I HATE GOOGLE CLASSROOM
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By kyvswrtjyjfgefw
In today’s world, technology has revolutionized nearly every aspect of our lives, and education is no exception. One of the most widely used platforms for managing and organizing assignments, communications, and resources for students and teachers is Google Classroom. While the platform is lauded for its ease of use and integration with Google’s suite of productivity tools, it is not without its flaws. As someone who has had extensive experience with the platform, I can say that my relationship with Google Classroom is one of profound frustration. Despite its many promises, there are numerous reasons why I find Google Classroom to be a less-than-ideal tool for educational purposes. In this essay, I will explore the reasons behind my dissatisfaction, focusing on its user interface, lack of organization, its impact on student-teacher communication, and its overwhelming reliance on an internet connection.
A Clunky and Intuitive User Interface
One of the first things that become apparent when using Google Classroom is the user interface (UI), which, while ostensibly simple, often feels overly clunky and unintuitive. The layout is minimalistic to the point of being bare-bones, but not in a good way. For one, the navigation feels disjointed. There are multiple tabs, with assignments, announcements, and class materials scattered across various sections that don’t always link logically to each other. For a platform designed to streamline the educational process, this lack of centralization is frustrating.
The classroom stream often becomes a chaotic mess. As new assignments, announcements, and comments are posted, everything is piled into one long feed that doesn’t allow for easy differentiation between types of posts. If you’re not careful, it becomes a game of "find the assignment," as relevant posts get buried under unrelated announcements or comments. Unlike learning management systems like Moodle or Blackboard, which offer a more coherent structure, Google Classroom’s “stream” often leads to confusion and wasted time.
For students, the problem is exacerbated by the fact that there is no clear way to prioritize certain tasks. For example, a student might receive a notification about an assignment but may not realize that there are also readings or resources hidden elsewhere in the platform. This creates unnecessary anxiety and confusion, especially when deadlines pile up. It’s hard to get a clear picture of one’s academic responsibilities in Google Classroom, and that’s a major flaw in a platform that is supposed to make things easier.
Organization Nightmares
The organization of assignments, resources, and materials within Google Classroom is another significant area where it falls short. Teachers have the ability to post assignments, but beyond that, the system doesn’t provide enough flexibility for categorizing or tagging content. Everything simply falls into the “Classwork” section, leaving students to sift through potentially dozens of posts to find what they need. There’s no way to group assignments by unit, week, or topic in an intuitive way.
While there is a feature for creating topics, it’s not always used consistently, making it even harder for students to navigate the platform. Teachers may post assignments or resources without using the topic feature at all, leading to a cluttered, unorganized mess that’s difficult to parse through. This lack of organizational structure also becomes a headache for students, especially when different classes follow different patterns of posting. The inconsistency between teachers’ approaches to using Google Classroom only increases the cognitive load of students who must adapt to a new set of organizational rules with each new class.
When it comes to long-term assignments or projects, the system is similarly unhelpful. Deadlines and task descriptions can get lost in the sea of classwork posts. The reliance on a linear feed of posts means that materials from earlier in the term can be buried, which is especially troublesome for students looking to refer back to previous lessons or assignments. Other systems, such as OneNote or Evernote, offer much more intuitive ways to organize notes, resources, and assignments, but Google Classroom doesn’t seem to provide any real tools to help students stay organized.
Broken Communication
Communication between students and teachers is one of the cornerstones of any successful educational environment. Google Classroom’s communication tools, unfortunately, often fall short. The platform’s “stream” allows teachers to post announcements and students to comment, but the interface isn’t built for nuanced conversations. Discussion threads often get messy quickly, with multiple students replying to different aspects of the same announcement, creating confusion about which comment pertains to which question.
While there is a private messaging feature between students and teachers, it’s clunky and difficult to navigate. For instance, students can message teachers directly, but the teacher may not see the message immediately or may be inundated with a flood of notifications. This often results in delayed responses, which can frustrate students who need answers quickly. Furthermore, the private messaging feature does not allow for the detailed or collaborative discussions that could be better served through other platforms like Slack or email.
Another frustrating aspect is the lack of real-time communication. Many online learning platforms provide integrated video conferencing, chat functions, or live interaction features. In contrast, Google Classroom relies on third-party tools like Google Meet, which, while integrated into the Google ecosystem, still adds an extra layer of complexity and potential for disruption. This lack of a seamless communication flow can result in more administrative tasks for teachers and more waiting time for students, disrupting the flow of learning.
I HATE THIS DISGUSTING APP I HATE IT!!
