Share documents using Google Classroom

Blended and online learning just got easier!  Problem-Attic now gives you multiple ways to share a document with students: directly from Problem-Attic, by pasting a link in a learning management system, and by sending it to a Google Classroom stream.

You’ll see one of the sharing options when you click Make PDF. This is a superfast way to deliver a document electronically, and it’s totally free. There are related options for online tests and quizzes on the Export tab.  They’re available to school subscribers, but anyone can try them in the Play Area.

PDF Documents

The conventional way to deliver a PDF document to students (if you want to go paperless) is to download the file and attach it to an email, or re-upload it to a teacher website, Google Drive, DropBox, etc.  Downloading is no longer necessary, as Problem-Attic can host the file, and you can make it available to students just by sending them a link or clicking Google’s Share to Classroom button.

Here are the steps to follow:

1. Create or open a document in Problem-Attic.  Select any questions you like, and click the Arrange and Format tabs to move questions around, change page layout, etc.

2. When ready, click Make PDF to preview your document.

3. If you’re happy with the appearance of your document, you can click the Share with Students button, as shown here:

   

4. If you click Share with Students, the PDF is saved “in the cloud”, and you’re given a link to it.  You can copy the link and paste it in an email to your students, or add it to an assignment page in your learning management system (LMS).  Another option is to click and the link will be sent to Google Classroom.  See below for more instructions.

   

Online Tests and Worksheets

If you use the free part of Problem-Attic, you may not know that the program can deliver questions to student devices:  laptops, Chromebooks, tablets and smartphones.  We call this an “online test or worksheet”.  Problem-Attic has various options for scoring the questions.  Also, it can show results to students, which is great for self-paced learning or flipping your classroom.

Online tests and worksheets are always hosted by Problem-Attic, and links can be easily posted on a teacher’s website or shared through Google Classroom.  Here are the steps:

1. Create or open a document as usual. 

2. Click Make PDF if you want to download the document.  The reason might be to proofread the questions or get an answer key.

3. When you’re ready, click the Export tab.

   

4. On the Export tab, you’ll see various links and download buttons.  The slideshow option is explained in Problem-Attic’s online help.  The option called “Quiz for LMS” is explained here.  The Google Quiz button is new.  You can get step-by-step instructions here, or watch this video.

5. If you want to deliver questions straight to student devices, the fastest way is to use the option called “Online test or worksheet”.  Select “Interactive” if you would like students to submit their answers. For layout, choose one problem per page or continuous document.  Then click the link to preview the online test or worksheet.

6. To make the link available to students, you have several options.  You can copy the link and paste it in an email, or add it to a teacher website.  Or, you can click and the link will be sent to Google Classroom.  See below for more instructions.

   Important: if you deliver the online test or worksheet through Google Classroom, scoring will still be done by Problem-Attic, and you’ll see the student results on the Score tab.  Use the Google Quiz button if you want to create an actual Quiz Form that is scored by Google.

Share to Classroom button

The Share to Classroom button works the same in Problem-Attic as in other web apps.  After clicking it, you’ll be presented with Google’s own share pages.  Follow these steps:

1. Sign in to your G Suite for Education account, if you haven’t done so already.

2. Click the Choose class button, then select the class you want to share to.

3. When prompted for an action, you’ll normally want to choose “Create an assignment”.

4. Add some brief instructions, click Post, and the link will go into your class stream.

To learn more about the Share to Classroom button, please see Google’s education support pages or click here.

Notes about Sharing

• The options described above are for delivering documents to your students only, in accordance with Problem-Attic’s Terms of Service.  To share with other teachers, use public document links, which are described here.

• If you share a PDF with your students, you may want the answer key turned off.  That is done on the Format tab.  You should make the change before clicking the Share with Students button.

• A shared link is not dynamic.  If you modify a document after sharing it, students will not automatically see the changes.  Instead, return to the Make PDF tab and click the Share with Students button, or click the Export tab.  That will refresh a link to an online test or worksheet.  It is not necessary to share again through Google Classroom, but you may want to announce the changes to your students.

• It is sometimes necessary for Problem-Attic to clean up documents that have been shared and not accessed for a long period of time, or which are otherwise expired.  If students report that a link is no longer valid, then you should “refresh” the link by going to the Make PDF tab and clicking Share with Students, or by clicking the Export tab.  Links don’t change when you do this; only what they point to gets refreshed.

We hope you like the new sharing features in Problem-Attic.  If you have comments or suggestions, please email us at support@problem-attic.com.