Using Google Meet

You can use Google Meet to do live video conferences and screen sharing. This page describes how to create a meeting with "Hangouts Meet" and invite students to join on Canvas or by email.

Instructions for Students: Attending Class Remotely

Instructions for Faculty: Teaching a Class Session Online

This is an alternative to the built-in Canvas Conferences, which some people prefer over the built-in Canvas Conferences.

Test Before Class

We recommend testing this out on your own, well before your class begins. You can practice most of these instructions on your own, with no other participants in the meeting. You could also try this out with TAs, volunteer students, or colleagues.

Update: Grid View Extension Available

Normally you can only see a handful of people in your meeting at the same time. However, if you use Google Chrome you can install an "extension" that allows a grid view of all of the students.

Here's the link to Grid View Extension created by St. George's Episcopal School of New Orleans.

Once you have that installed, you will see a new grid icon in the top-right corner of the screen when you're in a meeing. Click it to turn on the grid view. Underneath, you'll find some options. You don't see the grid view, you may need to restart your computer after installing the extension.

Create a Meeting

There are two ways to set up a meeting: (1) Create the meeting on the Meet app web page and (2) Add "conferencing" to a Google Calendar event.

Create a Meeting on the Meet app Web Page

While logged in to your Biola Google account (for example, from your Biola email at https://mail.biola.edu), click on the Google apps menu (1), then choose Meet (2).

Next, click "Join or Start a Meeting" (3)

On the next screen, give your meeting a "nickname" (4) - maybe your name and the class number. Students will be able to use this nickname to find the meeting. Click "Continue" (5) then "Join Now" (6).

You'll then see a page with the "joining info." This is the link you'll need to send to your students so they can join the meeting. Click "copy" to copy the link (7). Then you can paste that link into a Canvas announcement, an email, or a Canvas page.

You can use that same link the whole semester. Anyone with that link will be able to join the Meet and participate live during class time. So you just need to get that link to your students somehow. (Student could also go to meet.google.com and find your course by searching for the nickname, but giving them the direct link would be best.)

After you've copied the link, you can close that little "Add others" window.

The first time you use Google Meet, your browser will ask permission to use your webcam and your microphone. Click "Allow" for both.

Create a Meeting in Google Calendar

Another way to create a meeting is by adding "conferencing" to a Google Calendar event. If you regularly use Google Calendar, you may find this method simpler. Also, if you record the conference, it will use the name of your event in the file name, possibly making file organization easier.

Start by creating an event on your calendar. Click on the time (1) and drag to the end time (2):

Type a name for the event (3), like your class name, then click "Add rooms, location, and conferencing" (4):

Click "Add conferencing" (5). You can view more information about the meeting by clicking the down-caret symbol (6)

This will show you the meeting details. You can copy this information to send to your students. When it's time for the meeting, you can click on the Meeting ID to start the meeting.

You could also click "Add guests" and invite specific people if you want to add this event to their calendars. You would need a list of all your students' email addresses to do this. You could also set this up as a "recurring event" to automatically make events for the rest of the semester. See Google's documentation at Create a recurring event.

When you're finished, click the blue "Done" button (7).

Running the Meeting

Once the meeting is running, students will be able to join and see and hear you. Here are a few recommendations:

• Ask students to use headphones (to minimize feedback)
• Ask students to mute themselves if they are not talking
• Turn on captions (1), especially if you have a hard of hearing student
• If some students are unable to attend, you can record the meeting and post it later. Click the vertical ellipses menu (3) and choose "Record Meeting" (4)
• If you want to show your screen, choose "Present Now" (2). Note that you have to turn on captions and recording before starting a presentation.

Use Whiteboard in Classroom

One way to use Google Meet would be to broadcast from your physical classroom or your office and use the whiteboard as you normally would. To do this, set up your laptop on the podium or on a table, with the webcam aimed at the whiteboard.

Try to frame the image so that students can see you and some of the whiteboard. Be aware of the limits of the frame of the picture, so you don't write on the whiteboard outside of the frame. You may want to draw lines for yourself.

If you decide not to come to campus, you could use your own whiteboard at home, or set up those big Post-It flip charts (available at office supply stores), and write on the paper with a marker.

Note about audio: if you're using a whiteboard in a classroom, it may be hard for students to hear you if you're talking while facing away from the laptop microphone. If you have a Bluetooth wireless headset (same kind you would use for hands-free talking on your phone while driving), you could connect that to your laptop for better audio quality.

Cell Phone Option

You may find it easier to set up your cell phone as your main camera. Once you set up the Google Meet as described above, you can use the Google Meet phone app to join the meeting. Find the Google Meet app in the app store.

Present your Screen - Show PowerPoint

Another way to use Google Meet would be to turn on screen sharing by clicking "Present Now." This lets students see whatever is on your whole screen or in a specific window. Choose "Application Window" or "A window" (5) then click the PowerPoint application (6) then click the "Share" button (7).

Once you do this, students will see your PowerPoint instead of your webcam. To switch back to the webcam, click the "Stop Sharing" button (8) near the bottom of the screen. When you're done. click the red Hang Up icon (9).

Cell Phone / Tablet Options

You can use your cell phone or table to join a Google Meet. You can use the Google Hangouts Meet mobile app to join the meeting. Find the Google Meet app in the app store. This may be a good option if your cell phone or tablet camera is better than your laptop webcam.

Or, if you don't or a student doesn't have fast internet access on a smart phone, you can call in to a regular phone number to hear the audio. When you do "Copy joining info," that includes the phone number and a PIN.

For more details, see this Google Documentation on Using a Phone to Join Video Meeting.

Share the Recording

If you recorded the meeting, the recording will show up in you email and on you Google Drive shortly after the meeting ends. You can get a "shareable link" and post that in your Canvas course for students to see.

First, find the link in your email and click the "Open in Drive" button (1). You may see a message saying that the video isn't ready yet. You don't have to wait, you can go ahead and share the link. Click the vertical ellipses menu (2) then click Share (3)

Next, click "Get shareable link" (4) then "Copy Link" (5)

You can now paste that link into a Canvas Announcement, email, or a Canvas Page. To post an Announcement, click Announcements (6) in your Canvas Course, then the "+Announcement" button (7).

Write an announcement and paste the link (8).

Find Recordings in Google Drive

You can also find these recordings in your Google Drive. Click the Google app menu (9), then choose "Drive" (10), and you'll see a folder called "Meet Recording" (11). Double-click that folder to see all of your recordings.

By default, when you do "Get shareable link" the link is only usable for people in the same organization, namely anyone with a Biola.edu Google account. If you would like to further restrict the recording, you can also disable downloading in the Advanced Settings.

Here's a 3-minute video demonstrating all of these above steps: