In Google's outline of how assignments should flow old paradigms are reinforced. Assignment flow is characterized as: Teacher creates assignment>student completes assignment and turns it in > teacher grades assignment > student reflects and revises assignment.
However, there are, as many others have pointed out, other ways to use Google Classroom to create a variety of opportunities learning that change the paradigm.
Here are some ways to use Google Classroom to change the paradigm.
1. Modify flow with the intermediate step between "turn in" and "mark" where teacher and student conference (still teacher driven);
2. Modify the flow so students receive the assignment, but then make their own or assigned groups to complete the task. One student will need to create the doc/slides/etc, but once that is done it becomes a group effort. Teacher can then provide comments to groups and individual students throughout the learning process. (teacher driven with some student choice);
3. Modify flow so students can choose different assignments to meet the same learning goal (still teacher driven);
4. Modify flow with teacher suggesting learning objective and students suggesting ways of completing task. Then discussing and determining tasks, appropriate ways the students can complete the learning task (teacher and student driven); and
5. Modify flow with students suggesting the learning objective and ways of completing assignment (student driven).
How does Google Classroom allow you to implement these different flows?
First, one of the main features that allows students to have some choice is the student assignment page. Regardless of the method of generating the task (student or teacher driven) it will have to be the teacher who "assigns" the task or tasks within classroom. Once the task is assigned, the students see the assignment, click on the assignment and then they are able to choose different ways to complete the task on their assignment page.
If students click the Add button, they can add any type of file they would like to their assignment. "Add" allows student choice to be very open. As long as the teacher has the app or software that will allow for the viewing and/or editing of the submitted assignment students can choose what software or app to use to complete a task. It should be noted that Google Drive's built in file viewer will allow the viewing of a wide variety of files. The only issue with "Add" is that the teacher and other students will not be able to collaborate in the actual file online.
The Create button allows students to choose what kind of GAFE productivity app they would like to complete the assignment in.
Of course, both the "Add" and "Create" buttons could be used in a more teacher directed manner. The teacher could put an assignment in the classroom that only provides the instructions. For example, the teacher provides the details of the assignment and states "create your own Google slides presentation" to complete the assignment. One thing I like about the create button is that when the student selects the item to create, Classroom automatically names the file with the assignment and student name.
Just as there are many ways to break up traditional works flows in the physical classroom, I am sure there are more in Google Classroom, but hopefully this will give you some ideas to shake things up.
