Fully integrate Google Drive

It would be immensely helpful if Blackbaud could integrate fully with Google Drive. It is very nice to be able to use it for bulletin boards and student submission, but where the teachers REALLY need it is on the assignment end.

  • Hannah Wheeler
  • Sep 23 2020
  • Planned
  • Attach files
  • Guest commented
    14 Sep 18:25

    We are new customer and our faculty wants to effectively integrate Google features into their Blackbaud classrooms. Can a teacher post an individually editable file for the students? In Google Classroom, if we attached a document, we had three options: students can view file, students can edit file, and make a copy for each student. Basically, we are trying to figure out the equivalent of Google Classroom's "make a copy for each student."

  • Lisa Jacob commented
    21 Aug 14:34

    Hi Michael - I saw your update about the Google Drive integration. Should there be a separate option or button under attachments and links for Google Drive when adding an assignment? I only see the one file explorer (drag a file or browse to add) and then the links below -- not the Attach from Web option for Google Drive like I see for Bulletin Boards or Topics.


  • Admin
    Michael Morrissette commented
    20 Aug 20:40

    Hi Folks -

    I'm going to leave this idea open for the time being, as we're not quite done with the Google Drive updates, but I did want to let you know that we pushed out an update in today's release.

    Given you have enabled the Google Drive integration, teachers can now pull documents from their Drive while building assignments. When a document is pulled, it will automatically convert to a PDF and students can download said PDF from their assignment page.

    Eventually we want to allow teachers to share live Google Doc links with students through the integration as well, but we have a couple additional workflows to iron out before that is possible.

    More to come on this in the future and I'll make additional posts as our progress continues!

    -Mike

  • Guest commented
    October 26, 2023 15:05

    Our campus prior to Blackbaud relied heavily on Goggle Classroom and our previous tool integrated fully with the platform. During our sales process with BB, we were told that they are fully integrated with Google Classroom which is untrue.

    Full integration means the whole management of classroom assignments integration including the gradebook and drive. ALL your True competitors offer this, and it will be what makes us continue to consider moving from Blackbaud to one of them.

    Blackbaud would be well served to make the roadmap include in short order full integration.

  • Admin
    Michael Morrissette commented
    August 01, 2023 17:24

    Hey Folks -

    Just wanting to give you an update on this.

    We've been looking into ways for us to add the Google Drive feature when faculty are creating assignments. It's a little trickier than we originally thought, so it won't be ready by the time school begins. However, we are hoping to get this to you sometime in the 23-24 school year.

    Part of this project is us also looking into whether or not we can force students to create a copy of the document teachers attach to their assignments. This would effectively mimic the Templating feature that is otherwise available in Google Assignments.

    More to come on this as we get this closer to implementation, but wanted to provide a quick update to all of you here!

    -Mike

  • Megan Day commented
    February 17, 2023 16:28
  • Mark Siemon commented
    October 03, 2022 15:36

    This could be implemented quite quickly and simply in the same fashion as the student Google Drive integration is currently. The file attachment button should allow the teacher to browse their Google Drive for a file. It should then allow the teacher to choose whether they want to share the document as-is, or offer the "copy" option which would append the URL with /copy at the end so that the students can easily work on their own copy to later be used as their file submission with the already existing integration.

  • Mario Alioto commented
    August 30, 2022 22:25

    This is NEEDED. If you have the option for the student side, there should also be an option for the teacher side. I would love to be able to add any type of Google file (doc, sheet, slide, form, jamboard) much easier then just having it as a "copy" - This would then help ALL students, including those who need help with executive functioning,

  • Guest commented
    August 29, 2022 20:18

    This feature is incredibly helpful to students submitting assignments and teachers working in the bulletin board. It would be equally helpful for teachers to access Google Drive when posting student assignments.

  • Dana Kooistra commented
    July 26, 2022 12:45

    Jumping on this! Would be great to have a way to use live Google docs more effectively. Not useful when they convert to static text like a pdf. Ideally, we would be able to embed them into pages as is possible on PowerSchool and Canvas.

  • Donna Dubinsky commented
    July 19, 2022 16:29

    PLEASE! The ability to have teachers assign documents straight from Google Drive and then have the assignment make a copy for each student and create the assignment folder would be a game changer!


  • Anthony Trumbo commented
    October 07, 2021 17:07

    Would love to be able to have assignment submissions go to a Google Drive folder. This makes it easier for some teachers, particularly in Art, etc. to access yet keep students and teachers in the LMS.

  • Teresa Umberger commented
    July 21, 2021 19:08

    YES! I use Google Classroom every day to post daily objectives and history notes.

  • Kate Jacobson commented
    July 20, 2021 13:22

    Yes, it would be ideal if Google Classroom was fully integrated. Most of the teachers have created documents in Google Docs, so anything that would allow them to share a copy of those handouts and assignments with each student directly would be great. They also use Google Slides, so they might need to post a slideshow presentation as well.

  • Elyse Ashwood commented
    July 19, 2021 18:21

    I use Google Classroom almost exclusively because it does lend itself so well to synchronous teaching (live in the classroom and digitally). I'm having a difficult time transitioning over to Blackbaud, so this would help tremendously!

  • Hannah Wheeler commented
    July 19, 2021 14:27

    Yes, what Oona has mentioned. I have passed this link and email contact on to one of our team lead teachers as they will be better able to articulate their needs! So glad to see movement on this idea.

  • Ben Leddy commented
    July 19, 2021 14:20

    Hi all! We're considering this idea and would like to hear from you. Please reach out to ben.leddy@blackbaud.com if you're up for a quick chat on the topic. Thanks!

  • Oona McKnight commented
    September 30, 2020 20:54

    Yes! Many of our teachers use Google Classroom while teaching remotely, as it is the best way to distribute a Doc to your roster and give everyone their own copy. Currently the teachers put the link to the Classroom assignment in their class Assignment, but it's harder for the students to navigate the two systems. It would be so helpful to have a full integration here.

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