Google Classroom has become one of the most preferred online platform for schools even as parents raise concerns on the safety and effectiveness of eLearning amid the Covid-19 pandemic.
According to Google Cloud Lead Oscar Limoke, Google Classroom is safe for both learners and the teachers as it allows a mutual interaction with the targeted group only.
Mr. Limoke said the teachers can lock their classrooms to prevent other people from access it.
For teachers to use a Google Classroom, they create a class and include the emails of all their students.
The students are given a classroom code if not invited via email.
Currently, Google Classroom has attracted over 100 million users.
Mr. Limoke said Google class security is far much safer for both learners and teachers.
A teacher creates assignments and sends it to the students, the students work on it and submit it back to the teacher. The teacher then grades the assignment and submits results.
“Students log in and see their results and can also revise the assignment, “he said.
The classroom allows teachers to add guardians who can also monitor what their children are learning.
Google Classroom is a free web service that helps teachers to create and grade learner’s assignments.
The teachers are also able to prepare a workbook and upload it for students to access.
The teachers and learners do not need to download an app to create the classroom.
“A teacher only needs to get email addresses for each learner, go to the Google browser and create a class then send assignments to the learners,” he said.
The classrooms also allow learners to use Google Drive for files, Google Docs for writing, and Google Meet for video conferencing.
They are also able to access Google Calendar to track deadlines, Google Keep for notes, Google Slides for presentations, Google Sheets for spreadsheets, and Jamboard for drawing.
In March, Google announced that advanced conferencing capacity meetings with up to 250 participants.
After schools were closed in the country due to coronavirus Pandemic, many institutions shifted to eLearning to keep the learners engaged.
However, the use of online apps has been termed as ineffective and insecure causing some schools to suspend their virtual classrooms.
A week ago, Braeburn School suspended the use of Zoom classes after a security breach occurred while learning was progressing.
The school said they found out that strangers joined their sessions and portrayed inappropriate and obscene content.
Parents have also complained that the learning is infective for learners and have raised security concerns.
For Zoom, which many schools are using, the app has introduced new features where teachers can lock classrooms when all students have joined to block other people from joining.
The app also allows for a virtual waiting room that lets people who want to join to be held in a virtual waiting room before they are allowed into the class meeting.
The screen sharing has also been limited to stop the learners from sharing any information so that only a teacher can share.
Various schools, especially private schools, have been engaging learners in digital classes.
But even as the schools continue with the digital classes, some parents have termed them as expensive and tedious.
Parents at Visa Oshwal Academy have written to the institution protesting high fees.
The parents have complained that their children are subjected to an intensive and tiresome learning schedule that is making their children to be fatigued.
In a letter to the Oshwal Education Relief Board, the Oshwal parents said the eLearning program is costly.
“The equipment which comprises laptops or desktop computers, printers, and reliable Wi-Fi connection to ensure minimal interruption do not come at a throw-away cost,” read the letter.
Several other parents in private schools, Sabis International School and Rusinga School, have written to the schools protesting the high charges of online courses being offered by their children’s institutions.
Education Cabinet Secretary George Magoha has extended the closure of school until June 4.