Google Classroom gives its users the ability to archive classes they are no longer in use of. Users are able to view their archived classes and can choose to delete their classes as well. Archived classes can be restored by an administrator.
To archive a class in Google Classroom the user must log in with your Google account or school email. On the class card there is an option to select more. Under the “more” menu, there will be an option to archive the class.
Students may request that the class be unarchived which is simple to do. Archiving a class just removes it from the Classroom homepage but the course material is still accessible on Google Drive. Archiving the class does not delete it and users do have the option to delete or restore a class if they’d like.
Who Can Archive A Class?
Only teachers and administrators are able to archive or delete classes. This can be done by selecting “more” on the class card and choosing to archive the card. Students can request for their teachers to archive or restore a class that they may need to upload new work onto.
Classes can be archived on either the Google Classroom mobile app or on desktop browsers. They can stay in the archives for as long as teachers wish to keep them there.
IT administrators and school administrators are able to archive and restore classes as necessary as well. Classrooms can also be deleted when it is no longer necessary to hold onto them, although it is recommended that archived classes are kept in case students still require access to them.
Once the students who have completed the course are finished with the institution then the classes can be permanently deleted to avoid a backlog in the system of completed classes. This allows for more relevant content to be uploaded as course material is updated.
Why Should You Archive Your Classes?
Once a class has been completed it can take up space on your homepage. This creates a messy interface and is unappealing for students to log onto. Leaving classes up can overwhelm students and create a disorganized environment.
It further makes it complicated for students to quickly find the classes and information they are looking for. Completed classes will clutter the homepage and can cause confusion. As new and updated course content is uploaded for a class it is best to remove outdated information.
This function allows teachers to move onto new course work while still preserving the old course work and avoiding confusion. It creates a neat layout for students to access their relevant work and receive communication and assignments from their teachers.
It is vital that the content remains relevant and correct.
Archiving the class stores it in a separate area which preserves students works, posts and communications as well as the course content. Archived classes can still be viewed in the Google Calendar unless students and teachers unsubscribe from this.
Students aren’t able to unenroll from archived classes, which does limit student capacity to control the classes they are enrolled in. No changes can be made to archived classes which ensures that the content remains intact.
What Happens To The Course Content?
When a class is archived, the course content is saved in the Google Drive. This preserves any information that students may still require access to. Archived classes still contain the course work, students uploaded work, uploaded assignments and the course schedule within the Google Calendar.
Course content is only removed when a class is deleted but even then, anything that has been saved within students and teachers personal Google Drive is preserved. This content will be kept within the Classroom Google Drive folder.
Where Do I Find My Archived Classes?
Students are able to still access their archived classes. On the Google Classroom menu, there is an option to enter into the archived classrooms. It is just moved to a separate section where it is still accessible and stores the relevant course content.
Teachers and instructors can similarly access their archived classes in the archive section, but they have the ability to delete and restore the class. Students are unable to make changes to the class but can view all the posts, assignments, students uploaded work and communications.
How Do I Unarchive A Class?
Only teachers and administrators can restore a class that has been archived. In order to do this an administrator must access their archived class list and can choose to restore the class under the class cards “more” option.
Restoring a class places, it back onto the homepage where it is accessible to students and teachers. It can be deleted or archived again once it is no longer necessary to be regularly accessed.
Students may request a class to be unarchived if they need to review the content within it or submit new work as students are unable to make changes to an archived class.
The Pros and Cons Of Archiving A Class?
When a class is archived, it still preserves the course content and all uploaded work within the course, and this information is still accessible on the Google Drive. This keeps the homepage organized while still allowing students and teachers to access their completed classes.
When a class is archived, it can easily be restored or deleted. Only teachers and administrators are able to archive, restore and delete classes. Archived classes can easily be restored without the loss of any work or content.
Once a class is no longer needed to be held in archives it can be deleted.
However, archiving a class gives students less control over the courses they are enrolled in as they are unable to unenroll from archived classes. The archived class schedule is still linked to the Google Calendar unless students unsubscribe to it.
In Conclusion:
Archiving a class is easy to do and just as simple to restore. Only administrators and teachers are able to archive classes. They are required to be logged into their Google accounts or use their school email addresses to log into their Google Classroom account.
Once administrators are logged in they are able to view their classes on their class homepage. On the class card, select the option “more” to see the menu and select the archive option. This puts the class into a separate section.
Archived classes still store students work, original assignments, communications and course content. This ensures that the classroom homepage is more organized and easily accessible. Leaving classes unarchived can make it difficult for students to easily access their active classes and can lead to confusion.
Even though archived classes are removed from the home page they are still synced to their Google Calendar but can unsubscribe to this to avoid confusion.
It is recommended that classes are kept in the archives until every student has completed their courses and won’t require access to that class again. The class can be deleted when it does not need to be preserved in archives anymore.
Archived classes will remain in archives until the class is restored or deleted. Students have less control over their course work when their classes are archived as they aren’t able to unenroll in archived classes.
Google Classroom allows for classes to easily and simply be archived and stored in a separate section to preserve them. This ensures that the content remains unchanged for both the instructor and the student’s reference.
References:
https://support.google.com/edu/classroom/answer/6149813
https://support.google.com/edu/classroom/answer/6149820?co=GENIE.Platform%3DDesktop&hl=en