From one of the Google+ groups I follow, Andrew Stillman's comments on 
Google Classroom vs. gClassFolders/Doctopus (Andrew has been prime 
mover on many of the scripts used by teachers)

A vision for how Google Classroom might work with Add-ons like Doctopus 
and others...

Based on the preview what Google Classroom offers is similar in some 
respects to Doctopus insofar as it creates a folder structure in Drive, 
attends to the workflow around assignment provisioning, and allows a 
teacher to manage class rosters.  These similarities have led some to 
proclaim that it renders tools like Doctopus "obsolete."

Without taking things too personally -- I'll do my best;) -- here's an 
alternate interpretation.

The ownership and document visibility model shown in Google's Classroom 
promo videos is one where the teacher has no visibility or control over 
the student document until the moment the student clicks "Turn in."  
This is a very different model than that of Doctopus, where the teacher 
owns and controls the documents from start to finish, after which they 
return them to students.  These differences leave lots of room for a 
teacher preference for Doctopus, in particular around managing a 
revision process, monitoring progress, and providing formative feedback 
on student writing-in-process.

The assessment mechanism shown in Classroom promo videos is a purely 
numeric score, with an optional comment when the teacher clicks 
"Return."  Good teacher practice involves a matrix-like structure -- 
a.k.a. a rubric - where expectations for student work can be made clear 
via descriptors.  In this sense, Classroom reinforces a weak, lazy, and 
unhelpful assessment model.  If Google can provide developer APIs, 
tools like Goobric might be adapted to attach themselves to assignments 
delivered via Classroom and feed scores back to Classroom.  If not, I 
imagine quite a few teachers will continue to prefer a tool that 
provides them in-browser rubric-grading functionality.

In Google's videos, there appears to be no way of assigning group 
projects.  One of the most promising aspects of using Google Drive with 
students is its collaborative premise.  Doctopus provides a jigsaw 
project mode, where copied document templates are pre-shared with 
student groups.  Classroom appears not to.  Again, lots of room for 
teachers who no doubt will want to have both a day-to-day, easy to use 
LMS like Classroom, but will still venture to Doctopus when it's time 
to do rich project work with students.

Beyond this, Doctopus was built on an open model for developers who 
want to share in the roster framework it offers -- allowing for a rich 
ecosystem of other roster-based helper tools for teachers.  This means 
that tools like autoCrat and others currently in the pipeline will 
allow a Doctopus user to quickly fire up a sheet and run a batch 
process like a progress report or something else.  This open, 
extensible approach speaks to Google's values and is one I expect they 
will increasingly embrace with their own set of APIs for Classroom.

With this in mind, my vision going forward will be to allow for 
integration of rosters so that Doctopus and other Add-ons will be able 
to optionally leverage the same, synchronized, master lists of students 
and folders that are created by teachers in the Classroom product.

Whether this vision bears out is entirely a function of Google's 
ability to deliver the API hooks to allow developers like me to build 
it.  While this is still uncertain, I have absolutely no doubt that it 
is their intention.

So "render obsolete" is a rather zero-sum way of understanding what I 
believe could become a high compatible, interoperable ecosystem of 
Add-ons that extend the base that Classroom provides.

I'm hopeful and very much looking forward to creating this future with 
Google.


On Tuesday, June 17, 2014 10:31:10 AM, Wallis, Jeff wrote:
> I have it - it is pretty basic at this time.  I am sure they will be
> adding more features though...
>
> Jeff Wallis
> Chief Network Engineer
> Chittenden East Supervisory Union
> 802-858-1727
> http://www.cesu.k12.vt.us
>
>
> On Mon, Jun 16, 2014 at 2:43 PM, [log in to unmask]
> <mailto:[log in to unmask]> <[log in to unmask]
> <mailto:[log in to unmask]>> wrote:
>
>     Hi All,
>
>     The Maine list has one person that got a class last week.   Vermont?
>
>     Thanks,
>     Jon
>
>     --
>
>     Technology Educator
>     [log in to unmask] <mailto:[log in to unmask]>
>     The St. Johnsbury Elementary School www.stjsd.org
>     <http://www.stjsd.org/>
>     257 Western Ave - St. Johnsbury, VT 05819
>     802-748-8912 <tel:802-748-8912> Fax: 802-748-1095 <tel:802-748-1095>
>
>     Vermont's Internet Safety Project www.Vtisp.org
>     <http://www.vtisp.org/>
>
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