New Google Meet Features: Improve Your Online Classes
I’ll show you how to use breakout rooms, polling, and Q&A.
I’ll show you how to use breakout rooms, polling, and Q&A.
In my recent article, “How I am Going to Handle Two Weeks of Remote Learning,” I made three suggestions for teachers to consider in remote learning settings. Google Meets recently added new features that can help teachers successfully implement solutions to those ideas.
In the following sections, I will identify the new tool, what challenges it can address, and how I will implement it into my remote learning classroom.
Tool #1: Question and Answer (Q&A)
The Q&A tool is a features similar to the chat, but allows students to post questions and other students to “up vote” as a means of indicating they also have that same question without reposting the question.
This tool can be used for the collection of data associated with what topics students are struggling with or need clarification on while someone is presenting new information.
Recently being in a Google Meet where quite a few people had the same question, I found myself dreaming of a “like” or “up vote” button. While I don’t often present information in a direct instruction style, this could also be helpful when providing a set of verbal instructions. This is LIVE feedback for the presenter that something needs clarification or additional detail. In addition, it is a much easier venue for those students that may be less apt to speak up in a digital setting.
Tool #2: Polling
Sticking with the data and feedback theme, polling is a very helpful tool for “on the fly” formative assessment of learning. Teachers are able to add a multiple choice question to the Meet that students can answer.
The poll results in data that can be used for immediate feedback to students or that allows the teacher to make a data informed decision about the progress of the lesson at that moment.
The nature of data collection for formative assessment is built into other Edu 1q2Tools like Pear Deck and EdPuzzle. The difference that I am excited about with polls in Google Meet compared to these other tools is that I can make the questions based on those concerns that students are posing via the Q&A tool. For example, if students indicate that they are struggling with a specific topic, I can answer the question from Q&A and then create a question on the topic to assess if the “re-teach” was successful. Using these two tools in tandem can help ensure your students leave class having met the learning objectives.
Tool #3: Breakout Rooms
Breakout rooms are essentially “mini-Google meets” created by the teacher allowing small groups of students to work together in their own “room.”
The biggest COVID challenge we face is the ability to engage students in a typical classroom dynamic. Based on the weekly check-in surveys I give, the desire for interaction with their peers is the element students miss the most. One way teachers often address this is with small group instruction or collaborative work. We can use this tool to engage students in these best practices by using breakout rooms for a variety of instructional purposes.
Of all the features, this is the one I was waiting for and am most excited about and also the one I strongly encourage you to try. Personally, I plan to use these breakout rooms as mechanisms to help groups collaborate on projects. Other teachers I talked to were excited to use the breakout rooms for station work, small group instruction, individualized assistance, mentoring, peer feedback, leveled instruction, remediation, enrichment, and cross-curricular and cross class collaboration.
Other Tools, Resources, and Gratitude
The other tools recently added were: improved host controls, Jamboard integration (honorable mention), and attendance reports.
Google has a great resource blog (CLICK HERE) where I grabbed details discussed on this page. I wanted to make sure I provided reference to the original information source. There is also great content across the entire blog for both remote and in person technology integration. My goal with this article was to add context as to how I would use these new and exciting tools.
THANK YOU to Google for making these features happen, unfortunately when some of us need them the most.
My name is Andrew Julian and I teach Computer Science for grades 9–12. Please feel free to add a response to this article with how you plan to use these new features to improve your classroom instruction.
If you want to know more about me and other things I do, please visit my website andrewjohnjulian.com. Thanks for reading!