12 Must-Have Google Workspace Add-Ons for Educators

The internet revolutionized methods of teaching and learning. Before, it was all dusty chalk and boring blackboards. Now, there is a cloud solution like Google Workspace for Education. The easy-to-use and secure environment it provides can be further enhanced with Google Workspace for Education add-ons to aid students in their learning journey.

As these add-ons are designed for the Google Workspace environment, compatibility of files and formats would not be an issue. Furthermore, Google requires third-party developers to clearly define the terms under which they offer services, including the privacy policy and deletion policy for each app. 

Here, we explore 12 must-have Google Workspace add-ons designed to simplify tasks, foster creativity, and promote student engagement.

1. Shared Contacts for Gmail

Student and faculty contact database management

This is a contact management app that helps you organize your student contact database. No more time is wasted in asking for the contact details of a student, their parents, or even fellow faculty members. The shared contacts automatically appear in the recipient’s field of any messaging platform chosen- email, SMS, or even other apps like Zoom, WhatsApp, and many more; provided they have the authorization to access it. 

As an additional security measure, the app offers hidden fields. It allows you to show only those you deem vital data for sharing like mobile phone and email address. At the same time, you have the option to hide crucial information like home address, birthday, and even personal notes.

Shared Contacts for Gmail can also serve as an archive for your address book for each semester or school year. Consequently, this Google Workspace for Education add-on lets you store an unlimited number of contacts, hence, there is no need to manage storage space. This makes alumni homecoming easier. 

Google Workspace for Education Add-On, Shared Contacts for Gmail, is a useful contact management tool.

2. Pear Deck for Google Slides

Presentation and participation

Kids frequently express their boredom, leading to a lack of attention or outright disregard for the subject at hand. Pear Deck serves as a valuable tool for teachers to combat student disengagement.

As an extension for Google Slides, Pear Deck offers an extensive collection of templates, enabling educators to present their materials more interactively and collaboratively. This not only enhances the learning experience but also frees up valuable time and effort for teachers, which can be redirected towards more productive tasks.

Pear Deck provides various features that allow educators to transform ordinary presentations into engaging classroom experiences. Additionally, the platform offers free webinars and workshops, providing teachers with the opportunity to fully explore and maximize the benefits of the product.

3. Kami

Annotation tool

The red pen serves its purpose on paper, while Kami is the go-to tool for online documents. Serving as an excellent annotative tool, Kami allows users to highlight, underline, and strikethrough text in PDFs and various document formats. Moreover, it offers the capability to insert text boxes, shapes, and images.

By adopting Kami, the laborious process of printing, manually correcting, scanning, uploading, and sending documents back to students becomes obsolete, resulting in significant savings of time, money, and effort.

Beyond its efficiency in document handling, Kami boasts over 40 tools and features that facilitate real-time collaboration between teachers and students. Being a cloud-based add-on, it automatically saves all changes to Google Drive, ensuring seamless accessibility and continuity.

4. Hypatia

Equations editor

Writing math formulas can be tedious in Google Docs, Forms, and Slides. Hypatia aids math teachers in smoothly creating their lecture material, handouts, and most especially exams. 

The mathematical formulas and annotations written with it are easy to edit. Thus, preparing different sets or altering the values of last year’s exams would be a breeze.

This Google Workspace for Education add-on also offers access to a library of thousands of problems that support high school and university curricula. It also has checking and auto-grading of exams. With these functionalities, you eliminate hours of work grading papers. Thus, it allows you to focus more on your students rather than on administration. 

Google Workspace for Education Add-On that helps teachers aide in writing mathematical equations.

5. Formative

Online assessment tool

Formative empowers teachers with the ability to select pre-made assessments and customize them to suit their requirements. Additionally, educators can create assessments from scratch or upload a PDF or document for this purpose. The platform enables teachers to observe their students’ progress in real-time as they work on assignments.

This Google Classroom add-on offers robust features such as question categorization and submission timestamps, providing teachers with flexibility and reliability in assessing students across various subjects and grade levels. Remarkably, all these features come without any cost.

6. 1SLMS

Learning management system

This is the sole Learning Management System (LMS) designed exclusively for integration with Google Workspace. As such, all content remains securely housed within Google Drive, ensuring users access the most up-to-date information in real time.

Leveraging Google Drive’s native embedding functionality, 1SLMS presents content to learners, while introducing organizational elements like courses, sections, and lessons, along with tools for tracking student progress. This gives you the ability to generate content, assign tasks to students, monitor student advancement, and perform additional administrative functions. 

7. Plagiarismcheck.org

Content similarity detection systems

In the world of ctrl+c then ctrl+v plus a little bit of thesaurus, the originality of essays, book reviews, and even thesis is jeopardized. You may have a clue as a teacher especially when the student’s paper shows inconsistencies from their previous style.

Opportunely, you can choose from one of the many Google Workspace for Education add-ons to prove the plagiarism.

Plaigarismcheck.org add-on has complex algorithms and an extensive database that helps educators detect if the students’ assignments have exact matches or if they just have rearranged sentences. Moreover, it can also identify if the students just did replacements of synonyms and voice changes.  

Google Workspace for Education Add-On that helps check students work for plagiarism.

8. Flubaroo

Quiz checker

Checking and grading schoolwork is monotonous and takes up to 5 hours in a teacher’s workweek. Fortunately, Flubaroo can ease this burden on educators. 

Flubaroo is a free Google Spreadsheet add-on that grades assignments, generates reports, and even sends scores to students almost instantaneously. Furthermore, you can share scores with students via email or Google Drive, along with optional notes to the class and/or to each student.

9. Genially

Interactive learning

Visual aids can be tedious for some teachers yet it is one of the effective ways to increase children’s interest in the subject. In today’s digital era, flipcharts and overhead projection slides are replaced by videos. 

Since 65% of the population are visual learners, Genially engages students through interactive, animated, and gamified teaching materials. Teachers can readily choose a template to customize for the class, and then add it to their Google Classroom assignments. 

10. Diagrams.net

Web-based sketching and diagramming

While Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides do include diagram options, the available versions are quite basic. In scenarios where teachers require numerous diagrams, especially in subjects like programming or chemistry, the limited features of the Google Workspace apps may fall short.

diagrams.net provides teachers with the ability to generate flowcharts and outlines effortlessly. The platform boasts an extensive library of shapes and templates organized into logical categories, offering instructors a readily available resource.

11. Quilgo

Examination timer

A timer on exams compels students to think fast and be more efficient. More importantly, this eliminates the chances that they are engaging in cheating like opening other tabs or asking for help. 

Quilgo offers this timer feature and it integrates seamlessly with Google Forms. You can also opt for camera tracking and screen tracking as an additional measure against cheating when the nature of the examination is highly sensitive. 

12. Mindomo

Mind mapping

As an educator, mind mapping provides a structured way to guide students not only to master a great variety of concepts but also to develop essential learning and thinking skills. Creating a mind map can be used to establish new ideas, gain a fresher understanding of existing information, and accurate planning. 

Mindomo is a mapping tool that easily imports files from your Google Drive. It can also work on your maps even if your internet connection is down, and your changes will be automatically synchronized when the connection is restored. 

Conclusion

Google Workspace for Education add-ons provide incredible value to both educators and students. These add-ons offer additional functionality to the already robust Google Workspace for Education suite, enabling enhanced collaboration,  more personalized learning experiences, and less effort in accomplishing tasks. 

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