Google Updates

August 2021-June 2022

Google Classroom

Teacher and Student View of New Google Meet Button.webm

New google meet button in google classroom

  • The Class Meet link is now accessible on the side of the class stream, so students can easily join and teachers can manage the link from the stream.

  • Students will be directed to a waiting room until a teacher has officially joined the class Meet link.

  • Guests not on the class roster will have to “ask to join” and be admitted by the teacher before they can participate, so no unintended participants join the meetings.

  • All designated co-teachers for a class will automatically be co-hosts in the meeting. This moderation tool will enable co-hosts to start the meeting with the same Meet link without the class teacher needing to be present.


Google chrome

Quick access to all types of files in chrome browser

When in a "New Tab", you can now type the title of a Drive document into the browser, and you can find a document you need quickly, and on the fly. See the video for an demonstration.

find a doc in chrome.webm

Google Docs

New! (10/25) Add items with @ menu

Google has added a universal insertion menu to easily add things like tables and images, in addition to smart chips, directly in Google Docs. Simply type “@”, and you’ll see a list of recommended files, people, meetings, as well as different content elements and formats to insert into your work. You can also search all available components.

@menu.webm
Checklist in docs.webm

New! (10/25) Checklist in docs

You can now create checklists in docs. If you had a project you wanted students to work on and wanted to be sure that completed specific tasks, create a doc, add a checklist, add items to that checklist and then share a copy with each kid via classroom. It is also super satisfying to check the boxes and feel that you have accomplished something!

add image Watermarks in Docs

You can now add your own image to a document that becomes a watermark. You can do this for your business class, your club, or for messages sent out through shufsd. Click here for more info.

Watermarks+in+Docs.webm

Google Forms

autosave in forms.webm

Auto Save feature

This feature is on by default in all forms, so if you do not want students' work to be autosaved, you need to go into settings, then presentation and turn it off.

recommendations for digital assignments.webm

recommended settings for quizzes

Some suggestions when you use forms for digital assessments:

  1. When putting it in google classroom, be sure it is the only attachment in the post, because the moment you add a link, a doc, or a video, you lose the "grade importing" feature from forms into google classroom

  2. Collect email addresses, this way you never have to worry about who has responded

  3. In settings, under "Make this a quiz", change the release grade feature to "Later after manual review"

  4. You can also scroll to the end of the settings and choose certain features to be your default moving forward

Google Meet

google sites

custom theme sites.webm

design custom themes in sites

You can now create with more freedom in google sites by creating your own theme - for a club, class, team, and more! If you would like more info, click here.