Best Google Workspace Teacher Resources

Formative is a real time formative assessment platform that lets teachers build lessons and quizzes with more than twenty question types, including drawing, audio and video responses, and multiple choice, then watch student answers update live as they work. Teachers can give immediate feedback, adjust instruction on the fly, and auto grade many question types, and the built in Luna AI can generate questions or convert paper worksheets into digital assignments.

The Free Teacher plan covers unlimited formatives with basic grading and integrations with Google Classroom, Clever, and ClassLink. A paid Teacher plan adds advanced question types, rubrics, and anti cheating tools, while the custom priced Balanced Assessment tier is built for schools and districts that need shared item banks, standards reporting, and dedicated support. Formative is based in Santa Monica, California.

Nearpod, now part of Renaissance Learning, lets teachers turn slides, videos, and PowerPoints into interactive lessons with quizzes, polls, collaborate boards, 3D objects, and VR field trips. Lessons can be delivered live or self-paced, with real-time insights letting teachers see how students respond and adjust instruction on the spot. The Nearpod Library offers over 22,000 standards-aligned lessons and activities, and an AI Create tool can generate interactive lessons and formative assessments automatically.

Nearpod's free Silver plan includes 300MB of storage and supports 40 students per lesson. Paid Gold ($159/year) and Platinum ($397/year) plans raise storage and student limits and unlock features like the AI Create question generator and student notes. Schools and districts can get a custom Enterprise license with unlimited storage and admin reporting.

Pear Deck is a classroom engagement tool that turns Google Slides or Microsoft PowerPoint presentations into interactive lessons. Teachers add draggable, drawing, free response, and multiple choice questions directly into their existing slides, then run the deck live so every student responds in real time from their own device. Student Paced Mode lets learners move through content on their own for homework, absences, or differentiated instruction.

Beyond live presentations, Pear Deck includes AI tools that generate standards aligned lessons, practice sets, and quizzes in minutes, plus a teacher dashboard for named responses, individual feedback, and session reports. It integrates with Google Classroom and Microsoft accounts and includes accessibility features like immersive reader and enhanced dictation, making it a widely used option in K-12 classrooms.

Edpuzzle lets teachers turn existing videos, from sources like YouTube, Vimeo, TED, and National Geographic, into interactive lessons by embedding multiple choice or open ended questions, audio notes, and comments at any point in the timeline. A Prevent Skipping setting stops students from skipping past unanswered questions, and Live Mode lets a teacher project a synced video to the whole class with student responses appearing in real time.

Teachers get analytics on who watched, how much of the video they watched, and how they answered each question, which helps target follow up instruction. Edpuzzle integrates with Google Classroom, Canvas, Schoology, and other major platforms, and newer AI features can auto generate questions from a video transcript. A free Basic plan covers a limited number of saved activities, with paid Pro plans removing that limit.