Google Classroom: How It Works and What's New in 2026 with Gemini AI

A practical guide to Google Classroom: how to join classes, manage coursework and grades, and what's new in 2026 with the redesigned home page and Gemini AI.

Oct 24, 2026 0 1

Google Classroom: How It Works and What's New in 2026 with Gemini AI

Google Classroom is Google's free platform for managing school activities online: teachers and students around the world use it to organize lessons, assignments, materials and communication in a single digital space, connected to other Google Workspace tools such as Docs, Drive and Meet. In 2026 the platform received some important updates, including a redesigned home page and new features powered by the Gemini AI assistant. Here's how it works and how to get the most out of it, whether you teach or study.

What Google Classroom is and who it's for

Google Classroom started as a tool for schools, but today it is also used by universities, training centers and private online courses. It lets a teacher create a virtual "class" where materials are posted, assignments are given out, submissions are collected and grades are recorded, while students read lessons, complete the required work and communicate with the class. It can be accessed from a browser at classroom.google.com or through the mobile app (Android and iOS), and is included for free with Google Workspace for Education.

Getting started: signing in, creating a class and joining one

To use Classroom you need a Google account, either personal or provided by a school or organization. After signing in, a teacher can create a new class from the "+" menu in the top right, giving it a name, section, subject and room. Once created, the class automatically generates a unique class code (or, alternatively, an email invitation) that is shared with students: from their own account, they select "Join class" and enter the code to become part of the virtual classroom. It's also possible to add other teachers as co-teachers, useful for classes run by more than one person or supported by tutors and teaching assistants.

The main pages of a class

Every class in Classroom is organized into four sections, designed to separate communication from day-to-day teaching tasks:

Stream: the class bulletin board, where the teacher posts announcements and reminders; students can comment if the teacher allows it.
Classwork: brings together assignments, questions, quizzes and materials, organized by topic; this is where students find everything they need to complete or review.
People: lists teachers, co-teachers and enrolled students, and lets you email them directly from the platform or invite new participants.
Grades: the class gradebook, where the teacher views, enters and returns grades; grades sync automatically with graded submissions.

Assignments, submissions and grading

When a teacher creates an assignment in the "Classwork" section, they can attach documents, links, videos or quiz forms, set a due date and assign a point value. Students see the assignment appear on their home page, in the upcoming work panel, and can complete it directly online, attaching files from Drive or their device, or creating new documents that are automatically linked to the assignment. Once submitted, the teacher can open each piece of work, leave specific comments, edit directly inside the document and assign a grade, which is returned to the student with a single click. This flow cuts down on emailing files back and forth and keeps the whole submission history in one place.

What's new in 2026: AI features and a new home page

At the BETT education conference, held in London on January 21, 2026, Google announced a broad Classroom update tied to deeper integration with Gemini, Google's AI assistant, built on the Gemini 3 Pro and Gemini 3 Flash models. The updates announced by the company include support tools for teachers drafting assignments and summarizing student progress, as well as free SAT practice built with verified Princeton Review content, aimed at high school students in the United States. Google also introduced the ability to record audio, video and screen directly inside an assignment, tagging of content with international learning standards (including the UK, Australia, Canada, Japan, Brazil and Mexico), and new analytics that show teachers how students are using the AI-powered features.

On top of this, starting July 27, 2026, Google began a gradual rollout of a redesigned home page with views tailored to each user's role: teachers get a dashboard with student engagement indicators and suggestions on features to explore, students get a dedicated section listing their enrolled classes with upcoming deadlines highlighted, while school administrators get a view with usage statistics and shortcuts to admin settings. Users with more than one role, such as a teacher who is also an administrator, can switch between views with a click, and each module on the home page can be collapsed to personalize the screen.

Practical tips for getting the most out of Classroom

Organize by topic: grouping assignments and materials by teaching unit makes it easier for students to navigate the "Classwork" section.
Set realistic deadlines and rely on the automatic reminders Classroom sends before a due date, useful for both students and teachers.
Use private comments to give personalized feedback to each student without exposing the remarks to the whole class.
Link Google Meet to the class for remote lessons, generating a reusable link for every video session.
Turn on email summaries for guardians, a feature designed for schools that want to keep families informed about student progress without them having to log into the platform directly.

Google Classroom remains a tool that is simple to learn but flexible enough to fit very different settings, from primary school to university and professional training courses. With the 2026 updates, Google is aiming to make it even more central to day-to-day teaching, handing some of the more repetitive tasks over to AI and leaving teachers and students more time for the actual work.