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Can I Use Google Activities with my School’s Distance Learning Platform?

Can I use Google Activities with Canvas Office Teams or other online distance learning platforms?

Teaching and learning have become a completely different venture! There are many teachers asking if they can use Google compatible activities on different distance learning platforms. This blog post is a one stop shop for all of the answers to your Google questions. Simply scroll through the bolded headings and look for the platform that your school has chosen to use. Under that heading, I will tell you if your platform can be used with Google Slides™ or Google Forms™ and how to do it. First, read the next paragraph as it is very important.

Just to clarify any confusion before I outline instructions for each platform, it is important for you to know a few things.

  1. Many of these platforms do have an integration ability to your Google Classroom™. You simply need to ask your admin/tech department at your school to set it up.
  2. A Google Classroom™ account is free, but your school has to sign up with a G-Suite for Education account.
  3. If your school says “no” to setting you up a Google Classroom™, you CAN use Google Forms™ with any platform using a personal Gmail account where you’d send a link for your students to respond. A video on how to do this can be found underneath your platform.

Can I use Google Products in Canvas?

The great news is that if your school already has Google Classroom™ accounts, you can talk directly with your administration or technology team and they can integrate Google Classroom™ into your Canvas account. Ask them to choose to integrate Google Assignments/Google Classroom because this will allow you to assign an activity through Canvas but it will have all the same features as a Google Classroom™ assignment would.  If you have a Google Classroom™ account, you can use products with Google Slides™ and Google Forms™. Click here to watch a video on how to integrate Canvas with Google Classroom.

What if my school will not create a Google Classroom Account for me?

There are two different options if you don’t have a Google Classroom™ Account.

Option 1: You can download your Google Slides as a Powerpoint and send it to your students.

This option works if your students have Microsoft Office installed on their home computers or devices. They will also have to know how to save a file to their computer and upload the file back as an attachment to you on their assignment.

  1. Right-click on your Google Slides product and click download.
  2. This will open your Google Slides product into PowerPoint with text boxes and moveable objects included.
  3. Save that Powerpoint to your computer and then attach it as a Powerpoint to your assignment in Canvas.
  4. Your students will then open that up on their home computer, complete the assignment, save it to their computer, and then upload it to their assignment on Canvas.

Option 2: You can easily use the product if it has a Google Forms™ version included.

  1. You can use a Google Forms™ product in Canvas very easily with minimal steps. Simply open your Google Forms™ product in your Google Drive.™  Look at the top right-hand side of the form for the “eye” that says “preview” when you hover your mouse over it. The picture of the eye is in between the artist palate tray and the gear icon on the top right hand side of your screen.
  2. After you click that button you will go to the web address bar and copy the web address at the top. This will be a whole bunch of numbers and letters and should end with /viewform.
  3. Take the link you just copied and paste it into your Canvas assignment for your students to click on and respond.
  4. To see your student’s responses, login to your Google Account.  Open that same form, but this time click the responses tab in the middle of the screen. To find this, look at the top of your form and you should see the words “questions” and “responses”. Click on “responses”. You can see your data and your student’s responses from here. If you click the small green plus sign at the top, it will open your data into an Excel sheet that is easy to read.

Can I use Google Products in Schoology?

The great news is that if your school already has Google Classroom™ accounts, you can talk directly with your administration or technology team and they can integrate Google Classroom™ into your Schoology account. Ask them to choose to integrate Google Assignments/Google Classroom because this will allow you to assign an activity through Schoology with a link that will have all the same features as a Google Classroom™ assignment would. If you have a Google Classroom™ account, you can use products with Google Slides™ and Google Forms™. Click here for a helpful video to show you what the integration will look like between Google Classroom™ and Schoology.

What if my school will not create a Google Classroom Account for me?

There are two different options if you don’t have a Google Classroom™ account.

Option 1: You can download your Google Slides™ as a Powerpoint and send it to your students.

This option works if your students have Microsoft Office installed on their home computers or devices. They will also have to know how to save a file to their computer and upload the file back as an attachment to you on their assignment.

  1. Right-click on your Google Slides™ product and click download.
  2. This will open your Google Slides™ product into PowerPoint with text boxes and moveable objects included.
  3. Save the Powerpoint to your computer and then attach it as a Powerpoint to your assignment in Schoology.
  4. Your students will then open the file on their home computer, complete the assignment, save it to their computer, and then upload it to their assignment on Schoology.

Option 2: You can easily use the product if it has a Google Forms™ version as well.

  1. You can still use a Google Forms™ product in Schoology very easily with minimal steps. Simply open the Google Forms™ product in your Google Drive™. Look at the top right-hand side of the form for the “eye” that says “preview” when you hover your mouse over it. The picture of the eye is in between the artist palate tray and the gear icon on the top right hand side of your screen.
  2. After you click that button, you will go to the web address bar and copy the web address at the top. It will be a whole bunch of numbers and letters and should end with /viewform.
  3. Take the link you just copied and paste it into your Schoology assignment for your students to click on and respond.
  4. To see your student’s responses, login to your Google Account. Open that same form, but this time click the “responses” tab in the middle of the screen. To find this tab, look at the top of your form and you should see the words “questions” and “responses”. Click “responses”. You can see your data and student’s responses from here. If you click the small green plus sign at the top, it will open your data into an excel sheet that is easy to read.

Can I use Google Products in Microsoft Teams?

Unfortunately, Microsoft Teams™ does not integrate with Google Classroom™, but there are two different options you can use a Google Classroom™ account.

Option 1: You can download your Google Slides™ as a Powerpoint and send it to your students.

This option works if your students have Microsoft Office installed on their home computers or devices. They will also have to know how to save a file to their computer and upload the file back as an attachment to you on their assignment.

  1. Right-click on your Google Slides™ product and click download.
  2. This will open your Google Slides™ product into PowerPoint with text boxes and moveable objects included.
  3. Save that Powerpoint to your computer and then attach it as a Powerpoint in Microsoft Teams™.
  4. Your students will open that file, save their own copy on their home computer, complete the assignment, save the completed assignment, and then upload the completed assignment to Microsoft Teams. •Note: Though this sounds like a complex task for students, it can be done.

Option 2: You can easily use the product if it has a Google Forms™ version as well.

  1. You can use a Google Forms™ product in Microsoft Teams very easily and with minimal steps. Simply open your Google Forms™ product in your Google Drive™. Look at the top right-hand side of the form for the “eye” that says “preview” when you hover your mouse over it. The picture of the eye is in between the artist palate tray and the gear icon on the top right hand side of your screen.
  2. After you click that button, you will go to the web address bar and copy the web address at the top. It will be a whole bunch of numbers and letters and should end with /viewform.
  3. Take the link you just copied and paste it into your Microsoft Teams™ for your students to click on and respond.
  4. To see your student’s responses, login to your Google Account™. Open that same form, but this time click the “responses” tab in the middle of the screen. To find this tab, look at the top of your form and you should see the words “questions” and “responses”. Click “responses”. You can see your data and student’s responses from here. If you click the small green plus sign at the top, it will open your data into an excel sheet that is easy to read.

Can I use SeeSaw activities in my Google Classroom?

The basic answer is “yes”! Anyone can use SeeSaw activities with their platform, but SeeSaw is contained on its own platform so you will need to have or create an account in SeeSaw.

Here are the steps to follow in order to use a SeeSaw activity inside your Google Classroom™ account.

  1. Sign up for a free SeeSaw account. When you create your free account, be sure to sign in through your Google account.
  2. Now choose to import Google Classroom™ instead of typing in your class name and grade. BAM! That’s it! You are ready to go.
  3. Now you can use the SeeSaw products you purchased from my store and share them to your Google Classroom™. If you do not know how to share them, read the instructions below.

Here are the steps to share your SeeSaw activity with your students in Google Classroom™.

  1. Follow the steps in the product you purchased to access your own copy of the activity and assign it your students.
  2. Now that you have an activity assigned to your class, click the activities tab. Go to the activity you just assigned and click on the three little dots. Click on “share activity”. Copy and paste the shared link into your Google Classroom Assignment and type the directions that you want students to follow and then assign.
  3. When students click this link from their Google Classroom™, it will take them to SeeSaw and ask them to sign in. They will sign in using Google (same login as their Google Classroom™) and then complete the activity.

What if your school will not create a Google Classroom for you?

The great thing about Seesaw is that you can simply create your own account and input your own students into SeeSaw. Then you can follow steps 1-2 above to share the activity,  except you will not share it to Google Classroom™. You will share it to the platform that your school has chosen. Your students would need to know their usernames and passwords for SeeSaw in order to sign in and complete their assignments.

Is your platform not listed here?

There are many platforms that schools are using to provide distance or virtual learning. I have listed the most common platforms that I’ve received questions about. If your platform is not included here, watch the videos above. They will likely be able to assist you on the platform you are using. Hopefully, these tips and videos help you navigate distance learning more easily.

Looking for ELA or social emotional distance learning activities for your elementary students?

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I am Kirsten Tulsian, an elementary educator with 18 years of experience as a teacher and counselor. My passion lies in empowering students to discover their inherent brilliance through the use of engaging, rigorous, and meaningful activities. I look forward to connecting with you!

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