Google Classroom Mobile

Students can write on their assignments with the new feature on Classroom Mobile

Created by Scott Aten, December 14, 2018

One of the great features of Google Classroom is giving assignments to students to do their work on and then turn back in to the teacher. For the past few years we have been using tools like Kami to allow students to write on top of worksheet type assignments (often PDFs). There is now another option for teachers who like to assign work in this manner. If the students download the Free Google Classroom app on their phones, they can now make edits on top of the assignments. Students will be able to underline words, highlight text, draw shapes and type text. This feature works on Docs, Sheets, Slides, Office Documents, JPGs and Gifs, and PDF documents. Right now this feature is only available on the Mobile App (not on the Chromebooks or desktop computers.

Watch a demo of the tool in action - my demo is on an iPhone, but will work on all phones.

Here is what the teacher would get when I turned in my assignment. This was the actual thing I made in the video.
Practical Uses

Assign any PDF worksheet and the students can complete it on their phones
Since the phone is touch screen, makes doing math problems a possibility
Students can do an illustration with drawing tools
Draw lines and label something
Type short responses on a worksheet
Highlight main ideas on a piece of writing

Write and save notes

On your phone tap Classroom pick the class.
Open the assignment for the file you want to write on.
To open a file, choose an option:
- To open a file that is already attached to the assignment, tap it.
- To open a new file, tap Add attachment, upload the file, then tap it.
To open the note tool, in the top-right corner, tap Edit .
Make any notes or drawings.
To save your notes, choose one:
- On an Android device, click More Save.
- On an iOS device, tap Save.
(Optional) To discard your changes, choose one:
- On an Android device, tap Back Discard.
- On an iOS device, tap Back Discard.

The notes will be saved differently depending on the type of the original document. A Google Doc

will be saved as a PDF.

The tool comes with several options:

Tool	Use it to
Select	Select a note to resize or move it.
Erase	Erase a note.
Write	Write or draw lines with a pen.
Mark	Write or draw lines with a marker.
Highlight	Highlight text or images.
Add text	Add a text note.