When students are learning from home, Google Meet can be the connection you need with them. Here are ideas for using it.
When students and teachers can't physically meet face to face, that doesn't mean they can't do it through video.
When doing elearning / distance learning / remote learning, video has lots of benefits:
- It gives that personal connection that's missing from face-to-face class time.
- It helps us to communicate more clearly with facial expressions, body language and intonation.
- It's quick and easy. Pushing record and talking can be much faster than other forms of communication.
- It's a great creative outlet. Putting creative touches on a video is easy with many platforms.
Video calls can really make that personal touch. If your school is a G Suite school, there's a lot you can do with Google Meet. Here's how to get started!
How to use Google Meet for elearning, online learning: Quick Navigation
NEW: Updates in 2020 to Google Meet
Google has new updates rolling out to Google Meet for the 2020-21 school year. Some will be for standard G Suite for Education users, and some premium features will be available just for G Suite Enterprise for Education. For more information about these new features, check out this announcement post by Google.
How to do live video calls with Google Meet
This is a quick, easy way to connect with your students via live video. You can use it to do instruction, to hold group discussions, and just to help students see each other's faces.
Google Meet is available for G Suite users (in education, business, etc.). If you're a G Suite user, you can create meetings for others to join. If you just have a personal Gmail account, you can only join meetings that others have created.
NOTE: Until September 30, 2020, Google has made its enterprise features available to all G Suite and G Suite for Education users. That means, among other things, you can record your video calls and do live stream broadcasts. Click here for more information on that.
Here's how to start a live video call with Google Meet:
1. Go to meet.google.com.
Click "Join or start a meeting." Click "continue" to start a new meeting. (You can also add Google Meet calls to calendar meetings in Google Calendar. Under "Add conferencing" choose Google Meet.)
TIP: You can just click "continue" to start the meeting. But if you give the meeting a nickname -- maybe your last name and the date or something -- then students can't rejoin it once everyone has left. If it's important to you to make sure students don't rejoin your meeting after you've left, give it a nickname and make sure every student leaves before you leave at the end.
2. Start your meeting.
Before you join, you can a) grab the link to share with students and b) get a phone number they can call to join with just audio. When you're ready to start the call, c) click "join now".
3. Engage in your meeting.
Once you're in the meeting, you have lots of options:
- The people tab. See who is in your call and take actions. (More below.)
- The chat box. Send quick messages to each other.
- Present your screen. If you want to do a screen share to show participants something, this is what you use.
- Record meeting. If you want to record the call to watch later, click this.
TIP: This is a G Suite Enterprise feature. If you're using your school account before September 30, 2020, and you don't see this option -- but want it -- ask your Google admin to turn it on. - Change the layout. You can arrange the way you see everyone in a call.
> Sidebar shows one person bigger and everyone else smaller along the side.
> Spotlight lets you pick one person to be seen full-screen by everyone.
> Tiled lets you see lots of people all the same size on one screen. - Full screen. This lets you make your video chat full screen on YOUR device.
- Turn on captions. This enables live captions, which transcribe your conversation into text captions in real time.
- Settings. Use this button to pick which camera and microphone you'll use as well as the resolution.
TIP: To make it easier for students with slow Internet connections, change the send and receive resolutions in the video tab to standard definition 360p. - Use a phone for audio. This lets you and your students use a phone to hear the call instead of a device on the Internet. Have Google Meet call you OR display a phone number you can use to call in.
- Turn your video off. This is helpful if your Internet -- or your students' Internet -- is slow.
- Hang up. Use this when you want to leave the call.
TIP: If you have given your Google Meet call a nickname, no one will be able to rejoin your call if you're the last one to leave. - Mute your microphone. This just mutes YOUR microphone.
- Meeting details. This displays all the info you'd need to give someone to join the call. If you created your meeting through Google Calendar and added attachments, they show up here.
- Menu. To display 4-9 in the list above, click this button.
4. Take action on other participants.
Hopefully you won't need to! But if you do, here are your options:
- Pin a participant so everyone sees just that person. (If you don't use this feature, Google Meet will display whoever is talking.)
- Mute a participant. (Only the meeting creator can mute others.)
- Remove a participant. (Only the meeting creator can remove others.)
Using Google Meet in Google Classroom
Google has added the ability to enable Google Meet right from your Google Classroom!
Generate Google Meet link in Classroom.
- Click on the settings icon in your Google Classroom. From there scroll down to "General"
- Click "Generate meet link".
- Toggle on "visible to students" if you want your students to be able to see and access this link when they log into Classroom.
- Once the link has been generated you can copy the link if you want to share it through another platform. You can also reset the link from here as well.
Tips and tricks for using Google Meet effectively
These ideas can help your Google Meet calls more productive -- and run more smoothly! These tips were created with staff meetings in mind ...
- Successful virtual meetings graphic in Spanish by Matt Miller
- Successful virtual meetings graphic in French by Alexandra Coutlee
- Successful virtual meetings graphic in Japanese by Kevin Ryan
And these tips were created for students participating in class video calls!
- Student tips for successful video calls in Spanish by Matt Miller
- Student tips for successful video calls in French by Alexandra Coutlee
- Student tips for successful video calls in Japanese by Kevin Ryan
Ideas for using video calls for remote learning
What are you going to use these video calls for? They're more than just for direct instruction! Here are nine ideas you can start using.
- Ideas for using video calls for online learning, elearning in French by Alexandra Coutlee
Tools to add to your next Google Meet call
Your video calls with your class can be more than talking with your webcams! Include some of the sites and apps you love to use together face to face. For example, it's easy to play a Kahoot! game on a Google Meet call with students. Here's how:
Choose a Kahoot! game. Start the video call. Share your screen. Students see the join screen. Run the Kahoot! game. You can do this!
The good news is that this works for more than just Kahoot! Here are other tools that work with a simple screen share through Google Meet:
More Google Meet resources
Your first day of Google Meet
Google's one stop shop for training guides, support tutorials, troubleshooting tips and more.
Distance learning tutorials from Google
Check out this playlist of remote learning tutorials from the Google for Edu YouTube channel.
Google Meet training & help
Google's one stop shop for training guides, support tutorials, troubleshooting tips and more.
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how do you invite your friends to the meet? how do you make a meet by your self? .
Very Helpful Insights on Online Learning
I’m now considering switching from Zoom to Google Meet as Zoom’s sometimes crashing. And I love the idea of tools I can add right there. Are there any glitches in Google Meet?
sometimes the audio repeats when I try to play a song from youtube or vlc player.
I have a question of Google Meet not classroom, if I teach a online class and suddenly phone rings out and we attend a call or leave it by option on phone. Does we have a option to re-join the class or start a new class with link?
I was trying to show a youtube video yesterday and the sound wouldn’t work for the students. I checked all of the volumes that I knew, but they still couldn’t hear it. What was I doing wrong?
I am looking for 1 on 1 online tech support for an educator
Matt, with Google’s New Grid View update I love being able to see my whole class. When presenting however, I notice that the side panel shrinks down to only let me see 16 people. Some teachers at my school can only see 12. Once or twice a co-teacher has presented and I could see all 24 tiles! Do you know why it’s variable and how to see everyone when presenting?
Did you ever get help with this? I have the same problem and nobody can help me. Thanks!
Sorry, to add it would also be nice if students could share their screen with the teacher but not to the class. Toggling back and forth would be good – for the “lecture” students could be visible to the class but during the working time only visible to the teacher and able to get feedback on individual work.
Is there a way that students can see the teacher but not each other? Also, is there a way that students can directly message the teacher in Google Meets without others seeing the comment or question(s)?
so much great information in here for a person who is not tech knowledgeable!
Question: If I am presenting my screen on Google meets, is there a way students can still see me also? I have found extensions(Fixes) so I can still see them but would like them to also see me as I am giving instruction from a slideshow.
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very good info for new Google Meet user. Thank you for sharing
Wow this is good indeed and would like to learn more from those who have used or who are using this Google Meet for teaching
Are my Google Meets automatically recorded by my school system or do I have to record the meet?
Hi, I am also a teacher but I have never used this Google Meet. Would you like to share with me how it works, its merits and demerits as well
[…] Need help getting started with Google Meet? Visit this post. […]
[…] Want a few more tips? Click to read this entire article from DitchThatTextbook.com! […]
One of the tips was ‘Make a copy of the chat transcript before closing’ – I would love to learn how to do this, as I would like to write new words in the chat bar, as we are discussing a topic. Also, I still haven’t figured out how to keep all the information in the transcript (‘I’ve been giving the call a nickname, but this means losing the transcript when I end the call) How do I keep all the remaining information in the transcript, so that I and my students can access it in the following lesson?
[…] But I’ve also seen the amazing learning that can be shared digitally. […]
Can I use captions in other languages than English?
When I click the three dots (more options) There is nothing related to another language.
I’ve been reading through the comments about being the last to disconnect from the meeting so the kids don’t still have access to it online. What about if you go into your calendar and delete the meeting from your calendar. Would doing this end access for everyone?
Regarding Kahoot or other collaborative things while on a Google Meet. If the kids are using their device to be “in” the google meet, how do they do the Kahoot? Do they just need to open up another “tab” on their device?
I teach 6th graders – I Love the idea of having them do a Kahoot after our socializing because we did a lot of Kahoots in school. However, I have to be able to coach them through this. Is it easier than I’m thinking it will be?
I am still unclear on how to present materials on google meet. Is there anyone I can call to get some support?
Eva
[…] If you're feeling like you need some help getting up and running with your video platform check out "How to use Google Meet for eLearning, online learning". […]
I’m an old fart and not very techie. How do I get the invitation and link to my students? Thank you
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Great presentation! Very helpful. I think I’m almost ready to create meetings with my students. That said, I’m just a little hesitant, as I have read a few articles that these type of online teaching platforms can be hacked by others, which can compromise my security and the security of my students.
[…] google-meet-elearning […]
I have it where students can only JOIN meetings not create them. My teachers want students to be able to conduct group work and want me to allow students to create meetings. This terrifies me because once it’s on, it is totally unmonitored!!!
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Do you have any remplaces ou elearning activities in french?
I have blog posts in English about activities you could do in French. Just go to the blog tab at the top and browse or search.
This was super detailed and very helpful. Thank you so much for all of this information. I plan to use this with my class as well as my teammates over the next few weeks.
Glad it was helpful! 🙂
“Pin a participant so everyone sees just that person. (If you don’t use this feature, Google Meet will display whoever is talking.)” —- Does this mean I can pin myself and my students won’t see other people, just me? Thinking about confidentiality issues.
Kelly: Pinning means you’ll be full screen but others will be visible in the thumbnails. If you want them to only see you, you might consider live streaming: https://support.google.com/meet/answer/9308630?co=GENIE.Platform%3DDesktop&hl=en
My main concern with Google Hangouts Meet (besides its clunky official name) is this: When the G Suite Admin allows students to access Meet, the students can access *all* of Google’s chat tools.
Do you know if there’s a way to give students access to *attend* a Meet but not to start one (and to block the other chat tools)?
I’m intentionally being vague about those other tools so that students who can see this page don’t figure it out from this comment!
Working with the Administrator on your school’s G-Suite Account, you can modify the settings. Our school is set so that teachers can create Meets, but students can only join.
Unfortunately, I tried to set similar limitations to the other G-Suite Hangout/App but wasn’t able to create the same differentiated limitations from teachers to students – but I did notice that a name trail is left for all actions and comments.
Theresa’s comment is good … thank you for adding that, Theresa. There’s also this: you can live stream a video in Google Meet. Here are details: https://support.google.com/meet/answer/9308630?co=GENIE.Platform%3DDesktop&hl=en
Thanks Matt. Q, our school has g-suite for education, but the hangouts module is blocked for students. It there a way for teachers to host a meeting and students join without an account?
Hey Joel … I don’t believe there is. Pretty sure you have to authenticate with a Google account to join. Recording videos and posting them somewhere students could access would be an asynchronous option.
Matt, I am concerned that there is no way to “end” a Google Meet session. Students can go back (using the link) and have unsupervised video calls. Do you know anyway to disable a Google Meet code? This issue is raised in this support article…. https://support.google.com/a/thread/33017844?hl=en
Here is the open thread: 2-3 weeks for a fix:
https://support.google.com/meet/thread/33638971?hl=en&msgid=35197904
Wait! I see you wrote this. “TIP: If you have given your Google Meet call a nickname, no one will be able to rejoin your call if you’re the last one to leave.” Testing now to see how it works.
Hey Doug – did this work? Our admin tried this and we were all able to get back it by clicking the link. He left last, and we all got back in no problem. He even nicknamed the Meet.
Make sure that you test it with student accounts. Adult (teacher) accounts can get back into meets.
You can set up a Google Meet session through Google classroom that lets you turn it on and off.