Distance learning: Google adds new capabilities to Meet, Classroom

Moreover, Classroom will soon support 10 additional Indian languages, including Bengali, Telugu, Marathi, Tamil, and Urdu, and over 54 languages globally.

As the distance learning model is picking up momentum due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Google is bringing many new capabilities to its video-communication tool Meet and Classroom, a free learning management system (LMS) to support teaching and learning everywhere, regardless of the geographic location.

"Google has always aimed to invest in products, programs, and philanthropy that make learning possible for everyone, anywhere. If we can't all physically be together in our schools this year, we're committed to making Classroom and Meet even better to bring everyone together online," Zach Yeskel, Group Product Manager, wrote in a blog post on Wednesday.

The search giant said that over the coming months, moderators will be provided more controls for managing their virtual classes via Meet. In late August, moderators can bar participants from joining meetings after they've been ejected or denied entry twice. Other capabilities arriving in September include:

• End meetings for all participants when class is finished
• Manage join requests with ease by accepting or rejecting them in bulk
• Disable in-meeting chat and set restrictions on who can present during a meeting
• Lock meetings until the moderator joins

To enhance virtual engagement, Google will add new features to Meet over the next few months. These include-

• a 7x7 grid so that educators can see up to 49 students at once
• a collaborative whiteboard with Jamboard for sharing creative ideas
• Custom (Blur or replace) backgrounds
• Attendance tracking and Breakout rooms (for small group discussions) for all Google Enterprise for Education customers

Image Credit: Google

• Hand-raising to identify students who may have doubts
• Q&A features and polling to engage students to share their voice (for G Suite Enterprise for Education customer)
• Temporary recordings feature to allow hosts to record a meeting and share the recording within their domain for up to 30 days before the video expires

Classroom

The new features arriving in the Classroom include:

Image Credit: Google

• A to-do widget in the Classes page for students and a to-review widget for teachers to help them better discover and track their work
• Educators can now share a link to join classes with a single click
• Originality reports that help instructors/educators to check for potential plagiarism will be raised from three to five per class while Educators with G Suite Enterprise for Education licenses will continue to get unlimited originality reports
• Both educators and students will soon be able to play originality reports on Google Slides and in multiple languages
• Educators can print, save and download reports to share with students, parents, and administrators
• Admins seeking to troubleshoot Classroom issues or gain deeper insights into usage across their domain will soon be equipped with additional tools including access to Classroom audit logs

Google said that in the coming months it will provide a more detailed roadmap to enable education leaders and teachers better understand and prepare for other features including student engagement metrics, integrated tools for managing classes, and Mobile offline improvements, among others, to be added to Classroom throughout the academic year.

Moreover, Classroom will soon support 10 additional Indian languages, including Bengali, Telugu, Marathi, Tamil, and Urdu, and over 54 languages globally.