With a lot of schools opting for virtual or hybrid classes rather than face-to-face ones, tools and features for the apps and services that they use are pretty important. Google Meet is now bringing new safety and engagement features for educators, students, or any one that’s using their video conferencing app for educational purposes right now. They’re also strengthening their connection with Google Classroom which teachers use to help manage their classes. As we’re seeing virtual classrooms to continue the next year or so, these are important tools to have.
Google Meet already has several tools released to ensure the safety and security of video conferences on their platform but they’re adding a few new tools specifically for educators. Teachers will soon have the option to end the meeting on a specific call so students cannot stay on after the teacher has left. They will also get the option to mute all of the students at the same time and also control when students can unmute themselves. Teachers will also soon be able to set breakout rooms ahead of their classes through Google Calendar.
Teachers who are using Meet on mobile devices will also soon get key moderation controls like who can join meetings or who can use the chat or share their screen. New settings will also be launched in the Admin console so schools can set policies about who can join video schools or students from other schools can join, etc. The Google Meet audit log will also get new tools so admins can analyze how the platform is used.
As for features for students, students will soon be able to engage and express themselves with emojis. Not only that, they can choose which skin tone best represents them. Teachers and admins can control when emojis can or can’t be used. Meet will also soon be able to work better even with low bandwidth connections as not all ISPs are created equal. Soon teachers will also be able to receive meeting transcripts so they can share with students who missed classes for one reason or another.
Google Meet will also soon enjoy better synergy with Google Classroom. When meetings are generated from Classroom, students will have to wait for the teacher before getting in. Meet will also be able to see who’s on the Classroom roster so only students and teachers can join in on the virtual meeting. All teachers that are on Classroom are automatically the meeting host so it’s better managed if there are multiple teachers. All these improvements will be rolling out to Google Meet in the next few months.