Collaboration and Communication using Google+ for Teachers and Students

This tutorial is for the old version of Google+ and will not be updated in the future. If you have shifted to the new version of Google+ pleases access the new tutorial by clicking here.

Google+ is a great resource for online discussions and sharing of resources. Google+ is restricted to people over the age of 13.

Communities are the recommended method to create a managed Google+ online classroom.

Table of Contents

Signing Up for Google+

Creating a Community

Adding People to a Community

Setting up Categories

Posting in Google+

Signing up for Google+ 

(Skip this step if you’ve already signed into Google+ for the first time.)

Students, parents, or staff will need to login to Google+ for first time before they can be invited or use the link to a community.

1. Go to www.google.com and click on  near the top right. Sign in using a school email and password if you are a school staff member or student.

2. The next step is to go to Google+ and make sure the basic account information is set up. Click on Apps Menu near the top right of the screen.
3. Click on Google+ icon
   
4. A “set up your profile screen” will appear. On the first screen check the Name, choose a Gender, and a Birthday (Remember that you need to be 13 to use Google+ if a birth date is entered for someone younger than 13, their Google+ account may be locked.)
   A picture is optional but recommended.
   
5. After completing the profile click  If a popup appears warning about the best experience click .
   
6. The next screen will allow the user to Add people .  It is not necessary to Add people before clicking  and  again followed by clicking .  (It’s ok to be lonely for your professional Google+ account.)
7. Complete or skip the Be awesome information and click . You are ready to roll with Google+.

Learn more

Getting started with Google+

YouTube Playlist - Complete Guide to Google Plus

Connecting with Google+ Presentation

Creating a Community for Your Classroom

1. Open Google+.
2. From the drop-down menu in the upper left corner, select
3. In the upper right corner, click
4. Choose .
5. Click .
6. Select .
7. Name your community.
8. In the drop down choose This will give the owner control of community members and allow the owner more options when adding people to the group.
9. Click If a screen may  pop up with similar communities, click .
10. The final set up screen will allow you to provide some details and add an image to the community. Complete all necessary fields and click .  You can return later and edit all of this information in the community.

Learn more:

Create a Community

Adding people to the community

While there is more than one way to add students, parents, and teachers to a community it is recommended that you share the community link as a shortened URL on a projector,  on a website or through email.  You can also invite people by email, but typically inviting a large number of people via email has some quirks.

There are four different ways to add people to your community. Anyone invited to the community must be signed up for Google+ before any of these options can be used.

Option 1: Share the link to the community via email or on a website. Anyone clicking on the link will need to  . The community owner will approve each request.

Go to the community and copy the full URL from the address box. It should look something like this:

Share this link using a shortened URL on the projector, through email, or posting on a website.

The owner of the community will receive an email if notifications are on when someone asks to join the community. The owner will also receive a Google+ notification  for each request to join.

The owner will  approve new members in the Members page. A link to this page is provided through the notifications and on the homepage of each community.

Option 2: Invite people to the community by adding their Google+ email accounts to the community. This is the fastest method if you have the student emails. (The easiest way to collect student emails is using a Google Form.)

Click on Invite people in the Spread the word box

Add a comment to introduce the community. Click in the To: + Add names, Circles, or email addresses 

You can paste a list of emails, type a name, or type an email. Google+ will recognize all active Google+ accounts. If an account is not active Google+ will not send an invite to that user.

When all emails are added click . Invitees will receive an email with the invite. The invite will also appear in their Google+ notifications .

Option 3: Share this community will create a Google+ post in your public profile. Potential members can search for you and request to join the community through the post.

Option 4: Provide the specific name of the community to potential members. On the community page of Google+ the name can be entered in the search box.  It sometimes helps to have a unique picture to help them recognize the community when they search.

Learn more:

Managing Google+ Communities

Setting up Categories in a Community

You can add categories in Google+ to better organize posts and resources.

1. Open Google+.
2. In the top left corner, click the drop-down menu  > Communities.
3. Click the name of your community.
4. Near the top left corner, click the gear icon  > Edit community.
5. Just above the “About this community” box, click Add category > type your category.

Posting in Google+

1. Open Google+ on a computer.
2. Near the upper left corner, click Share what’s new.
3. Type your text.

• To add a photo, click Photo . You can upload a photo from your computer or choose a picture from your Google+ photos.
• To add a link to a website, click Link  > paste the web address (URL) in the "Attach" box > Add.
• To add a video, click Video   > use the tabs at the top of the screen to pick the video you want to add > click Add video in the lower left corner.
• To add an event, click Event  > create your event > click Invite in the lower left corner. If you want to invite people to an event that already exists, it’s easiest to do that from the event page.

4. In the "To:" box, type who you want to share with. You can add your circles, individual people, or email addresses.
5. In the lower left corner of the box, click Share.

Additional Tutorials:

District 204 Google+ Step by Step Guide (Guide to setup, find communities and post using Google+)

Using Google+ Communities Tutorial (Guide to find, join and post in Google+ Communities for PD)

Google+ for Schools Tutorial (Very extensive guide to everything Google+)

Please contact Steve Wick (@rechargeedu or steve_wick@ipsd.org) to suggest resources, learn more, or with questions.