Google Classroom Rostering
This article explains how student rostering from Google Classroom works in Limudi, both for an individual teacher and for an entire school.
How It Works for a Single Teacher
Each teacher connects their own Google account to Limudi and imports their Google Classroom courses individually. Here is the full flow:
1. Teacher connects their Google account
The teacher opens the account menu at the top of the sidebar, clicks Integrations, then clicks Connect Google Classroom on the Google Classroom card and signs in with their school Google account. Limudi requests the following scopes:
| Permission | Purpose |
|---|---|
| View your Google Classroom courses | List the teacher's courses |
| View the roster of each course | Import enrolled students |
| View student email addresses | Match or create Limudi accounts |
| Manage student coursework and grades | Publish an assignment or write a grade back to Classroom, only when a teacher chooses to |
2. Teacher imports a course
After connecting, the teacher sees their courses and clicks Import next to one (or ticks several and clicks Import selected). Limudi creates a matching class and links it to the Google Classroom course. The class goes into the grade that matches the course name when it starts with a grade number, such as "6A ELA" for grade 6.
3. Roster sync runs automatically
Immediately after import, Limudi fetches the enrolled students from Google Classroom:
- Students who already have a Limudi account (matched by email) are added to the class
- Students without a Limudi account have one created automatically in the teacher's school. They are not emailed a password. They sign in with Sign in with Google, using the same Google account
4. Rosters stay up to date
Limudi syncs linked classes automatically about once a day. A teacher can also click Sync next to the course on their Google Classroom page (or Sync All Rosters) to pull the latest roster right away. Students who joined are added; students who left are marked as removed from the class. No student work is deleted during a sync.
After an import or sync, the teacher is told if some students could not be added, for example because Google Classroom did not share their email address, or because their email belongs to an account that cannot join the class.
How It Works School-Wide
There is no single admin button that imports all courses for the entire school at once. Instead, the school-wide approach works through coordinated teacher setup:
Step 1: Approve Limudi in Google Admin Console
Before teachers can connect their accounts, a Google Workspace admin must approve Limudi as a trusted app in the Google Admin Console. This is a one-time step.
See Google Workspace Setup for Limudi for the full walkthrough.
Step 2: Teachers connect and import their courses
Each teacher follows the single-teacher flow above. As they import their courses, their classes and student rosters appear in Limudi automatically.
Coordinate teacher onboarding in a staff session so that all classes are imported at the start of the school year. Teachers only need 5 to 10 minutes to connect and import their courses.
Step 3: Check that every class is covered
Ask each teacher to confirm that their courses show as linked on their Google Classroom page, with a recent sync time. Classes that are not linked are managed by hand in Limudi. If a teacher forgot to import a course, remind them to import it from their Google Classroom page.
Step 4: Ongoing roster maintenance
Rosters sync automatically about once a day, and teachers can sync a class at any time with the Sync button on their Google Classroom page. There is no admin screen for syncing a class on a teacher's behalf.
Limudi uses the teacher's own Google token to access Google Classroom. If a teacher removes Limudi's access, or their Google connection expires, syncs for their classes stop working until they reconnect. The teacher sees a banner on their Google Classroom page with a Reconnect button.
Student Account Creation
When a student is added to Limudi via Google Classroom roster sync and no matching Limudi account exists:
- A new student account is created using the student's Google email address
- The account has no password and no email is sent. The student signs in with Sign in with Google, using the same Google account, and lands in the account Limudi created
- The account is linked to the teacher's school
Students who already have a Limudi account (from a prior import or a roster import) are matched by email and are not duplicated.
Combining with a Roster Import
Some schools also ask the Limudi team to import a roster from a CSV file before the year starts. Those students are matched by email when a Google Classroom sync runs, so they are added to the class without a second account.
See Roster Import.
If a student signs in with a Google account whose email does not match the roster, Limudi can end up creating a second account for them. See Duplicate Students to merge it.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: Can an Administrator import Google Classroom courses on behalf of a teacher? A: No. Each teacher must connect their own Google account because Limudi uses the teacher's credentials to access their courses. Administrators cannot connect Google Classroom on a teacher's behalf.
Q: What if a student is in multiple Google Classroom courses? A: The student will be synced to each corresponding Limudi class. Only one Limudi account is created for each student regardless of how many classes they are enrolled in.
Q: What if students were already imported from a roster and the teacher then imports from Google Classroom? A: Existing students are matched by email and added to the new class. No second account is created for them.
Q: How do students sign in after a Google Classroom import? A: With Sign in with Google, using the Google account whose email Limudi has on file. Accounts created by roster sync have no password. See Google Workspace Setup for details.
Q: Why were some students not added? A: Either Google Classroom did not share the student's email address, or that email already belongs to an account that cannot join the class, such as an account in another school or a deleted account. The teacher sees the names after the import or sync.
Q: What happens to a student's work if they are removed from a Google Classroom course and re-synced? A: The student is removed from the class in Limudi (no longer enrolled), but their account and all submitted work are preserved. They can be re-added to the class manually if needed.
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