SIMS to Google Classroom Sync

[Joko]

Afternoon,

 

I have been researching the method of adding all classes from SIMS to GClassroom so all students and teachers are added automatically.

 

I have found few scripts online that involve importing reports to SIMS and running this report through GAM. Is this how you do it?

 

Also, we already have all users, already syncing with AD so i don't need this feature. I just need SIMS to link to the existing users within Classroom.

 

Any tips would be super.

 

Thanks.

[localzuk]

I am writing a Powershell script to do this based on the groups we have in AD - basically, we have a group for every class. My script will take that group - turn its incomprehensible gibberish auto generated name and turn it into a sensible name, check G Suite if the classroom already exists, create it if it doesn't, then check and update membership based on group membership.

 

The only thing we've had to do manually was add the teachers as the group managers in AD "Managed By", and we'll set them as the classroom teachers.

 

Once I've finished something, I'll stick it on Github.

[dhicks]

then check and update membership based on group membership

 

If you're using GAM for this, there's a "sync" feature to sync group memberships with course memberships. You might already know this or not be using GAM, but I was sorting something similar yesterday and found this feature most handy!

[localzuk]

If you're using GAM for this, there's a "sync" feature to sync group memberships with course memberships. You might already know this or not be using GAM, but I was sorting something similar yesterday and found this feature most handy!

Not got to that stage yet! Still sorting through all the group names to determine which ones I actually need to sync (I don't want to create 50 intervention groups, and "talk time" groups, whatever they are).

[David44]

I've also written a Powershell script for this but I am using the PSGSuite Powershell module (https://psgsuite.io/) and as we don't have AD groups for classes I am calling CommandReporter.exe to get the data straight from SIMS. As with so many of these type of things each school is slightly different which is probably why there hasn't been a one size fits all solution offered either commercially or via EduGeek for this. My script makes assumptions that are true of this school but may not be true everywhere.

 

I wonder how people are dealing with archiving classes at the end of the year? Or do you leave that to teachers to do themselves?

[paulkerton]

Why reinvent the wheel?

https://support.google.com/a/answer/7552844?hl=en

[localzuk]

Why reinvent the wheel?

https://support.google.com/a/answer/7552844?hl=en

For me, its because we are syncing 6 schools to it, from 6 SIMS databases. Doing it ourselves is easier - and we can automate it simply.

[mavhc]

I've also written a Powershell script for this but I am using the PSGSuite Powershell module (https://psgsuite.io/) and as we don't have AD groups for classes I am calling CommandReporter.exe to get the data straight from SIMS. As with so many of these type of things each school is slightly different which is probably why there hasn't been a one size fits all solution offered either commercially or via EduGeek for this. My script makes assumptions that are true of this school but may not be true everywhere.

 

I wonder how people are dealing with archiving classes at the end of the year? Or do you leave that to teachers to do themselves?

 

Would be interested in seeing this if you care to publish it

[gh5000]

Why reinvent the wheel?

https://support.google.com/a/answer/7552844?hl=en

I've got the powershell scripts for getting the CSV from sims here

 

https://www.edugeek.net/showthread.php?t=210250

 

Google GSDS export from Sims

[ass17]

We have looked into importing classes from SIMS to google classroom but the biggest drawback long term is that from what I can see is at the end of a school year, the sync will not move each class up a year, therefore hiding/removing/archiving all the work done that year.

 

Kerboodle has a similar issue where you have to manually archive all year 13 students, delete year 13 group, then rename and increment all the remaining year groups and finally adding a new year group 7.

 

If Google did have a way to move classes up a year, then for me, we would ditch our current VLE for Google Classroom. £15,000 versus Free, let me think......

[eddyc]

We have looked into importing classes from SIMS to google classroom but the biggest drawback long term is that from what I can see is at the end of a school year, the sync will not move each class up a year, therefore hiding/removing/archiving all the work done that year.

 

Kerboodle has a similar issue where you have to manually archive all year 13 students, delete year 13 group, then rename and increment all the remaining year groups and finally adding a new year group 7.

 

If Google did have a way to move classes up a year, then for me, we would ditch our current VLE for Google Classroom. £15,000 versus Free, let me think......

 

We overcome this by removing all students from the classes every summer (via Salamander) - The teachers stay in to reuse resources & tasks between years and can delete them when they’ve finished with them

[ass17]

We overcome this by removing all students from the classes every summer (via Salamander) - The teachers stay in to reuse resources & tasks between years and can delete them when they’ve finished with them

 

Can tasks and or resources be reshared with new classes? As this is what would be required for year 10/11 and 12/13. Year 7,8 and 9 are not important.

[gh5000]

We have looked into importing classes from SIMS to google classroom but the biggest drawback long term is that from what I can see is at the end of a school year, the sync will not move each class up a year, therefore hiding/removing/archiving all the work done that year.

 

Kerboodle has a similar issue where you have to manually archive all year 13 students, delete year 13 group, then rename and increment all the remaining year groups and finally adding a new year group 7.

 

If Google did have a way to move classes up a year, then for me, we would ditch our current VLE for Google Classroom. £15,000 versus Free, let me think......

You know that you can unarchive a class, or reuse posts/assignments from archived classes.

 

Most solutions mentioned have ways of excluding a classroom from being affected by the sync.

 

Save you're 15,000 and spend some of it on CPD from a Google PD company.

[ass17]

You know that you can unarchive a class, or reuse posts/assignments from archived classes.

 

Most solutions mentioned have ways of excluding a classroom from being affected by the sync.

 

Save you're 15,000 and spend some of it on CPD from a Google PD company.

 

We use Firefly and to be honest development has slowed down over the years allowing GClassroom to overtake it.

[ass17]

Does anyone have a guide that they can share that staff use for ‘year on year’ stuff related to Google Classroom?

[gh5000]

Does anyone have a guide that they can share that staff use for ‘year on year’ stuff related to Google Classroom?

Do you mean how work would be reused?

 

I would recommend either copying last year's archived classroom. All the posts and classwork created "last year" gets recreated but in draft mode so can be assigned at the relevant part of the year.

 

Or blank classroom and reuse posts from the last year classroom.

 

https://shakeuplearning.com/blog/google-classroom-cleanup-tips-for-the-end-of-the-year/

 

https://shakeuplearning.com/blog/how-to-create-a-class-template-in-google-classroom/

[ass17]

Do you mean how work would be reused?

 

I would recommend either copying last year's archived classroom. All the posts and classwork created "last year" gets recreated but in draft mode so can be assigned at the relevant part of the year.

 

Or blank classroom and reuse posts from the last year classroom.

 

https://shakeuplearning.com/blog/google-classroom-cleanup-tips-for-the-end-of-the-year/

 

https://shakeuplearning.com/blog/how-to-create-a-class-template-in-google-classroom/

 

Perfect thanks!!