Add-ons for Google Classroom are (finally) available

Starting today, add-ons for Google Classroom are available for education customers using the “teaching and learning” and “education plus” editions of Google Workspace for Education. Add-ons have been a popular component of Google Docs, Slides, Forms, and Gmail for many years and it makes sense to add these third-party integrations to a popular learning platform like Google Classroom.

For teachers, the benefit of this new classroom feature is the ability to browse and assign learning content from popular edtech tools without the hassle of setting up student accounts or sending students to an external application. For anyone who has taught elementary age students, remembering usernames and password is no small task!

Add-ons for Google Classroom is the most recent product lunch targeting education users, following practice sets for Google Classroom and the Screencast app for Chromebooks. This initial launch includes support for 18 popular edtech applications:

• Kahoot (learning game)
• CK-12 (curriculum)
• Edpuzzle (video assessments)
• Nearpod (interactive presentations
• Peardeck (interactive presentations)
• Google Arts & Culture (virtual museum)
• Adobe Express (Creative tools)
• Sora (digital library)
• Google Play books (digital library)
• WeVideo (video editor)
• Formative (assessment)
• Genially (learning activities)
• SAFARI Montage (video lecture)
• Wordwall (learning activities)
• BookWidgets (learning activities)
• PBS LearningMedia (educational video)

Additional applications are expected, however add-ons are currently in a “closed early access program” for selected partners only. Hopefully this restriction will loosen in time, paving the way for a wide array of learning applications.

Some setup required

Before you get too excited about using add-ons this coming school year, there are a few things you need to check. First, access to add-ons is restricted to education customers who have upgraded to either the “teaching and learning” or “education plus” edition of Google Workspace for Education.

The upgrade requirement will certainly come as a disappointment for some users, but this seems to be the trend as Google is working to make its premium offering more enticing to school districts by adding additional storage space, enhanced administrative controls, and advanced instructional tools.

Not sure which edition you are using? Here’s a Google Workspace for education feature comparison that might help!

If your school has upgraded you will still need to ask your IT administrator to approve the add-ons you are interested in using. This is a simple process that requires just a few clicks inside the Google Admin console. Google has put a lot of time and energy into this new feature. Hopefully it will be well received by teachers and students returning to the classroom this fall.