How is file sharing with Apple Classroom different than AirDrop?

I work at a school district that is looking to use Apple Classroom for file deployment so that students can download items to their iPads before taking them home. When we use AirDrop to do this, there's no issue in sharing files. When we try to share a file via Classroom, we get the error "The operation couldn't be completed (KCFErrorDomainCFNetwork error 310)."

I'm assuming that Classroom uses a different method for file sharing than AirDrop, since AirDrop works and Classroom doesn't, but haven't found anything online confirming it.