The Google Meet online meeting platform now has features that make it easier for teachers / teachers. Those who sign up for Google's Workspace for Education Plus and Teaching and Learning Upgrade package will automatically get the transcription feature.
These text-based documents will take up less space than voice recordings. With this feature the teacher can make it easier for teachers to review, browse and send lessons to students.
In addition, Google is also bringing polling features and question and answer sessions for teachers who use Meet to broadcast their lessons live.
The presence of this support has the potential to open up more interactive opportunities during teaching and learning. These features are already available in standard meeting rooms but are not yet available on the live broadcast feature reported by us from The Verge, Wednesday (8/6/2022).
Google is also expanding the scope of the live streaming feature in Meet that allows schools to broadcast events live, such as school board meetings or other school meetings directly to YouTube.
Previously, Google gave Workspace users two options for creating live broadcasts. The first option is the number of participants who can join is limited to 500 people in an organization.
While the second option gives users the ability to create streaming events with a larger number of up to 100 thousand people who are part of the same Workspace.
This update is expected to give more users the opportunity to join, given that live streaming to YouTube removes the restrictions regarding who can watch the broadcast, unless the video is set as a private video.
Outside of Meet, Google is also bringing a new Screencast app integrated into ChromeOS as part of the M103 update. This service allows teachers to record, cut, transcribe and share lesson screens.
The app will also give students the opportunity to re-watch lessons from Google Drive and create their own videos with screen recording tools.
Google explains that teachers can also use Screencast to draw or write on videos, if they're using a Chromebook with a touchscreen.
Meanwhile Google is also providing an update in Gmail that allows users to add alternative text to their images. This feature can be helpful for users who use screen readers as it allows them to know what is included in their emails.
Although this update seems small, it is in line with Google's greater efforts to expand its reach in the world of education that Google has built since the significant increase in distance learning caused by the COVID-19 virus pandemic.
This new feature of Google Meet is certainly very helpful for the online learning process from a smartphone. Indeed, if you think about it this is one of the many positive experiences of using a smartphone.