Google Meet Updates and Changes

March 2021 – last updated on 3/17

Hi, my name is Melissa Benson and I’m the Google for Education Technical Collaborative Lead at Amplified IT. Today, I will be reviewing the recent Google Meet changes and updates. Some of these will be coming later this year and some are rolling out as we speak. Let’s dive into these exciting updates.

Recap

Being a Google admin and dealing with changes and update announcements is just one aspect of your role. In the Collaborative, one of the ways we empower admins is to give a clear and concise review of this information. While the video gives a more in-depth look, below I’ve provided a simple list of updates, timeline, and edition.

All editions

  • New Admin console controls for who can join meetings, external controls.(Coming soon)

  • Debug issues with Meet logs data in Admin console, see external participant’s email address (Live today)

  • Meet will now work better if your device has low bandwidth (Coming soon)

  • Improvements to Meet on Chromebooks (Live today)

  • End meeting for everyone on the call, and prevent students from hanging around once the teacher has left (Live today)

  • Mute all and audio lock controls, Mute all (Live today); audio lock controls (coming in April)

  • Easily engage and express yourself with emoji reactions in Meet (Later this year)

  • Mobile host controls on iOS and Android (Coming soon)

  • New Meet/Classroom integrations make it easier to manage the virtual classroom (Later this year)

    • Students can’t join meet before the teacher

    • Only students and teachers in the Classroom roster can join by default

    • Anyone who is a Classroom teacher gets host controls

  • Co-moderators to make it make it easier to partner with other people helping facilitate the class (Later this year)

Standard and Plus

  • Conduct advanced analysis and take action with Meet logs data in the investigation tool (Live today)

  • Admin can end any meeting in their organization from the investigation tool (Later this year)

Teaching & Learning Upgrade and Plus

  • Set up breakout rooms ahead of time in Calendar (Live today)

  • Review what was discussed during class with meeting transcripts (Later this year)

If you feel alone in your Google environment and want a community to lean on, learn more about the Collaborative. If you’ve enjoyed this content, keep an eye out for our next edition of Melissa’s Collaborative Corner, where we review Google Classroom changes and updates. If you are not a member of the NAGTC, consider joining. This is our platform to learn and share. Reviewing the latest updates is a large part of what we do in the collaborative. Don’t Google Workspace alone – join us!

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  • Melissa Benson
    Google for Education Technical Collaborative Lead

  • About the Author:

    Melissa has been a Google Workspace for Education Consultant for Amplified IT since 2015. She began working with the Google for Education (GFE) Admin console in 2008 where she helped implement and integrate Google Workspace and Chromebooks into multiple K-12 school districts. Now, as part of the Amplified IT Team, she continues to help schools set up and manage Google Workspace environments with educational best practices with an emphasis on facilitating the North American Google Technical Collaborative.