CFC Help

Getting Started

Description

 

This program will create a series of folders for your students. On your end, you will see a folder in your Drive called “Classroom Folder Creator”. Within it, you will see your course name, then the 7 periods, and within each of those, the student folders. The student folders will automatically be shared to the students with their email address.

The purpose of this app is to create an open working environment that lets you see your students’ work while it is still in-progress. Because you are the owner of each created folder and your students have edit rights to the folder, you both see anything in there without having to share individual documents. In addition, any work submitted to an outside Learning Management System will automatically be shared to you as well, preventing the “Request Permission” dialogue that often plagues teachers.

For an example of what this will look like in your Google Drive, see the image below. Created student folder names will be in the format “[Student Name] – [Course Name] – P[Period Number]”

Guide

 

  1. Click on “Setup Sheet” in the Class Folder Creator menu.
    • WARNING: This will delete anything on the current sheet.
  2. Put the name of the course you are loading in cell B4. This will be the name of the first level folder that the app creates.
  3. Put the size of your largest class in cell B5. This should be only a number.
  4. In rows 9 and down, put your class list.
    • Names Columns: This will be the name used as part of the name of the created student folders. For grading purposes, it will usually be easiest on the teacher to list student names in these columns as “Last Name, First Name”.
    • Emails Columns: This is the email address that the created folder will be shared to.
    • Note: You can likely pull a report from your Student Information System (i.e. Skyward, PowerSchool, SMS, etc.) which will include student names and email addresses. In some cases, you may have to play with the data to create email addresses. For help with that, look into the Google Sheets Concatenate Function.
  5. Once all your data is in the spreadsheet, click “Create Class Folders” in the Add-On menu.

Troubleshooting

 

  • If something goes wrong with the Folder Creating, you can go to your drive and delete the created folders to start again. When you do, make sure you also delete the string of characters in cell D5.
  • If you have a planning period, you can leave those columns blank. After creating the folders, go to Drive and delete the unneeded folder.
  • If you need to add students after folders are created, the best option is the following:
    1. Clear the spreadsheet of student data for students who already have folders.
    2. Add the names and email addresses of the new student(s) in the appropriate columns.
    3. Create Folders as normal
    4. This will create a new set of period folders in a duplicate class folder. In Google Drive, move the newly created folders into the period folders where the rest of their class is.