Google Classroom is hoping the new year will be the best one yet for teachers and students

Your grade school teachers may have told you to put away your smartphones and stow your laptops in class, but in 2017? In 2017, the classroom is embracing technology like never before. And now that Google Classroom has rolled out a number of updates to better the experience for students, teachers, and administrators, this trend looks to be continuing its upward trajectory.

First and foremost, Google Classroom has introduced a new feature that allows for “individualized work for differentiated learning.” As of this week, Classroom will allow teachers to assign work to individual students that reflects their individual needs. That means that assignments or questions can be posed to specific students rather than the entire class. This not only helps teachers give their students more specialized attention, but can also give students extra practice in certain subjects in a discreet manner.

Classroom has also updated its notification system for teachers with two new alert categories — one for when students submit work late, and one for when students re-submit assignments. Of course, educators can continue using other notifications, including updates, comments, and more.

As for administrators, Classroom has a few updates to make tracking metrics easier than ever. Now, Classroom data can be found in the Admin Console Reports, which allows administrators to examine overall Classroom usage. This, Google hopes, will give principals, counselors, and other administrators the information they need to best support their educators and those being educated.

And last but not least, Google has also added new capabilities to the Classroom API to make it easier for developers to create Classroom integrations. Already, Google claims that “hundreds” of educational applications have been used in tandem with Classroom, and this number will only grow as the API becomes more advanced.

Google concluded, “With all these new features, we hope that students, teachers, administrators, and developers will have a happy and productive return to school and work in the new year.”