Learn about classroom organization, management & collaboration

This article is for teachers and admin.

This article provides information on how to organize classes and resources for teachers, and how to control fundamental class settings for Google Workspace administrators.

Control admin email notifications

Google Workspace administrators can allow teachers and students to receive email notifications from Classroom. This includes external emails blocked by the domain of the school or organization.

Notifications include updates about classwork, comments on posts, and invitations to join classes. Teachers and students can set their preferred notification settings.

• To allow Classroom email notifications, in the Google Admin console, complete the steps.
• If teachers and students are in separate domains, to make sure they can email each other, learn how to let users work with trusted external domains.
• Turn on the Gmail and Directory services for students.
• Optional: In the list of allowed domains in the Google Admin console, add: classroom.google.com. This allows Classroom to deliver emails and notifications and lets teachers customize their Classroom email and notification settings.

Tip: Use an allowlist so users only receive emails from Classroom. This excludes emails from other domains.

Organize classes on the homepage

You can reorder classes on the Classroom homepage. The changes you make are automatically updated across all devices and in the navigation list. By default, new and unarchived classes appear first unless you move another class to the first position.

Important: This feature is only available on the computer version of Classroom.

To organize your classes:

1. On your computer, go to classroom.google.com.
2. Sign in with your Google Account.
3. Choose an option:
   • To move a class to a new position: Drag the class to the desired location.
   • To move a class with the menu:
     1. On the class card, click More Move.
     2. Select To beginning or To end.
        • Or, you can choose a specific class in the "After" section to place a class after it.

Related topics include how to archive or delete a class and how to add topics to the Classwork page.

Add materials to the Classwork page

Teachers can post resource materials on the Classwork page. Resources can include a syllabus, classroom rules, or topic-related readings. You can set other posts to be posted later, reordered, and organized by topic.

Randomly select a student

This feature is available only on Android and iOS devices. Teachers can randomly select students for participation in class. You can also skip a student and select them later, or mark them as absent.

To select a student:

1. On your mobile device, tap Classroom Your class People.
2. In the top-right corner, tap Student selector.
3. Ask the displayed student to participate.
4. To select another student, tap Next.
5. Optional: To skip a student, tap Call Later.
6. Optional: To mark a student absent, tap Absent.
7. To reset the list, tap Reset.
8. To confirm, tap Reset again. All students return to "Not Picked."
9. Optional: To restart the process after you select or skip all students, tap Start again.

Tip: To find the status of students, at the top, tap Student selector Not picked, Picked, or Absent.

Manage your Google Drive folder

Work created in Classroom automatically saves to your class Google Drive folder. In this folder, you can create, access, and organize files and subfolders. The class Drive folder is available in both web and mobile versions of Classroom.

Tip: If a student unenrolls, any submitted work remains stored in your class Drive.

Share & preview class templates

This feature is supported by the Education Plus edition. Teachers can share classwork from their classes with other verified teachers in their organization without the need to add them as co-teachers.

• Local curriculum leads can create standardized templates and distribute them so teachers can import classwork in their own classes.
• Teachers can share classes with collaborators. In preview mode, all student information like submissions, grades, and comments are hidden.

To share classwork, you must:

• Have a Google Workspace for Education Plus license assigned to you.
• Be a teacher or co-teacher in the class.

Learn what’s visible and not visible in a shared class

Visible to teachers	Not visible to teachers
Classwork tab	Stream, people, and grades tabs
Classwork items that are assigned to the entire class or individuals	Classwork items that are in "draft" or "scheduled" status
General info about a Classwork item like description, rubric, due dates, posted dates	Primary teacher and section
Most Classwork item attachments and add-ons	Class Calendar, Drive folder, and Meet links
Drive item attachments not assigned with the “students can edit” setting	Student submissions or comments

Share your classwork through a link

1. On your computer, go to classroom.google.com.
2. Click the class you want to share.
3. Click Classwork.
4. At the top right, click Share classwork.
5. If the feature is off, you find a prompt. Turn on Allow teachers to access via link.
6. To copy the link to your clipboard, click Copy.

You can share the link through email, chat, a department website, or a curriculum map. Only verified teachers in your organization can open the link.

Preview the shared Classwork page

1. On your computer, go to classroom.google.com.
2. Click the class you want to share.
3. Click Classwork.
4. At the top right, click Share classwork.
5. If the feature is off, you find a prompt. Turn on Allow teachers to access via link.
6. Click Preview link.
   • The preview opens in a new tab.
7. To return to your class, close the tab.

The preview shows the class as other teachers find it. Draft classwork and comments remain hidden. You can’t export items from your own class while in preview mode.

Allow class visits by education leaders & staff

To support teachers and students, designated users may temporarily visit a class. These include school counselors, curriculum leaders, IT admins, administrative assistants, coaches, and mentors.

For instance, they may review a student’s Classwork page for a guardian conversation or assign a substitute teacher. Google Workspace admins control who can visit a class in the Admin Console.

When education leaders and support staff visit a class, they have the same access as co-teachers. They can:

• Perform co-teacher tasks.
• Check the teacher and student names, photos, and email addresses.

When education leaders or support staff visit a class, the primary teacher receives an email notification. If you don’t receive a notification, check if you’re the primary teacher.

If you want someone to visit your class but they can’t access it, ask them to troubleshoot their access and contact their Workspace admin.