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Google Workspace for Education

This course will use Google Workspace for Education using your QC CAMS (often referred to as the QC ID or QC Active Directory) account.

Below are instructions for how to activate your QC Google Workspace for Education account (titled “Step 1” below) and how to join our course on Google Classroom (titled “Step 2” below).

New Queens College students and students enrolled at another CUNY campus will have to take an additional, initial step (titled “Step 0” below).

About Google accounts

You can have more than one Google account. If you use Gmail, you already have a Google Account: this is your personal Google account. Google also offers organizations, businesses and educational institutions Google Workspace accounts for its users. Since you’re enrolled at Queens College, you have access to a QC Google Workspace for Education account.

You cannot access Queens College Google Workspace for Education using your personal Gmail or another Google Workspace account.

You can be logged into both accounts at the same time, but you will likely have to switch between accounts to access your QC Google Workspace for Education account versus your personal Google Workspace.

Step 0: Activate your QC Username

Students New to Queens College, Recently Transferred to QC, or Enrolled at another CUNY Campus.

You must first activate your Queens College username and email account at https://cams.qc.cuny.edu.

The process takes about three (3) business days so please start this process as soon as possible.

Step 1: Activate Your QC Google Workspace for Education account

Information Technology at Queens College offers detailed instructions for activating (or claiming) your QC Google Workspace for Education account. The process comes down to four steps.

1. Sign out of Google
2. Go to https://drive.google.com/.
3. Enter your qmail email address as your Google account (e.g., juan.monroy18@qmail.cuny.edu).
4. From the QC authentication page, sign in with your QC ID credentials (e.g. jmonroy100) and your QC CAMS password. (If you’re having trouble contact the QC CAMS Help Desk at 718–997–4444.)
5. Accept the terms of service.

You can now access your QC Google Workspace for Education account at https://drive.google.com/a/qc.cuny.edu.

Your Google Google Workspace for Education username is the same as your qmail address (e.g., jmonroy100@qc.cuny.edu).

About Google Classroom

Google Classroom is a barebones, learning management system that you will use to submit your assignments and I will use to grade your work. We will not be using Blackboard.

I will also post announcements to Google Classroom instead of emailing everyone in class. However, you should use email to contact me, instead of the private commenting system in Google Classroom because it doesn’t work well.

Step 2: Join Google Classroom

Google has instructions for joining a course in Google Classroom. The process basically comes down to four steps:

1. Go to Google Classroom.
2. Sign in using your qmail.cuny.edu address as your Google account.
3. Click the “+” to “Join class.”
4. Enter the code I provided at the first meeting (for face-to-face classes) or via email (for online classes).

I highly recommend downloading the Google Classroom mobile app for iOS or Android. If you allow push notifications, you will immediately receive important announcements from me and learn when assignments are posted.

Use the QC Google Workspace for Education Apps

We will be using some QC Google Workspace applications in this class.

• Google Docs is a cloud-based, word-processing application. It is comparable to Microsoft Word on your personal computer except that all your documents are stored in your Google Drive. Be sure you’re using your QC Google Workspace account, not your personal Google account. Download the Google Docs mobile apps for iOS or Android.
• Google Meet is a video-based, communication platform used for remote office hours. Download the Google Meet mobile apps for iOS or Android.
• Google Forms is a survey and data collection platform that we will use for quizzes in some courses. There’s a bug in Forms that requires you to authenticate using your QC Google Workspace account on a web browser if you navigate to the quiz from the Google Classroom apps. To avoid this bug, I recommend taking the quizzes on a desktop computer.
• Google Drive is a cloud-based file storage platform. Your QC Google Drive offers unlimited storage, compared to 15 GB with your personal Google Drive. Download the Google Drive mobile apps for iOS or Android.

Troubleshooting

A majority of access issues can be resolved switching to your Queens College Google account. This article describes how to switch between Google accounts.

Another resolution that always works is to log out of all your Google accounts in your web browser and then logging back into your QC Google Workspace account at https://drive.google.com/a/qc.cuny.edu.