Google Classroom - How do you do (sync) yours?

[David44]

How do you have Google Classroom synced to your MIS? I’m not looking for answers like Salamander or School Directory Sync although it would be interesting to hear thoughts on these or any other products that sync with Google Classroom too. I am really interested in what rules you apply (or the product you use applies for you) to the sync. We already run our own custom script to sync from SIMS to Google Classroom but it's the time of year where I start to wonder are we doing it the best way possible. Any thoughts welcome.

 

For example...

If a student is removed from a class in the MIS, do you remove them from the course in Google Classroom? What about teachers?

If a student removes themselves from a course in Google Classroom but is still a member of the class in the MIS, do you add them back in to the course in Google Classroom? What about teachers?

If a teacher has added another teacher or a student to the Google Classroom course who isn't a member of the class in the MIS, do you remove them from the Google Classroom course?

If a course is archived by a teacher in Google Classroom but the class still exists in the MIS, do you unarchive it?

Who is the owner of the courses in Google Classroom? One of the teachers from the MIS or a ‘dummy’ Google user?

If a teacher has renamed the course in Google Classroom, do you name it back based on its name in the MIS?

 

Thanks

David.

[howartp]

How do you have Google Classroom synced to your MIS?

 

For example...

If a student is removed from a class in the MIS, do you remove them from the course in Google Classroom? What about teachers?

Yes to students (via Salamander).

I haven't knowingly come across teachers being removed from a class in SIMS but I suspect that is also synced.

 

If a student removes themselves from a course in Google Classroom but is still a member of the class in the MIS, do you add them back in to the course in Google Classroom? What about teachers?

Yes (via Salamander).

 

If a teacher has added another teacher or a student to the Google Classroom course who isn't a member of the class in the MIS, do you remove them from the Google Classroom course?

Yes (via Salamander).

We have a CSV that Salamander respects for us to add custom staff to a course.

 

If a course is archived by a teacher in Google Classroom but the class still exists in the MIS, do you unarchive it?

I believe so.

 

Who is the owner of the courses in Google Classroom? One of the teachers from the MIS or a ‘dummy’ Google user?

A dummy Google user per year. (2021-Year7, 2021-Year8, 2020-Year11...)

 

If a teacher has renamed the course in Google Classroom, do you name it back based on its name in the MIS?

I believe so.

[paulkerton]

Our MIS is the source of truth. Everything is informed by that. If they're not in the MIS, they get removed overnight from Classroom.

 

If a student is removed from a class in the MIS, do you remove them from the course in Google Classroom? What about teachers?

Yes to both. Source of truth.

If a student removes themselves from a course in Google Classroom but is still a member of the class in the MIS, do you add them back in to the course in Google Classroom? What about teachers?

Yes to both. Source of truth.

If a teacher has added another teacher or a student to the Google Classroom course who isn't a member of the class in the MIS, do you remove them from the Google Classroom course?

Yes. Source of truth. If they're added on our MIS, they're added to the Classroom.

If a course is archived by a teacher in Google Classroom but the class still exists in the MIS, do you unarchive it?

No, but this is rare, and if it does happen it's either a mistake, or another teacher who doesn't use it trying to hide the notifications and doesn't know what they're doing. So it's unarchived.

Who is the owner of the courses in Google Classroom? One of the teachers from the MIS or a ‘dummy’ Google user?

A master account.

If a teacher has renamed the course in Google Classroom, do you name it back based on its name in the MIS?

Yes - Source of truth.

[David44]

Thanks for the replies.

 

A master account.

 

Do you use Salamander syncing to Google Classroom or something else?

 

A dummy Google user per year. (2021-Year7, 2021-Year8, 2020-Year11...)

 

Is this something that Salamander force on you or can it be configured differently so that teachers are the owner of classes?

 

I assume teachers and students then see '2021-Year7' or similar as one of the teachers of the class. Has that caused any problems?

 

You can probably guess from all my questions that we don't do it this way at the moment. We had a teacher leave mid-year who was the owner of a number of Google Classroom courses. Even though these had other teachers too, the fact that the owner left (even though their account was only disabled, not deleted) meant that the other teachers had issues when creating assignments etc. Having master user(s) own the classrooms would solve this but I wonder if it introduces any other issues.

 

Thanks again

David

[howartp]

Thanks for the replies.

 

Is this something that Salamander force on you or can it be configured differently so that teachers are the owner of classes?

 

I assume teachers and students then see '2021-Year7' or similar as one of the teachers of the class. Has that caused any problems?

 

Thanks again

David

 

I've just checked with my colleague who manages this more than I do; yes teachers can see the 2021-Year7 teacher as the owner/teacher of the class. However it's never caused any issues; I don't think anyone has ever asked about it.

 

It is certainly the default way of doing it for Salamander; whether they force us that way or have other options I don't know.

 

Peter