September 2024 developer updates

[Google for Education Developer Announcements]

Below are this month's Google for Education developer news items. Please reach out to our support resources with any questions or concerns.

Announcements

Classroom API

✅ See our Preview the Classroom API guide for information about upcoming features and instructions on accessing and using them.

• Previously, developers could check whether users have access to certain Classroom features using the dedicated checkAddOnCreationEligibility and checkGradingPeriodsSetupEligibility methods. Beginning late October 2024, you can use a single new method, userProfiles.checkUserEligibility, to get the same information.

  • This addition introduces a single pathway for developers to determine eligibility for many features. At launch, the new method will return eligibility for creating/modifying grading periods and add-on attachment creation. Support for additional features will be added over time.

  • The current checkAddOnCreationEligibility and checkGradingPeriodsSetupEligibility methods are now marked as deprecated. You do not need to take action at this time if your application is currently using them. We expect these methods will be removed sometime in 2025, and will provide migration guidance once a removal date has been set. We encourage you to adopt checkUserEiligibility proactively.

Classroom add-ons

Reminders from last month:

• Chrome has announced that third-party (3P) cookies will no longer be deprecated. As a result, we do not expect add-ons to be impacted in early 2025. However, Chrome intends to "introduce a new experience in Chrome that lets people make an informed choice that applies across their web browsing, and they’d be able to adjust that choice at any time", so there could still be a future where 3P cookie access is more limited than it is today. We will share updated guidance as we learn more from Chrome, and encourage developers to remain forward-thinking about increased cookieless traffic in the future. If you have questions, please reach out to your Google contact or post a question on StackOverflow.

API changes

Classroom API reference documentation

Please be advised of the following API changes this month:

• The draftGrade field is now correctly returned for student submissions marked as "missing". Previously, a bug was introduced when Classroom added default draft grades for missing assignments. The bug caused the draftGrade field to remain empty in cases where a default draft grade had been applied automatically due to the new grading setting and teachers hadn't set the draft grade themselves. See the bug report for more information.

Documentation changes

Classroom API guides

Please be advised of the following documentation changes this month:

• Added guidance for using Apps Script with preview APIs.

• Minor corrections to formatting and links.

• Later in October 2024, we will release a redesigned version of our Classroom API guides. The newly reorganized site should be much easier to navigate and more accessible to developers and school leaders. We welcome your feedback and suggestions on the redesign (use the Send Feedback button or open Page info on the side of the page and click the “Send feedback” bug icon).

Reminders from last month:

• Minor corrections to the HTTP request example for consuming preview APIs.

• Updated the add-ons 3P cookie guidance to reflect Chrome's new position of continued support for 3P cookies.

Getting support

Consult the Classroom API developer support pages for FAQs and support resources.