Google Meet is a video conferencing tool that allows teachers and students to have synchronous video meetings to enhance the learning experience. Teachers can use Google Meet to connect with students one-on-one, facilitate blended and online instruction, and hold virtual meetings and conferences with parents and guardians. Google Meet is accessible on smartphones, laptops, desktops, and tablets. Teachers and students can access Google Meet from Google Classroom, Google Calendar, and Gmail. Anyone with a Google Account can create free online meetings with up to 100 participants and meet for up to 60 minutes per meeting.
Teachers can use Google Meet as a tool for blended and online learning to conduct classes synchronously, share content, use a whiteboard to explain things visually, and more. Additionally, teachers can chat with students to discuss certain topics, pin a student’s video feed to interact with students, take attendance, and assign students into different groupings within a class.
Google Meet can also be used for:
Synchronous Instruction
The Presentation feature on Google Meet allows teachers to share their screen when delivering instructional content to students, and can also be used to share assignments, presentations, or general ideas with all participants of a meeting on Google Meet. Additionally, teachers and students can share content and links using the chat or the whiteboard. Google Meet has a Recording feature which can be used by teachers to keep records of meetings and share with students who miss the synchronous meetings.
Collaboration
Teachers can use breakout rooms to divide students into smaller groups during video calls to share thoughts or to work one-on-one for assigned classroom activities. Google Meet can enhance collaboration among students by using the Whiteboard for brainstorming ideas collectively. Teachers and students can create “Jams” (Individual Jamboards and Jamboard sessions) by using the Jamboard component of the Whiteboard. Created Jams can be shared via links to students within a meeting.
Accessibility
Special population students can participate in Google Meet video meetings using accessibility features. Some of the accessibility features of Google Meet are live captions, screen readers, magnifiers, and keyboard shortcuts. It is important to note that the chat function in Google Meet has some text which fails color contrast accessibility and may be difficult to read for users who are blind or have low vision.
Engagement
Aside from the camera and audio functions Google Meet offers for communication, the Chat feature affords participants the chance to communicate via writing, either to individuals or to the whole group. Teachers can conduct surveys using the Polls feature to encourage communication, engagement, and participation amongst students. One of the unique features of Google Meet is a robot game it offers to users. Engage students by playing the robot game during short breaks and moments of waiting for the next class activity.
Google Meet employs a vast array of safety measures to keep video meetings safe, which include anti-hijacking controls for web video meetings. Data is encrypted in transit and Meet recordings stored in Google Drive are encrypted by default. Meet does not have user attention-tracking features or software. Google does not store video, audio, or chat data unless a meeting participant initiates a recording during the Meet session.
Some of the key countermeasures for security improvement that Google Meet uses are meeting codes. Each meeting code is 10 characters long, with 25 characters in the set. Meeting details can be changed in the invite. Completely changing the video meeting invite changes both the meeting code and the phone PIN. This is especially useful if a user is no longer part of the meeting invite.
Google Meet data protection law: Meet security and privacy for education
Special population students can participate in Google Meet video meetings using accessibility features. Accessibility features include: live captions, screen readers and magnifiers, and keyboard shortcuts. Google Meet accessibility