Learn Three Google Meet Features To Make Student Virtual Meetings Safer and Easier

When it comes to a virtual meeting with students, Google Meet is simply a safe choice. It was designed for K-12 students while being useful for all other Google users. Knowing Google Meet is secure for students is only part of the planning. What will you and your students do once you are in a Google Meet? My recent blog, 10 Ideas for Engaging Students with Google Meet Polls, shares useful suggestions for engaging and gathering feedback from students via polling. 

Earlier In 2021, Google Workspace for Education Plus was announced, providing enhancements to help teachers manage virtual instruction with ease. Check out three features listed below — all game changers in virtual meetings with students!

Calendar Invite to a Google Meet = Host Controls

Starting with a calendar invite, teachers can begin setting up for a scheduled meeting by turning on Attendance Tracking and/or Create Breakout Rooms. 

• Attendance Tracking: Just like turning on Attendance Tracking within a meeting, this sends the organizer a spreadsheet of participants and times in the meeting. Now this can also be turned on from a calendar invite. 
• Breakout Rooms: Through a calendar invite only, a teacher is able to pre assign students to specific breakout rooms. Once the Google Meet begins, the teacher opens rooms for students to communicate with their group. Assigning students to rooms ahead of time is only a feature offered through Google Calendar at this time.

The Green Room

Virtual meetings will forever be a way we communicate in school, work and socially. Modeling and teaching students soft skills when you are on a Google Meet provide students with life-long skills that will benefit them years from now. Show students how to preview how they look and sound while also being aware of their background before joining a Google Meet. The green room allows a self-check on the camera of exactly how they will appear to others in the room. Rather than clicking past it quickly, make sure they are OK with the current scene. In addition, teach students about their choices such as mic and camera on/off, and how to change or blur their background.

Mute All and End All

We’ve all experienced reasons for needing to mute one person or everyone. Now you can!  Since teachers are the organizers of the meeting, teachers have the control to mute everyone. Click > People to view all in the meeting and select > Mute all. For privacy reasons, only the user can unmute his or herself, no one else. 

It’s also comforting to know your meeting has ended with no one left in the virtual room. The organizers of the meeting can leave the call and end for all, which will kick everyone out of the Google Meet. If the organizer clicks > Leave call, a window will appear > End meeting for all. 

When you are collaborating on Google Meet with colleagues, even though you are all adults, the organizer of the meeting is the one who started the meeting or added it as a calendar event. This is the person with the control to mute all or end meetings for all. If the organizer needs to leave the meeting, but all others want to continue collaborating, simple click > Leave meeting. This allows the others to continue without the organizer.