Formative is proud to partner with Google as a featured Google Classroom Add-on! Classroom Add-ons are available to all Google Workspace for Education users with either the Teaching & Learning Upgrade or Google Workspace for Education Plus**.
**If your school/district is not subscribed to one of the above, please review this article to learn how Formative can sync with Google Classroom without using the Formative for Google Classroom Add-on.
Admins: Installation of Formative Add-on for Google Classroom
Classroom Add-ons are admin-enabled. There are two ways that an admin can set up Add-ons for their districts: 1. Domain install, where admins choose which Add-ons should be available to their domains and set them up individually, or 2. Allowist, where the admin chooses which Add-ons teachers can install themselves.
We recommend using the Domain install method where district Google Workspace for Education admins can set up Add-ons from within the Admin Console, then set up individual Add-ons for their schools.
Teachers: Installation of Formative Add-on in Google Classroom
As mentioned above, Classroom Add-ons must be enabled by an admin to allow teachers access to them from within their accounts.
If your admin used the Domain install method, the Formative Add-on should already be installed on your account. To check, on your Google Classroom go to "Classwork" and create a new assignment.
Within the assignment page, look under "Add-ons". If it is already installed on your account, Formative will show there.
If Formative is not showing under your Add-ons, click the 3 dots and choose "Explore Add-ons". This will launch the Google Workspace Marketplace window, in which you can search and choose Formative.
Note: If you can't install Formative from the Google Workspace Marketplace, please reach out to your admin and request they enable the Add-on in the Admin console.
Connecting your Formative and Google Classroom accounts
To launch Formative Add-on within Google Classroom you must also be logged in to your Formative account.
Don't have a Formative account yet? Please go to app.formative.com/signup and create an account before proceeding!
Forgot to create an account first? No worries! When you attempt to launch the Add-On for the first time, you will be prompted to sign-up for a Formative account right from within the Add-on modal.
Launching the Formative Add-on
To launch the Add-on simply click the Formative icon from the Add-ons list!
The modal's window will open, and the first thing it will do is to check if your Google Classroom is already synced with a Formative class, or not.
Syncing Google Classroom with Formative
For the integration to be successful, a Formative class must be synced with the corresponding Google Classroom.
If you have already manually synced by importing your Google Classroom into Formative on the Formative platform - you are good to go!
If you haven't synced your classes yet, the Add-on will attempt to automatically create a Formative class identical to the Google Classroom roster and sync them. If the Add-on runs into any issues with the automatic sync it will prompt you to go into your Formative account and use the manual import method to complete this step.
This process of checking for a sync will happen with each of your Google Classroom classes every time the Add-on is launched from within them.
NOTE: While the Add-on is capable of identifying whether a sync exists or not, it does not have the ability to detect changes to the actual roster. If changes were made to your roster on Google Classroom for example, if a new student joined your class or a student has left the class, you will need to go into the Formative platform itself to update the roster by re-syncing manually.
Creating Formatives or Choosing From Existing Formatives
Once launched, the Add-on modal will present your list of already created formatives. The default sorting order will present the most recently edited formative first.
Please note, that if you have formatives saved into folders on the Formative platform, they will be presented as stand-alone items within the Add-on modal, as it does not support bundles.
From within this modal, you can scroll or use the search bar to find any previously created formative to assign to your students, or click the "+ Create a new formative" button to build a new formative.
Clicking the "+ Create a new formative" button will open up the "Edit" tab of a new formative right within the Add-on modal, where all the formative creating functions are available to use. You can upload content, record audio, use rubrics, etc. - just like you would on the regular Formative platform!
Once your formative is created, click the "CLOSE" button at the top right corner to go back to your formatives list.
Editing an Existing Formative
You can edit any existing formative from within the Add-on modal:
Locate the formative in your list
Click the 3 dots to the far right of the formative's title
Choose "Edit"
The formative's "Edit" tab will open and you can proceed to make any changes needed. Just like within the Formative platform, changes are saved in real-time and will reflect on the student's assignment even if the formative has already been assigned!
Once you are done editing click the "CLOSE" button at the top right corner to go back to your formatives list.
Previewing a Formative
Have a formative ready to assign and want to make sure the student's experience is as you intended it to be? You can use the "Preview" function!
Locate the formative in you list
Click the 3 dots to the far right of the formative's title
Choose "Preview"
A preview mode will open to show the student's view of the formative. If you respond from within the preview mode, your responses will be recorded as "Teacher Preview" on the "View Responses" tab of the formative.
Click "CLOSE" at the top right corner to exit the preview mode.
Assigning Formatives
To assign the formative to your class:
Locate the formative in your list
Click "Assign" next to the formative's title to launch the "Assign" tab
The class you have launched the modal in should already be check-marked. You can check-mark additional classes (make sure you select the same classes in Google Classroom as well**)
Proceed to adjust any additional settings needed
Click "Assign" at the bottom of the screen (If prompted, verify your Google Classroom login credentials)
The Add-on modal will close automatically (do not close it manually) and the formative will now be attached to the Google Classroom assignment
Proceed to finalize creating the Google Classroom assignment as usual, and post to your classroom's feed.
**NOTE: If you want to assign the same formative to multiple classes simultaneously, you must first check-mark all these classes in Google Classroom PRIOR to assigning in Formative. After the classes are check-marked in Google Classroom, make sure you check-mark the same classes within the "Assign" tab of the formative.
If you've assigned to a class in Formative, but did not assign to the class in Google Classroom, your students will not be able to launch the assignment from within Google Classroom and will only be able to access it by going directly to the Formative website, unless you go back to assign in Google Classroom as well.
Student Access and Submission
When a formative has been assigned using the Formative Add-on, your students will launch and submit the formative from within their Google Classroom assignment.
Students must launch from within Google Classroom for you to be able to view their responses from within Google Classroom as well for grades pass-back to work.
Viewing Student Responses
With the Formative Add-on installed, any formative you assign using it can also be viewed for student responses and results from within Google Classroom.
There are a couple of ways to access and view a formative's responses:
Accessing from a single student's grades portfolio
Navigate to the "Grades" tab of Google Classroom.
Click on any student's name to reveal their portfolio of work
Locate the assignment you wish to view, expand the view of that assignment, and click on the Formative's tile within it (see image below)
The Formative Add-on modal will open to show that student's submission (at this point you can review the student's responses, send feedback, and grade their work)
Accessing from the main grades page
Navigate to the "Grades" tab of Google Classroom.
On the grid, locate the student and the assignment you wish to view
Click the 3 dots within the cell and choose "view submission" (see image below)
The Formative Add-on modal will open to show that student's submission (at this point you can review the student's responses, send feedback, and grade their work)
Viewing class responses
Once you've accessed a student's submission, click the formative's title within the modal and you will be redirected to the full "View Responses" tab, where all Formative functions to view responses in real-time and score them, group responses by standards and sending feedback will be available!
Grade Passback with Formative Add-on for Google Classroom
You can pass-back grades for either individual students OR all students at once, from within the Formative Add-on for Google Classroom!
After your students have submitted their work:
Navigate into your "Grades" tab and click the title of the formative in the grid
On the "Student Work" tab that will open up, click any of the completed student submissions to open it
From within the individual student submission you've clicked into, you have the choice of either clicking "Sync Student Grade" to pass-back the grade for this individual student only OR clicking "Sync All Students" to pass-back the grades for all students in your class at once!
After clicking one of these buttons, please allow a minute or so for the grade passback to be completed, and the grade to populate in the Google Classroom "Grade" field.
If you clicked to sync all students, once you see the grade populated for this submission, it has also been populated for the rest of your students. You can now navigate back to your Grades tab to see them all.
Troubleshooting Grade Passback
🙋🏽♀️ I clicked to open a student's submission, why is it not coming up?
It is most likely because your student did not launch Formative from Google Classroom. In this case you will need to enter your Formative account to view the submission.
Video Tutorial
Here is a short tutorial video: