September is upon once again and we will return to school in a new way with new tools and methods at the ready. Whatever you call it Remote, Distance or Virtual Learning is now our new standard of instruction, at least for the time being. In order to make this a better experience for students and teachers Google has listened to some our our frustrations during the past winter and spring. They are adding new features to Google Meet that should improve our Google Classroom experience.
As we gear up for a remote opening of schools in our district (Asbury Park, NJ) I am looking forward to a few of the new features Google will be rolling out to Google Meet shortly. These tools include:
- Breakout rooms: Provides the ability to split your classes into smaller groups and rejoin the class when you are done.
- Hand raising: Students will be able to virtually raise their hand rather than call out into the mic.
- Attendance: Teachers will be able to see who attended their Meet.
There are other features coming to Google Meet as well but these three new additions will have the biggest impact for classroom teachers. I don’t know how they will work or when they will be available as Google only says they are coming soon. If Google was paying attention to the features in Zoom these new tools should mimic the experience there.
We will just need to have some patience and see what Google gives us.
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