Note: This article refers to the Google Classroom API, which is not the same as Google Workspace for Education.

Roster and Course Information

The Google Classroom API allows developers to pull roster information for a specific class, including its list of educators and students. The API can also retrieve the user profiles in the course roster, which contains information such as the user's name, email address, and profile picture. Furthermore, when the user logs in via single sign-on (SSO), the API can recognize what organization (e.g. school) the user is coming from.

All roster and course data can also be changed, updated, or removed via the API. Developers can perform functions, such as adding a student to a course or creating a new course, through a third-party application that has been integrated with the Google Classroom API.

Assignments, Submissions, and Grades

Assignments, such as quizzes and homework, can be retrieved, created, updated, or deleted using the API. Additionally, the API can be used to create and update submissions for students who received the assignments. When creating an assignment through the API, a value can be set to define the maximum amount of points that can be given to a submission. Likewise, the API can also assign a grade value to the student submission.

Share to Classroom

If you simply want to allow educators an easy method of linking to a product’s content, Google offers the ability to add a "Share to Classroom" button to a product’s website. While viewing the product website, a user can click the “Share to Classroom” button, which will create a resource in the user’s course. The resource will provide a link to the shared website that all students within the course can see.

What Can't the API Do?

The Google Classroom API does not expose data beyond what a logged-in user can view. For example, an educator logs in and can see a list of the courses they teach. That list will not show other courses from other educators within the same learning institution.

Likewise, you can retrieve an educator’s user list for a specific course. However, that list will not contain users outside of that particular course. That list will contain only users within that specific course. On that same thought, this means the API cannot see a learning institution’s full list of users, courses, or enrollments.

Google Classroom also limits the type of resources that can be created. Content posted to a course in Google Classroom has to be in Google's proprietary format. Hence, you cannot create or import objects that use file types such as Rich Text Format, HTML, or Common Cartridge®.

Additionally, Google Classroom has no modular structure. Other LMS providers, such as Schoology or Canvas, allow sections to be created within a course. Google Classroom does not allow this and doesn’t offer features such as a resource library.

Updated | 7.4.24

Read More on Google Classroom

Here are other articles we’ve written on Google Classroom to help you on your integration journey:

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