Teaching Remotely: Analyzing the Instructional Use of Google Classroom

Abstract

Through an ethnographic study and analysis of Google Classroom, this project explores how teachers utilized software tools in a remote environment during the Covid 19 Pandemic. Specifically, by interviewing 4-grade school teachers in rural and city locations in the upstate New York area, to understand the advantages and disadvantages of Google Classroom as a platform for online instructing. Furthermore, to examine key features of the tool, such as information structure and navigation, that made online instruction accessible when virtually teaching in a remote setting. The names of the interviewees will be anonymized to the reader for personal confidentially. The questions that were asked were both by questionnaire and in-person interviews. They were specifically formed to relate to the use of Google Classroom and focus on the assets of the collaborative tool that were utilized to do their job.