Use CS First with Google Classroom

If you are a Google Classroom user, you can connect your CS first classes with Google Classroom.

Use Google Classroom to:

• Manage your classes and roster

• Create and grade assignments

• Collect student work

Use CS First to:

• Browse for computer science related content

• Deliver lessons through provided videos and lessons

• Track where your students are within a lesson and/or unit.

 

Connect your CS First account with Google Classroom

To connect CS First with your Google Classroom account, first you must connect the two accounts.

1. Sign in to CS First as a teacher. (You must use a Workspace for Education account to sign in to CS First if you want to link your CS First and Classroom accounts.)

2. Navigate to your Profile.

3. Under Google Classroom, click Get Started.

4. Click Connect with Classroom.

Once you've completed steps 1-4, you can create a new CS First class (by clicking on the blue + button), and select which Google Classroom class you would like to connect it to.

Import classes from Google Classroom

1. From your dashboard, click Create class.

2. Choose classes from Google Classroom to import.

3. Click Import.

Important steps to ensure a successful import from Google Classroom to CS First:

1. Ensure you have set up a class in Google Classroom.
2. Ensure you have added students to your class in Google Classroom.
3. Ensure your students have joined the class in Google Classroom (with their Google Workspace for Education student accounts, not personal accounts).
4. Sign in to CS First (with your Google Workspace for Education account).
5. If you haven't already connected your CS First account with Google Classroom, follow the steps to Connect your CS First account with Google Classroom. If you've already connected your two accounts, proceed to Step 6.
6. From your CS First dashboard, click Create class.
7. Select the Google Classroom class you would like to import and click Import.
8. Have your students sign in to CS First (using their Google Workspace for Education accounts) and they will be directed to their dashboard where they can access their class. They do not need a special code or invitation.

Manage students and co-teachers

When you import a class from Google Classroom, all students and co-teachers are automatically added to your CS First class as long as they have accepted your initial invitation to join your Google Classroom class. CS First will provide messaging if your have student or co-teacher accounts that didn't properly sync.

Here are two reasons why a student account from Classroom might not sync with CS First:

1. The student is using a personal gmail account with Classroom. CS First will not work if students are using a personal gmail account. They must use a Google Workspace for Education student account.
2. The student (or co-teacher) never accepted the initial invitation to join your Classroom class. If this is the case, students will not appear in CS First at all. They need to accept their initial invitation to Classroom first.

To make changes to your student roster or to update co-teachers:

Your CS First roster will automatically sync with your Classroom roster every 24 hours. To update your student roster or co-teachers, simply make the changes in Google Classroom.

Manually sync your roster

If you need to sync your roster manually (i.e., in between the automatic 24 hour sync), you can do so by following these steps:

1. Sign in to your CS First dashboard.

2. Click on the class you need to update.

3. Navigate to the People tab (to the right of Units) for that class.

4. Scroll down, and click the Import changes button at the bottom of the page.

Create CS First assignments

1. Sign in to the CS First website.

2. Navigate to the Curriculum page.

3. Click on a lesson that you'd like to assign to your class.

4. Click Add to class.

5. Choose the classes you'd like to assign this lesson to, then click Next.

6. Click Create Google Classroom assignments and add details as needed to the assignment. 

   1. Please Note: you MUST add a due date in order for students to be able to share their CS First projects in the Scratch for CS First editor, and for you to be able to access their projects via Google Classroom. 

7. Then click Assign. 

The lesson will now show up inside Google Classroom as an assignment, and also in your CS First dashboard so that you can track your students’ progress as they watch the videos in the lesson. Students must click the Share to Classroom button in the Scratch for CS First editor in order submit their project for the assignment. 

You can edit the assignment in Google Classroom after you've created it. For more help creating a Google Classroom assignment see instructions here.

Google Classroom and CS First assignments are not linked beyond the ability to share lessons; submitting work through one platform will not automatically sync to the other. In order to access your student’s projects from Google Classroom, students will need to click the Share to Classroom button in the Scratch for CS First editor.  

For more information about using Google Classroom, visit the Google Classroom Help Center.