Create a question

This article is for teachers.

As a Classroom teacher, you can post short-answer or multiple-choice questions. After you post a question, you can track the number of students who have responded. You can also draft questions to post later and post a question to individual students.

Create a question

In classes created after April 17, 2019, posts to the Classwork page appear at the top.

When you create a question, you can:

• Post it to one or more classes
• Assign it to one or more students
• Add a mark category
• Change the point value
• Create a multiple-choice question
• Add a due date or time
• Add a topic
• Add attachments

Open the question page

1. Tap Classroom the class.
2. Tap Classwork.
3. Tap Add Question .
4. Enter the question and any instructions.
5. For short-answer questions, students can edit their answer and reply to each other. You can turn these options on or off.
   • Students can edit answer – To allow students to edit their answer after submitting, tap the switch to the on position .

     Note: Students can only edit their answer before you mark it.

   • Students can reply to each other – To allow students to view and comment on classmates' answers after answering the question, tap the switch to the on position .
     To prevent students from seeing each other's answers, tap the switch to the off position .

Note: There is no character limit for short-answer questions.

Post to one or more classes

1. Next to the class name, tap Next .
2. Select any additional classes and tap Done.

   Note: You can't post to individual students across multiple classes. Posts to multiple classes are shared with all of the students in the classes.

Assign to one or more students

By default, a question is posted to all students in the class. You can post a question to individual students. However, you can't post to individual students if more than one class is included. Plus, you can't post to more than 100 individual students at a time.

1. Tap All students and then tap All students to deselect it.
2. To select students, tap the students' names.
3. Tap Done.

   Note: On the Stream page, you'll see the number of students assigned the question. To view the students' names, tap [number] students on the question.

Add a mark category

For organisation, you can add mark categories to questions. With mark categories, you and your students can see the category that a question belongs to, such as Homework or Essays. Teachers also see the categories on the Marks page. 

You can add a category to a question on a mobile device, but you can only create categories on a computer.

1. Next to Mark category, tap No category.
2. Select a category.

For more information, go to Add a mark category to a post.

Change the point value

You can change the point value of a question, or make it unmarked. By default, questions are set at 100 points. 

1. Next to Points, tap the value.
2. Enter a new point value or tap Unmarked.
   Note: For unmarked work, students tap Turn in. If students miss a due date, the work status shows as Missing or Turned in late.  
3. Tap Save.

Create a multiple-choice question

1. Tap Short answer Multiple choice.
2. Tap Option 1 and enter the first answer option.
3. Tap Add option and add more options.
4. (Optional) To delete an option, next to it, tap Remove .

5. By default, when students turn in a question, they see a class summary of answers. To turn off this feature, next to Students can see class summary, tap the switch to the off position .

Add a due date or time

By default, the answer has no due date. To change this:

1. Tap Due date, select a date and tap OK.
2. (Optional) To add a due time, tap Time, enter a time and tap OK.
   Note: Work is marked Missing or Turned in late as soon as the due date or time arrives.

Add a topic

1. Tap No topic.
2. Choose an option:
   • To create a new topic, tap Add topic and enter a topic name.
   • To select a topic in the list, tap it.
3. Tap Save.

Learn more about how to organise your class stream.

Add attachments

You can add Drive files, links, images or photos to your question.

Tap Attach and choose an option:

To attach a Drive item, tap Drive and tap the item.
Note: If you see a message stating that you don't have permission to attach a file, tap Copy. Classroom makes a copy to attach to the question and saves it to the class Drive folder.

To attach a link, tap Link , enter the URL and tap Add.

To attach a file from your device, tap File and select the file.

To attach a photo, tap Pick photo and choose the photo.

To take a photo, tap Use camera. Take the photo and tap Use photo.

To delete an attachment, next to it, tap Remove .

Post, schedule or save a draft question

Note: If you see a message stating that you don't have permission to attach a file, tap Copy. Classroom makes a copy to attach to the question and saves it to the class Drive folder.

• To post the question immediately, tap Post .
• To schedule the question to post at a later date:
  1. Tap More Schedule.
  2. At Schedule for date, tap the date and select a date and time.
  3. Tap Schedule. The question will automatically be posted at the scheduled date and time.

     Note: To schedule the question in another class, schedule it first for one class and then reuse the question in the other class.

• To save the question as a draft, tap More Save changes.
• To see scheduled and draft questions, tap Classwork.

Edit a question

Note: If you post a question to several classes, editing it in one class doesn't change it in any other class.

1. Tap Classroom the class.
2. Tap Classwork. 
3. On the question, swipe left tap Edit .
4. Choose an option:
   • For a posted or scheduled question, make your changes and tap Save or Schedule.
   • For a draft question, make your changes, tap More Save changes.

Add a class comment to the question

1. Tap Classroom the class.
2. At the top, tap Classwork the question.
3. At the top, tap Question.
4. At the bottom, tap Add class comment, enter your comment and tap Post .

Reuse a question

To reuse a question, see Reuse a post.

Delete a question

If you delete a question, all of the marks and comments related to the question are deleted. However, any attachments or files created by you or your students are still available in Google Drive.

Warning! There's no way to undo deleting a question.

1. Tap Classroom the class.
2. Tap Classwork. 
3. On the question, swipe left tap Delete .
4. To confirm, tap Delete again.

Allow students to see or add comments to a question

When you create a question, you can instruct students to leave class comments. In both multiple-choice and short-answer questions, students can read and respond to class comments. Students can also comment privately to teachers.

To learn how to manage student comments, go to Set student permissions to post and comment.

Related articles

• Add a grade category to posts
• Edit or delete a published post
• Mark and return question answers
• Set student permissions to post and comment
• Use a screen reader with Classroom on your computer