created for my 8th grade language arts students. As you can see, you can use your own content, borrow from other online sources or build upon the materials in the database/resource bank. Teachers can easily differentiate and personalize curricula with Edulastic. More importantly for students, with Edulastic, students learn new; build upon existing technology skills, word-processing skills, and communication skills by interacting with the app.

Likewise, teachers can “teach” themselves to become competent authors of standards based digital assessments and learning activities!  Check out my blog post, “How to Access Standards-Aligned, Premade, K-12 Assessments in 5 Easy Steps” to learn more on this topic!

3.) Personalized Instruction

Teachers love using Edulastic because it’s flexible and can be used in many different ways. Teachers have the ability to individualize instruction based on learner needs and academic goals which can be easily identified in data reports.

Apart or as a team, Edulastic and Google Classroom both support discreet differentiations, accommodations, and modifications within a single teacher’s curriculum choices. Teachers can easily assign work to a student or a specific group of students. Students of ALL learning needs work side-by-side on similar but individualized assignments, and can still collaborate and discuss content comfortably. Additionally, teachers can collaborate with other faculty, including special education teachers, to inform and guide instructional plans per individual student learning needs teachers can “steal”, modify, emulate, tweak, and ‘build-from scratch’ standards based assessments using cutting-edge ed tech apps like Edulastic.

For more-tech savy teachers, the assessment building process is simple with Edulastic. An example of this process is in the image pictured. For this assessment, I “borrowed” leveled reading content from Newsela, then identified Lexile levels, and finally engaged in some “appsmashing” to create my tests! I started with my baseline assessment, and after publishing, I then created new, modified versions of the same test to accommodate my diverse learner needs. This process simply took me swapping out reading levels of the text I added, and modifying the questions by eliminating one answer choice, etc. This example of personalized instruction within a blended learning environment is a best practice I recommend to any 7-12 ELA teacher! It’s discreet, data-informed, and delivers results students and teachers can be proud of.

With this Google Classroom app, personalizing instruction has never been easier. Learning and eventually mastering the art of building your own assessments with Edulastic also hands power back to the teacher. Teachers can add multimedia or an interactive lesson. This program also allows teachers flexibility in their literature and assessment choices. For more on this, check out my blog “How to Create ELA Passage-Based Assessments that Meet Your Students’ Needs”

Using Edulastic’s Data Reporting Features and Live Dashboard to Personalize Assessments...

The live dashboard shows how students did individually, how the entire class performed on each question, and more. The data collects here in real time as students take the test.

Unlike most free Google Classroom apps, Edulastic automatically creates instant data reports for teachers to share with students and colleagues. Advanced search filters within Edulastic make it possible for teachers to instantaneously review data of any and all assessments, even in real-time!

This awesome feature not only saves teachers time, it allows teachers to individualize instruction through reviewing assessment data, mastery reports, and feedback for each and every class and student. Edulastic’s sophisticated assessment and data reporting feature is top-notch, and is one of the top reasons teachers are signing up for Edulastic.

Google Classroom can provide a lot for your classroom, and the variety of apps that integrate provide a depth of resources to enrich instruction even more. Add Edulastic to your Google Clasroom app list and you’ll be on your way to delivering stronger assessments and better targeted instruction. “Appsmash” it with other Google Classroom apps and you’ll find some fun new blends of tools for teaching and learning. Next time you visit the Google App store, check out Edulastic. Or, even better, sign up for a free account now and start exploring what it can do for you. Have a favorite appsmashing blend? Let us know!