Control Alt Achieve: 16 Super Google Updates from ISTE23

Google is constantly releasing new features, updates, and tools, which I try to share out each month in our GEG-Ohio virtual meetings at bit.ly/gegohio

However, sometimes Google drops a large amount of updates all at one time, often in conjunction with a large EdTech conference such as BETT or ISTE. They have just done that for the 2023 ISTE Conference.

I was fortunate to be able to attend and present at ISTE again this year. You can access all of my ISTE session resources at bit.ly/curts-iste23

I was also privileged to get to sit down with Taryn Sullivan from Google while at the conference to do a quick interview concerning several of their new updates.

See below for my recorded interview with Taryn, as well as details on many of the new updates that caught my attention. Which new features are you most excited for? I would love to hear your thoughts!

▶️ Interview Video (11 minutes)

Or watch on YouTube at: youtube.com/watch?v=h9MM-NhM0l4

📢 Detailed Announcements

Google shared out details on all of the new features and updates in four different blog posts linked below:

New Google for Education tools for how you teach, learn and manage - Resource Link
New teaching and learning features in Google Workspace for Education - Resource Link
New education apps and accessible content for Chromebooks - Resource Link
Explore our new Google for Education App Hub - Resource Link

Below I will highlight some of my favorite items from these new updates.

🍎 Google Classroom Updates

📗 Read Along Integration

Read Along has existed for a while now as a mobile app and as a website, to help young students learn to read leveled books with the help of AI. Now Read Along is getting integrated into Classroom as well, so educators can measure students’ reading progress over time and see metrics on fluency, speed, and comprehension to help build literacy skills. Express interest in the early access program here: goo.gle/readalong-classroom

Edition availability: Early access program
Launch timing: Early access program - In the coming months

✅ Practice Sets Updates

Currently, Practice Sets uses AI to generate helpful hints and resources for students. Coming soon, educators will have the ability to add their own help resources to their Practice Sets, like text hints or videos, and manage suggested resources.

Edition availability: 🎓 Teaching and Learning Upgrade and ➕ Education Plus
Launch timing: In the coming weeks

❓ AI-generated Interactive YouTube Questions

A while back we got the ability to add interactive questions to YouTube videos in Classroom assignments. To make this process even easier, soon educators will be able to save time when adding interactive questions to YouTube videos in Classroom by selecting and editing suggested questions that are auto-generated with AI.

Edition availability: 🎓 Teaching and Learning Upgrade and ➕ Education Plus
Launch timing: Beta available now

👋 Visit a Class in Google Classroom

Designated users and groups will now have the option to temporarily join a Google Classroom, without having to become an official co-teacher. This will allow staff to support educators, manage substitute teachers, see information for guardian conversations, and more.

Edition availability: ➕ Education Plus
Launch timing: Available now (global)

📊 Classroom Analytics

Coming soon Google Classroom will be adding an analytics screen. Designated education leaders and staff can explore student performance and engagement, including if assignments are being completed, how grades are trending, and how Classroom is being adopted. Educators will be able to view similar information for their own classes as well.

Edition availability: ➕ Education Plus
Launch timing: In the coming months

📄 Share Class Templates and Classwork

Google is making it easier for educators to share and use pre-made Google Classroom classes and assignments. Templates are coming soon to Classroom which will allow teachers to share and import entire classes or specific assignments from a class. Express interest in the beta here: goo.gle/shareable-classwork-beta

Edition availability: ➕ Education Plus
Launch timing: Beta - In the coming months

💯 Custom Grading Scales

Google recently added the option for grading periods in Classroom, so teachers can define and apply quarters, semesters or terms to their assignments when setting up classes and filter assignments by the preferred grading structure. Coming soon, Classroom will allow you to change your grading scales to align to your school’s grading system whether letter, numeric, or custom.

Edition availability: 🎓 Teaching and Learning Upgrade and ➕ Education Plus
Launch timing: In the coming months

❌ Disable Submissions

This is by far one of the most requested features for Google Classroom! Teachers will soon have the option to stop accepting submissions for an assignment after the due date or other specified date. No more late assignments!

Edition availability: all Google Workspace for Education editions
Launch timing: In the coming weeks

✍️ Rich Text Editing

Rich text editing continues to expand to more places in the Google suite, now including class comments and private comments in Google Classroom. You’ll have the option to bold, italicize, underline, or use bullet points to communicate more efficiently with your students.

Edition availability: all Google Workspace for Education editions
Launch timing: Available now (global)

📷 Google Meet Updates

🎙️ 1000 Max Attendees

Google Meet is expanding to allow for up to 1,000 attendees in a meeting! To help reduce meeting distractions and give the meeting host more control, 500 of the attendees can be "contributors" and can fully participate in meetings, while the other 500 can be "viewers" and can interact with polls and Q&A but can’t share audio or video.

Edition availability: ➕ Education Plus
Launch timing: In the coming weeks

🧑‍🤝‍🧑 Tile Pairing

Coming soon you will be able to pair your tile in Google Meet with someone else’s so if one of you speaks, you’re both highlighted. This can make meetings more inclusive when using voice or sign-language interpreters or when two people are presenting together.

Edition availability: all Google Workspace for Education editions
Launch timing: In the coming months

💻 Chrome Updates

📖 Reading Mode

Reading Mode is a new panel in the browser to help users as they read, with a clean version of just the text from the web page, with images, videos, and other elements removed. As needed, the reader can change the font, the size of the text, the spacing between the lines, the color for the text and background, and the width of the reading panel. This will be a helpful option to be able to still see the original content, but have an easier-to-read version on the side.

Edition availability: Chrome browser on all devices
Launch timing: Coming soon

🖼️ Image to Text

This new feature will use AI to convert images to text for PDFs in Chrome browser on ChromeOS. This will make it easier for screen readers and other accessibility tools to be able to pull out the text from otherwise inaccessible PDFs, such as PDFs that come from scanning a document.

Edition availability: Chrome browser on ChromeOS devices
Launch timing: Coming soon

🔑 App Licensing

There are so many excellent third party tools that work with Google for Education. To make it easier for schools to use these tools, Google is rolling out App Licensing, where apps can be provisioned and managed right inside of the Google Admin Console.

Edition availability: Available with 7 apps
Launch timing: Available now

⚙️ Updated App Hub

The App Hub for Chromebooks has been around for several years, and it serves as an easy way to explore loads of useful tools for teaching and learning. Google is now updating and rebranding it as the Google for Education App Hub. Here you will find 25 featured apps, as well as access to the full list of tools that work with Chromebooks and Google Workspace, as well as helpful training materials for each.

Edition availability: Available in English on edu.google.com/apphub
Launch timing: Available now

🎨 Adobe Express for Education

Google has partnered with Adobe to make Adobe Express for Education free for schools using Chromebooks across the U.S. With Adobe Express, school admins can manage app licenses at scale via Google Admin console and students and teachers can access and share their creations all via Google Classroom. Interested administrators can learn more and apply here: adobe.com/education/express/deployment