This is a very informative blog post for teachers using Google Classroom. Here we'll see, how to check which students have accessed assignments in Google Classroom.
Google Classrooms have simplified the process of studying by enabling students to submit their work online by accessing Google Classroom assignments, and teachers can grade their papers easily.
However, a persistent problem that many teachers have faced in this process is understanding the activity of students in their classroom. And the most prominent one is whether a student has accessed the assignment or not.
How can you know if students have accessed or opened a Google classroom assignment or not?
A teacher can track each student’s progress and activities on Google Classroom through his/her dashboard. This dashboard has access to the class rosters and can check students’ progress by assessing the percentage of work completed.
When students share their assignments with the teacher, it gets transferred to this dashboard. An assignment with a checkmark indicates that the lesson has been completed. Furthermore, when students share their assignments with the teacher, those files are marked with a paperclip.
Google Classrooms monitor student activity in the following steps:
1. After logging into their dashboard click on the left Burger menu, and then click on “Classes”.
2. You will see all classes, as you can in below screenshot Geography, Literature, Grade 9), now click on any class name.
3. Now click on the Classwork tab, and then click on any assignment, then click on Turned in.
4. When you will click Turned in, this page will open, here, on the right side, there are two red highlighted boxes, the top one is where teachers can see the score, we will see that at point number 5 in detail. Then below that, you can check if the students have Turned in the assignment or not. On the left side red box, here teacher will assign the score.
Now let's see how to check students' submissions, for that click on the assignment link, in this case, it is the Blank Quiz (Google Forms) link. See the below screenshot. 
5. Here, teachers can see two tabs (Summery, and Individual). In the Summary tab, the teacher can see an overview of students' submissions and also the score. And in the Individual tab, the teacher can see, what exactly each student has submitted, Scores are also available there. Individual tabs can be helpful to analyze a single student's weak area.
Summary Tab
Individual Tab
6. After analyzing the score, go back to the Student Work tab (see screenshot of point number 4). And assign the score to each student in the left side panel.
How to allow student access to Google Classroom Assignments once an assignment has been submitted?
When teachers create an assignment, they can decide on the viewer and select the participants who can interact. Thus, a teacher can share it with the entire class, a particular student, or a group of students by selecting the participants. Furthermore, a teacher can select the activities of a student and allow access.
If the teacher selects the “only view” option, the students can only read the assignment but cannot edit it. But, when a teacher selects the “edit” option, students can view and edit and submit the assignment as per instruction.
Students can access assignments in Google Classroom in the following steps:
1. A student needs to log in to Google Classroom. Then click on any class name.
2. Next, he needs to click on the assignment and view the assignment.
3. After that, they can click on add or create to attach an item to their work.
4. Finally, they can submit the task, and it will be transferred to the teacher’s tray.
These are some of the essential points on how you, as a teacher, can check whether a student has accessed an assignment or not and how to manage it.
It goes without saying that Google Classroom has changed the way modern education works. However, the internet is not always a happy and productive place, as there is enough negativity around to make you disheartened.
Safe Doc
There is a issue that raise with this feature. In a scenario like this, protecting the students is essential from online bullying and hatred. This is where the Safe Doc comes to the rescue. Once installed, this Chrome extension works as a filter and restricts specific online searches, comments and emojis to stop online harassment, which the Google Admin Console doesn’t provide.
Apart from that, Safe Doc prevents disruptive actions of students during an online class. It blocks irrelevant and inappropriate image searches in Sheets, Docs, Jamboard, Drawings, and Sites. You can’t search the dictionary or YouTube videos either. You can easily control and configure the program to suit particular classes. It smoothens the entire way in which schools manage Google Workspace for education.
The aim here is to protect the students from online hatred, and bullying and minimize distractions in the class.
Wrapping it up
The availability of online classroom facilities has been a great advantage during the trying times of the pandemic. It kept students in touch with their studies and progress without losing an academic year. Conversely, the system also has its drawbacks, which makes it a double edge sword. However, in recent times, platforms like Google Classroom have evolved and offer more control to the teacher to keep an eye on his/her student. Also, with the help of specialized software like Safe Doc, teachers can now manage their classes better than ever.
