In this article you will learn how to:
- Add Nearpod Add-On for Google Classroom
- Add a Nearpod Lesson to your Google Classroom
- Support students with accessing and submitting their Nearpod lesson
- Review student progress from a Nearpod report
- Enhance Nearpod Copying for Google Classroom
Google Classroom add-ons is a new feature in Google’s Workspace for Education. Teaching and Learning Upgrade and Education Plus editions.* Classroom add-ons provide custom learning and grading experiences from 15+ EdTech tools to help save teachers and students time.
As a Google for Education Premier Partner, Nearpod’s enhanced add-on integration increases functionality and saves educators’ time by allowing them to assign lessons, review reports, and automatically record grades directly within Google Classroom from any device. Students can access Nearpod lessons within Google Classroom as well. This first-of-its-kind integration for Google Classroom improves the workflow for educators and students alike. The add-on allows educators to:
- View post-session reports in Google Classroom
- Grade Nearpod lessons in Google Classroom
- Access their Nearpod lessons and add as an assignment within Google Classroom
- Assign Live or Student-Paced lessons directly in Google Classroom
- Add important point values, due dates, or optional instructions for their students
- Allow students to join the lesson by clicking on the provided link in Google Classroom, and they will be brought directly to the lesson without needing to enter the standard Nearpod join CODE
- Available for all Nearpod subscription types
- Mobile and desktop support for teachers and students
*The Google Classroom add-on is available for schools and districts that subscribe to Google’s Workspace for Education Teaching and Learning Upgrade or Education Plus editions. Google Classroom admin must enable Nearpod as an Add-On before it is available to be used by teachers and students.
If you are not subscribed to Google’s Workspace for Education Teaching and Learning Upgrade or Education Plus editions find 2 other ways to integrate Nearpod and Google classroom in this article.
Add Nearpod Add-On for Google Classroom
To start adding Nearpod Lessons with the Nearpod Add-On for Google Classroom, your district Google Classroom administrator will need to access their Admin Console and install Nearpod through the Google Workplace Marketplace. For instructions on how to "install an app for users in your organization” please go here. The Nearpod Add-On can be added for everyone in the organization or to groups/organizational units.
*Google calls items in the marketplace apps, not add-ons.
Add a Nearpod Lesson to your Google Classroom
Access the Nearpod Add-On by going to their class and clicking on the “+Create” button. The Nearpod Add-On will be available under “Assignments”, “Quiz Assignment”, “Question”, and “Material”. The Nearpod Add-On is also available in the “Announcement” area under the “Stream” tab.
After signing into Nearpod for the first time, the Nearpod My Lessons area will appear. Select “Live Participation” or “Student-Paced” and click “Add Assignment” in the bottom right corner.
If the teacher needs to search and create a Nearpod lesson, they can click “Go to Nearpod” and Nearpod will open in a new window.
Support students with accessing and submitting their Nearpod lesson
Once the teacher has assigned a Google Classroom assignment, the assignment will appear for students in their account. The assignment will hold the Nearpod lesson along with the Nearpod logo so it’s easily accessible for students. After the Nearpod lesson is clicked, the student will see Nearpod appear within the Google Classroom iframe. This is ideal, because the student is not redirected to a new window or tab. The student gains access to the Nearpod lesson without the need of a Join Code!
Once a student has completed their Nearpod lesson the student should click on the “Turn In” button. This is typically located in the top right corner. This will send a notification to the teacher that a student has turned in their work and the teacher can begin grading.
Reviewing student progress from a Nearpod report
There are several ways for a teacher to access the grading area of Google Classroom. One way is by going to the assignment under the “Classwork” tab and clicking on “View Assignment”. In this view, the teacher can see the assignment plus each student that has or has not turned it in.
Another way to grade is to go to the tab labeled “Grade” and click on the assignment name in the assignment grade book column.
When a student has turned in work that needs to be graded, the column for the assignment and for that student will appear green. If the student has not turned in the assignment the column will be blank. And If a student did not complete the assignment by the due date, in red the word “missing” will appear for that student per assignment column.
Once the teacher has located the assignment and student to grade, a new tab will appear with the grading viewer provided by Google Classroom which will contain the Nearpod Student Session Report. The teacher should review the report and enter the grade into the provided “Grade” field then select “Return” to submit the grade to the class grade book and notify the student of a returned grade from the teacher.
Enhanced Nearpod Copying for Google Classroom
Nearpod supports the Google Classroom copy feature!
- When a Google Classroom copy is created, Nearpod will begin a new session for the newly copied Nearpod lesson.
- Each new session will have a separate Nearpod post session report.
- Example: If you create an assignment within Google Classroom with a Nearpod lesson and select multiple classes for the assignment to be added to, each class will have its own Nearpod post session report for that Nearpod lesson.
- Please note, that the teacher must launch the Nearpod lesson for each copy to generate the session prior to students joining.
How to copy in Google Classroom
There are three areas in Google Classroom that allow a teacher to copy. Google Classroom instructions on how to execute copies can be found below as well.
- Copy an entire class - instructions here
- Add assignment to more than one class creates a copy in each class selected - instructions here
- Re-posting an assignment from a previous class into the current class creates a copy - instructions here
Troubleshooting for copying
- Students are seeing a message that the Teacher needs to launch the lesson first, why is that?
This message will appear when a teacher has not yet launched the Nearpod lesson that was created from a copy. In order to create the Nearpod session for students to join, the teacher should launch the lesson after a teacher creates a copy of a Nearpod lesson in Google Classroom.
- I’m seeing a message that says I don’t have permission to access a lesson when I launch my Nearpod lesson.
This message will appear when a Nearpod lesson is launched by someone outside the school or district subscription with Nearpod.
FAQ
What Google Classroom assignment types are gradable?
By default, Google Classroom assignment types that are gradable are “Assignment”, “Quiz Assignment”, and “Question”.
The “Question” category will not show the Nearpod Student Sessions Report. Question is used for the teacher to ask a question to the students and for the students to discuss and the teacher to grade the discussion. However, this category is a great area for NP lessons to be added and student discussion to be tracked via Google Classroom.
The only assignment type that is not gradable by default is assignment type “Material”.
What will a Teacher see in the Google Classroom grading area if a student has not clicked on “Turn In”?
When a student has not clicked the “Turn In” button in the assignment the Google Classroom grading area will not show the Nearpod Student Session Report. This message will be shown to the teacher.
If the student has actually gone through the Nearpod lesson slides the report will be available on Nearpod.com in the teachers account. However, the best practice would be for the teacher to encourage students to click the Google Classroom “Turn In” button so the teacher can grade in Google Classroom without having to go to Nearpod directly.
What’s the difference between the Google Classroom Chrome Extension and the add-on?
The Google Classroom Chrome Extension is a free extension that works with any version of Google Classroom. This allows teachers to perform all the actions outlined above. Teachers cannot perform grade passback using the Google Classroom Chrome Extension. See additional information in this article.
The Google Classroom add-on is available for schools and districts that subscribe to Google’s Teaching and Learning Upgrade or Education Workspace Plus editions. The add-on allows teachers to perform grade passback, as well as all the other actions outlined above.
If I have access to the Nearpod Add-On, should I remove my Nearpod Google Classroom Extension?
Yes. This will help reduce confusion while working within your Google Classroom Class. If both are enabled, the Chrome Extension and the Add-On will show in your Google Classroom account. Since only the Add-On has grade passback, the teacher would not want to accidentally engage with the Extension which does not have grade passback.
Does Nearpod utilize single sign-on with Google?
Yes, Google schools or districts can utilize single sign-on to access their Nearpod account.
Do I need a specific Nearpod license to use the Google Classroom functionality?
No! The Google Classroom add-on and Google Classroom extension are available for Silver, Gold, Platinum, Premium, and Premium Plus subscriptions.