Doctopus & Google Classroom

I've posted (and done workshops) before about Doctopus.  I'm sharing again because more and more
teachers are now using it.  I also want to clear up any confusion about Doctpus vs. Google Classroom.

So, first of all, what is Doctopus exactly?  It's an add-on to Google Sheets that essentially allows a teacher to create documents from templates that are individualized for each student in a class, then (optionally) put the docs into folders in Google Drive that are shared between each student and the teacher.  It automates (and saves the hassle of) each student individually making a copy of a file, renaming it, then sharing it back with the teacher.

What's Google Classroom?  It's a tool developed by Google that is designed for teacher to post messages to their classes and to manage assignments.  It actually integrates with Doctopus. I would recommend using Doctopus on its own for now.  As Google Classroom develops more features, it may be worth looking into later.

I decided to make a screencast about setting up and using Doctopus (click the upper right to expand it).  It's longer than my usual, but I cover both initial setup and regular use.  One thing I left out of the video is that once you set up a roster for a class, you can just recall that roster in the future (so the first 4:25 of the video you only have to do once per class).

Please let me know if you'd like to get started and I'd be happy to help.  I can also direct you to colleagues who are currently using the tool.