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Monday, February 22, 2021

50+ New Google for Education Features

The "Learning with Google" event that was held on February 17, 2021 was a jam-packed livestream filled with dozens of updates and new features coming to G Suite for Education, Google Classroom, Google Meet, Chromebooks, and much more!

In case you missed it, or are just trying to review through everything that was shared, I have made an easy to browse bulleted list of everything that was announced in the event. For each item I have included any relevant links to Google's blog posts or help pages or video clips about that new feature or update.

Also, if you want more details and discussions on these topics, please feel free to join us online for our monthly GEG-Ohio (Google Educator Group) virtual meeting on Thursday, February 25th from 1pm to 3pm (EST). We will be taking a close look at the updates from the "Learning with Google" event. 

Now, see below to explore all 50+ updates in my bulleted lists...



 
 Google Workspace for Education tiers

  • Overview - Google will now offer four different tiers of tools and services for schools - Resource link

  • Compare the 4 tiers - Resource link, Video clip

  • Google Workspace for Education Fundamentals (EF) - Resource link, PDF, Video clip

    • Traditional free version of Google tools (formerly called G Suite for Education)

  • Google Workspace for Education Standard (ES) - Resource link, PDF, Video clip

    • Advanced security features, analytics, group management, and controls

    • $3 / student / year

  • Teaching and Learning Upgrade (T&L) - Resource link, PDF, Video clip

    • Advanced instruction tools (Meet: breakout rooms, Q&A, polls, attendance reports, noise cancellation, permanent recordings, 250 participants, 10K live streaming. Classroom: unlimited originality reports, add-ons) and additional Drive storage

    • $4 / license / month

  • Google Workspace for Education Plus (E+) - Resource link, PDF, Video clip

    • Everything from Education Standard and Teaching and Learning Upgrade plus 100K live streaming, Classroom roster sync from any SIS, Cloud Search

    • $5 / student / year


 
 Google Drive storage updates

  • Overview - Google will no longer be offering unlimited Drive storage for schools, but instead will have a shared storage amount - Resource link, Help page

  • EF and ES - 100TB of pooled cloud storage shared across all of your users

  • T&L - 100 TB shared + 100 GB per license

  • E+ - 100 TB shared + 20 GB per license

  • New limits will go into effect across for existing customers in July 2022

  • Admin tools to identify and manage how storage is used and allocated


 
 Google Classroom updates

  • Overview - Resource link

  • Add-ons to choose EdTech tools and content from a marketplace and assign it to students directly in Classroom (T&L and E+) - Video clip

  • Create classes and populate and sync rosters directly to Classroom from Student Information System (E+) - Video clip

  • Grade Export adding Aspen SIS (in addition to existing Skyward and Infinite Campus support) - Video clip

  • Classroom audit logs for admins - Video clip

  • Export audit logs to BigQuery for deeper insights (ES and E+) - Video clip

  • Student engagement tracking to see relevant stats about how students interact with Classroom - Video clip

  • Offline functionality for Classroom Android app - Video clip

  • Classroom Android app to allow students to scan, edit, combine, and attach images of paper assignments - Video clip

  • Rich text formatting for assignments and posts including bold, italics, underline and bullet - Video clip

  • Improved grading in Classroom Android app including the ability to switch between student submissions, grade while viewing an assignment, and share feedback - Video clip

  • Originality reports to support more languages (15 total) - Video clip

  • CS First integration to import student rosters from Classroom into a new CS First class - Video clip


 
 Google Drive editors updates


 
 Security features updates

  • Limit Google Drive sharing to specific groups with target audiences (ES and E+) - Resource link, Video clip

  • Automatic group membership management and expiration with dynamic groups (ES and E+) - Resource link, Video clip

  • Document approvals for users to approve, reject, or leave feedback on Drive files - Video clip

  • Investigation Tool getting logs from Chat, Meet, Classroom, OAuth, Groups, Voice, and Calendar - Video clip


 
 Google Meet updates

  • Overview - Resource link, Video clip

  • End meetings for everyone on the call, preventing students from staying on after the teacher has left, including in breakout rooms - Resource link

  • Mute all participants at once (rolling out now) - Resource link

  • Control when students can unmute themselves

  • Mobile Meet app getting  moderation controls, such as who can join meeting or use the chat or share their screen

  • For meetings created from Classroom students won’t be able to join before the teacher, only students and teachers in the class will be able to join, and every teacher in the Classroom will be a meeting host by default (Fall 2021)

  • All meetings (even those not started from Classroom) will support multiple hosts

  • New settings in the Admin console for who can join their school’s video calls, and whether people from their school can join video calls from other schools

  • New details in Google Meet audit logs including external participant's email addresses

  • Meet logs being added to the Investigation Tool (ES and E+)

  • Admin option to end any meeting from the Investigation Tool (ES and E+)

  • Emoji reactions in Meet, with teacher and admin control over when reactions can be used.

  • Improved Meet reliability with low bandwidth

  • Create breakout rooms ahead of time in Google Calendar (T&L and E+)

  • Meeting transcripts will be available for teachers to review or share (T&L and E+)


 
 Chromebook updates

  • Overview - Resource link

  • Screen recording tool built into ChromeOS (in March) - Video clip

  • New Chrome policies in the Admin Console including Zero Touch Enrollment

  • Chromebook selection resource for choosing which device to buy - Google Slides link

  • Audio, video and reliability improvements in Meet

  • Parents can add a Google Workspace for Education account to their child’s personal Google Account managed with Family Link - Help page, Overview video


 
 Accessibility updates


For more details, you can view a recording of the "Learning with Google" livestream at: 

And to keep the learning going, Google has organized free 30-minute training sessions on a wide variety of these updates and features, running from February 23rd through April 8th. See the full list of topics, dates, times, and registration link at:


Post by Eric Curts. Connect with me on Twitter at twitter.com/ericcurts


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