Little SIS for Classroom Co-teacher Functionality vs. Google’s Visit a Classroom Feature: A Comprehensive Comparison

This article aims to provide an in-depth comparison between Little SIS for Classroom's co-teacher functionality and Google's visit a Classroom feature. Both tools offer the ability to collaborate and support teachers in managing their classrooms effectively. However, key differences in features and ease of use set them apart. This overview will highlight the advantages of Little SIS for Classroom's co-teacher functionality over Google's visit a Classroom feature.

	Little SIS for Classroom co-teacher	Google  visit a classroom
Who is it for?	Substitute teachers, student teachers, and multi-day classroom visits.	Quick drop-in observation (no more than 2 hours).
Availability	Co-teacher functionality is available for all Google Workspace Editions, ensuring accessibility for all users.	Visits feature is only available with the Google Workspace for Education Plus license, limiting its availability to specific editions.
Setup Requirements	Little SIS Account is needed, then no additional setup or privileges in the Admin console. Adding co-teachers is included as a bulk action.	Multi-step setup process, which includes creating a custom role, assigning privileges, and scoping user roles to an Organizational Unit (OU).
Co-teacher/visitor Capabilities	Both tools allow co-teachers/visitors to perform essential tasks such as updating co-teachers and students, posting announcements, and viewing student profiles. Neither tool allows co-teachers to delete a class, remove the primary teacher, or mute another teacher.
Time-Limited Access	Offers a flexible time limit, allowing admins to select a specific duration for co-teacher access; one hour, one day, until a selected date and time (minimum join time when using Until is 5 min), or not removing the access (default).	This feature has a fixed duration of two hours once started, with the visitor being able to initiate a new visit at any time.
Access Limitation	Provides the option to filter access by Teacher OU, Student OU, groups and lists using school tags.	Provides the option to restrict visits to specific OUs. Users with permission to visit an OU can visit classes of primary teachers in that OU.
Class Filtering	Enables users to filter joinable classes based on any column in Little SIS, such as Classroom state, class ID, aliases, timeframe, school, primary teacher ID, and more.	Not available.
Primary Teacher Notifications	Notifies the primary teacher when someone joins the classroom.	Notifies the primary teacher each time someone starts a visit for a class.
Logging Actions	Offers this functionality within the tool. Administration > Audit Logs	Visit actions are logged and are discoverable the Investigation tool.
Multiple Class Access	Allows co-teachers to be part of multiple classes simultaneously, as they are considered co-teachers in each class.	Restricts users to visiting one class at a time, limiting their ability to be in multiple classes simultaneously.