[ARCHIVED] Integrating Google Classroom assignments into Canvas

[mjdeister]

Has anyone successfully integrated Google Classroom assignments into Canvas?  I use both but would like to simplify my life.

[rhogue]

This is just my opinion but after moving to Canvas we stopped having students submit to Google almost entirely. We still post Drive documents for students to make a copy and then submit those to Canvas. We still have them share items (in Drive) occasionally for accountability but rely on submissions to Canvas so Speed Grader can be used. I have never actually used Google Classroom for submissions but I would imagine scoring and comments would work nearly the same in Classroom as in a shared Drive document folder. Some advantages for using Canvas are making comments in various ways, grades move directly to the Canvas grade grid, and you can scroll through the submissions seamlessly. Sorry if this is not exactly what you were looking for. To simply my life I have just moved entirely to Canvas for submissions. I still have students use the Drive documents as we are on Chromebooks and that works very well as opposed to having students use Word or other file extensions for submission.

[mjdeister]

I have used Canvas for several years, but the issue I have had with using Google Docs with Canvas is that the students "forget" to share the documents with me.  With Google Classroom they cannnot "forget".  I do agree that it is easier to grade assignments in Canvas, that is why I want to "merge" the two.

[clong]

Hi Myra,

As Google Classroom doesn't support LTI integrations and there is no official integration that has been developed between Canvas & Google Classroom I think this question would be better categorized as a discussion for users to share how they are using these two systems in conjunction with each other. For that reason, I am going to reclassify this as a discussion rather than question post which is designed to elicit a single correct answer

[clong]

One tip that many people don't know about is you can change the URL on a Google doc so that it will automatically prompt users to make a copy of it. This is a great way for teachers to post links in Canvas to Google Docs that they want their students to use as a starting point or template.

To do this you would share the original doc so it can be viewed by all your students (or anyone with link)

Copy the share URL (example below)

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1dsaIvXceVxi6ESDTltFzpfIdrHBdn0L24TEyR3ULDoU/edit?usp=sharing​

Then you go to Canvas and post the link there but when you do you will change it by deleting the end of the URL and adding copy to it (example below)

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1dsaIvXceVxi6ESDTltFzpfIdrHBdn0L24TEyR3ULDoU/copy​​

This little trick goes a long way! It is true that students do forget to share their docs, but this is just a habit we need to develop in them. After the first couple of assignments students get pretty good at this and I find it's really no different than someone who sends you an email and forgets the attachment. It happens, yes but it is easy to distinguish legitimacy. To remind students to do this, I always add a little reminder for them in the assignment description (example below)

"Before you submit the URL for your assignment remember to share your Google Doc so anyone with link can comment."

The one feature in Classroom which can not be duplicated using Canvas, is that when a student turns in a document in Classroom, Classroom automatically takes away the student's editing rights so they can not make any changes until the teacher releases the grade. To get around this with an all Canvas solution, you could have students share the document with you and add you as an editor. This would allow you to see the document's revision history so you would be able to see when they made changes and what those change were, but it wouldn't stop them from editing it. If that is something you have to have then the best you can do is make the assignment in Google Classroom then just post a link to it in Canvas and instruct students that they will turn this in in Classroom.

[mjoaquin]

Chris Long wrote:

The one feature in Classroom which can not be duplicated using Canvas, is that when a student turns in a document in Classroom, Classroom automatically takes away the student's editing rights so they can not make any changes until the teacher releases the grade. To get around this with an all Canvas solution, you could have students share the document with you and add you as an editor. This would allow you to see the document's revision history so you would be able to see when they made changes and what those change were, but it wouldn't stop them from editing it. If that is something you have to have then the best you can do is make the assignment in Google Classroom then just post a link to it in Canvas and instruct students that they will turn this in in Classroom.

Is there any chance Canvas is looking into a feature that would mimic this? Going back and checking revision history for 185 essays is a huge time commitment to ask of teachers. I know that I have teachers that would love to see a similar feature in Canvas.

[mkraft]

You can have your students submit their Google Doc to Canvas when they are finished.

How do I upload a file from Google Drive as an Assignment submission in Canvas? | Canvas Student Gui...

The Student Guide states:

• When Google Drive files (docs, sheets, and slides) are uploaded as a submission, the files convert to their Microsoft counterpart file types and appear in the submission as respective Word, Excel, or PowerPoint files. This conversion essentially preserves the submission in its current state; any changes made to the file in Google Drive will not be updated in the submission.

I plan to use the URL trick posted above and have my students submit their finished Google Docs to Canvas in order to simplify my life next year! Google Classrooms is great, if that's your only option, but I like Canvas much better.

[megscott]

The problem with the conversion, though, is that formatting can be lost. If a student has created a resume, for instance, the formatting, which is an important part of the document, won't look the same in the Microsoft counterpart file.