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In this all-different world of online teaching and learning, there are so many tools and platforms available on the internet for connecting with your students. Platforms like Google Meet can help you transition from physical classes to online classes. Google meet is a well-optimized platform for teaching online classes.
In this article, you will see how can you make use of google meet for teaching online classes. We will see all features available in Google meet and how you can use them.
If you are looking for an end-to-end solution to teach online for your institution, you can use MeritHub’s Virtual Classroom Software and Online Whiteboard System.
No limits on the number of meetings -
You can connect with your students as many times as you want.
Live captions -
It can generate real-time captions of whatever you say in the meeting.
Compatible -
You can easily access Google Meet on any device on any operating system.
Audio/Video previewing -
Before joining the meet, you can set and check your camera and microphone.
Different layout options -
In Google Meet, there are many different layouts to engage your students.
Host controls -
It provides you with many controls to avoid any unwanted acts during the class.
Screen sharing -
It allows you to share your entire screen or any specific window/tab.
Integration with Google and Microsoft apps -
This integration makes your work simply smooth. You can link the calendar, classroom, and Gmail to the Google Meet.
To start with meet you will be required to have a Google or G-Suite account. Using meet with a G-Suite account provides more features in the meeting. Google Meet is also linked with some google applications like G-mail, Google Calendar, and Google Classroom. To set up a class, you can use Google calendar. You can simply schedule your class date and time and google calendar will alert your students 10 min before the class.
For scheduling your class there are the following steps -
Go to Google Calendar.
Select create an event.
Here you will find the option to add Google meet video conferencing.
Here you can select Title, date, and time for your meeting. You can also add a description of your meeting. You can add all your students’ mail to the guest section. This will send a notification to all of your students. And whenever your class is scheduled they will be notified before the class and they will get the meeting from there.
To start a lecture, you will already have the link scheduled in the calendar or when you directly go to meet.google.com you will see upcoming scheduled lectures there also. And also, you can always start a meeting instantly by directly going to meet.google.com. On clicking the link you will find yourself in a virtual classroom. You can adjust your camera and mic there. Now click on the join now and you will be in the meeting. Here you will see lots of the following options.
On the left-most bottom, you can see the time. This will help you in taking note of time during the lecture. Even you turn on full screen, this time will be always visible to you.
Under this, you can see all the meeting details, you added while scheduling the event. Here you will find all the details, one needs to join the meeting. You can easily copy the details from here and send them to anyone you want to be in the meeting.
Under this, you can see all the people present in your meeting. You can take attendance from here. You can also take actions like mute, view, remove, and pin anyone to the screen you want to.
Under this, you and your students can send messages. During the meeting, students can use it to ask any doubt or discuss any topic with their classmates. You can also use it to convey any message or give any link or information.
Under this, you can use breakout rooms, QnA, and other meeting features like a whiteboard. Using a whiteboard makes your teaching much more effective.
By this, you can simply mute or unmute yourself whenever you want.
By this, you can simply turn off or on your video. This button is also helpful when the internet is slow. When you feel the internet is not stable you can turn off your camera this will not affect your meeting voice or any presentation.
By this, you can enable live captions, which transcribe your conversation in texts. By making use of it you can make your teaching more effective. If any student misses any words due to a network problem, he can see them in captions. And also, if any student asks any doubt you can see that in captions with their name too.
Students can use this button whenever they want to ask something, by clicking on this. You can also use this for taking quick polls. By making use of this you can also check how attentive students are without creating any noise.
By this, you can share your screen to show something to your class or to give presentations. You can present any image, video, pdf, or ppt by this. You also have an option to share your entire screen or any specific window. This option of presenting makes your teaching next level. By this, you can show documents or any ppt to the whole class effortlessly.
By clicking on this you will see many options which are the following -
Whiteboard - This will open a jam whiteboard. You can explain anything to your class. Using a whiteboard will make your teaching easy and effective. While explaining any theorem or solving problems, this whiteboard will give you experience like the physical classroom. For a more complete feature-set and options that you need for teaching online, you can use MeritHub’s online whiteboard platform.
Record meeting - By this, you can record your whole lecture for future reference. If any student is unable to attend the class, you can provide him recorded lecture. The recorded video will automatically be mailed to you by Google and also reflect in your Google drive.
Change layout - By this, you can layout of meeting. There are many layouts available in Google meet. Like auto, tiled, spotlight, sidebar, etc.
Auto - In this, you will see 9 participants by default. This layout is chosen by Meet automatically.
Tiled - In this, you can see up to 49 participants at once. By default, you will see 16 participants. You can change it by sliding the bar present at the bottom and this will not change until you change it by yourself.
Spotlight - Choosing this will cover your entire screen with the active speaker in the meeting.
Sidebar - In this, the main screen will show the active speakers and others will be shown by thumbnails.
Fullscreen - This opens your meet in full screen. Using full screen will enhance your teaching experience surely.
Apply visual effects - By this, you can add effects and background to your appearance. You can use them when you do not have an appropriate background. There are many backgrounds available in Google meet. With this, you can also customize it yourself by adding background photos.
Captions - This will show many languages for your captions. You can choose at your convenience.
Report problem - If you face any technical issue you can report it using this. You can write your problem briefly and also you have an option to add a screenshot of your problem for reference.
Report abuse - If you see any abusive content in any meeting you can report that using this. In this, you can write abuse type, name of abusers, and describe the abuse briefly.
Troubleshooting & help - This will guide you in troubleshooting and provide help as you need. In this, you can check your network stability. You will also see recommendations to improve your network connectivity. You can also check the system load and see the recommendations to decrease the system load. Here you can check whether your audio or videos are creating any type of echo. Even if your problem is not solved you can find more troubleshooting tips.
In help, you can search for any help you want. It will show you many articles related to your problem.
Settings - By this, you can see the settings of your meeting. In this, you can find audio, video, and host-control settings. In audio settings, you can select and test the microphone and speaker. In video settings, you can select and test the web camera for your meeting. You can also set resolution. In host-control settings, you will find many host controls.
Hang up button -
By this, you can simply leave the meeting. You also have control of ending the whole meet.
Under this, you will find many useful host controls for your meeting. Like you can control the screen sharing, sending the text in the chatbox, unmuting, and turning on the cameras of participants.
Google classroom is an important and helpful platform for you for managing the class as you share notes, pdfs, ppts, and assignments here. So, you can also generate a meeting link from here permanently and it will allow only the students in the classroom to join. For generating the link you can follow the below steps.
Click on the settings icon in the classroom.
Then click to ‘general’.
Then click on generate meeting link.
Make it visible for students.
By integrating Google meet with the classroom, you will always be the host in meeting by default.
In recent years, the whole education community has adapted online teaching and learning. With the increasing use of Google Meet, it has included many new features to engage the students. As distance learning and online teaching have become our new normal. We tried to cover everything you need to know to use Google meet for online teaching in this article. Hope you find this article useful.
