Using Google Chat more for internal communication and customizing notification frequency

Google has added more options for notification settings in Google Chat and Chat in Gmail.

These additional notification settings give you more control over the amount of notifications you’ll receive based on your level of engagement or involvement in specific conversations.

I believe that Google Chat (as a version of instant messaging IM) could have more of a role to play in our internal communication practices.

Chris Baker shares an interesting approach here → We need to talk about e-mail and meetings: Planning your school’s internal communication.

Read more about the changes to Google Chat notifications here → Google Workspace Updates - Customize notification frequency with more options in Google Chat and Chat in Gmail

A guide to Google Meet for parents and guardians

Google has recently released a useful guide to Google Meet for parents and guardians.

Pastoral leaders may want to share th guide with parents. Even though we are not following the remote-learning path currently Google Meets are still being used by staff with students and parents.

Read&Write for Google Chrome quick reference guide

EDU in 90: What's New in Docs

Converting PDFs to Google Docs

You can convert image and PDF files to text with Google Drive!

1. On your computer, go to Google Drive.
2. Right-click on the desired file.
3. Click Open with → Google Docs.
4. The image file will be converted to a Google Doc, but some formatting might not transfer:
   • Bold, italics, font size, font type, and line breaks are most likely to be retained.
   • Lists, tables, columns, footnotes, and endnotes are likely not be detected.

Read more here → Improvements to PDFs imported to Google Docs

Group conversations in Hangouts will begin to appear in Google Chat

Starting December 3, 2020, Google are making changes to how group conversations work in Google Chat.

One of of the key changes for us is the compatibility with classic Hangouts. Group conversations in Hangouts will begin to appear in Google Chat over the coming weeks. This will allow your users to move from Hangouts to Chat without losing context. In addition, 1:1 messages, updated group conversations, and unthreaded rooms from Chat will begin to appear in Hangouts - however I would recommend moving your focus to Chat.

Read more here → Changes to Google Chat group conversations and classic Hangouts coming December 3, 2020

Read&Write for Google Chrome - A how to guide for students

This week it has been great to see a teacher using Read&Write with a whole class. They were using the highlight tool and then the 'Collect and Clear Highlights' feature to extract the highlighted text into a new Google Document.

Here is a handy how-to guide to get students up and running with the most popular features in Read&Write for Google.

Timer/countdown in Meet Breakdown Rooms

You can now set up a timer for a breakout session. Participants will see a banner to keep track of how much more time they have in the breakout room. They’ll also be alerted when there are 30 seconds left so that they can wrap up the discussion and, when time is up, participants will be prompted to go back to the main call.

Virtually raise your hand to ask a question in Meet

You can now 'virtually' raise your hand in Google Meet. To raise your hand, click on the “Raise Hand” button on the bottom bar. Once the button is pressed, it will change to a “Lower Hand” button, which can be clicked to lower your hand.

When a participant raises their hand, the meeting’s moderator will see a hand icon in their video preview. If the moderator is presenting in another tab, they’ll get a sound notification when someone raises their hand. The moderator will also be able to see all raised hands in the order they were raised in the meeting participant list panel to help them address questions accordingly. The moderator can lower a specific person’s hand or lower all hands.

Read more here → Virtually raise your hand to ask a question in Google Meet

An integrated workspace

It would seem that it has arrived... an integrated workspace experience that brings Chat, Meet, and Gmail together on desktop and mobile.

Gmail across web and mobile now feature fours distinct components:

• Mail, which has not changed and is the same Gmail experience you know.
• Chat, which allows users to message individuals and small groups directly.
• Rooms, which are spaces that include shared chat, files, and tasks to help groups more easily work on projects.
• Meet, which features upcoming meetings that you can view and join.

Read more here → Introducing your new home for work in G Suite

Read&Write for Google Chrome

All staff and students at Campus des Nations has access to Read&Write for Google Chrome. For the extension to appear and be available - you need to be logged into Chrome using your school account and have sync turned on.

Check out the video below for some of the features. Personally I find the highlighting tool useful and have used it with MYP and DP students of all abilities.

Schedule Google Calendar events from Google Chat

This hasn't appeared on my account yet - but it should be with us any day soon.

You will be able to schedule meetings in Calendar directly from Chat conversations. You’ll see a new icon in the conversation’s compose bar.

Clicking on the icon will start a draft calendar event with the attendees from the chat. You can then customize the invite (including attendees) before sending it to guests.

Read more here → Schedule Google Calendar events from Google Chat

Getting started with Google Sheets

A useful video from Danny Nicholson about Google Sheets. Those with a good memory may remember that Danny came to Nations and worked with us during a PED day before we started our BYOL journey.

Google Meet and Kahoot!

Some useful advice on using Kahoot quizzes within Google Meet here → Google Hangouts Meet and Kahoot! help teachers and employees connect and instruct online.