Today is the day and the perfect opportunity to show all your teachers how much easier it is to ‘Jam’ with Google’s latest feature update for Jamboard. This update allows for the creation and editing of jams from the web and it also offers a new “View Only” mode.
For those who might not have Jamboard on the radar, Google’s Jamboard is a whiteboard-like touch display (think smartboard) you can use for class collaboration and presentations. Teachers and students can draw on it or shuffle through slide decks and directly access and edit Docs, Sheets, Slides, and photos that are stored in their Drive folders. The idea of a “jam” is when students collaborate by writing notes, pulling content from the web, and adding images to a document that is stored in Google drive and easily shared.
As an admin, this isn’t quite as groundbreaking, but for your teachers – this is a much-requested and anticipated update. Until this update, the ability to edit and/or collaborate on a jam has been limited to touch devices (think tablet, touch-screen Chromebook, or smartphone). Expanding to non-touch devices means that all the students in a class can join in and collaborate on a session using their web browser on any device. GAME CHANGER.
The other part of the update, view only mode, allows the sharing of a jam with only giving view permissions. A great reason for this functionality is to offer teachers a way to share an assignment with students without giving them the ability to edit or change. While Jamboard is still in its infancy and there are still many desired features yet to come, it is worthwhile exploring Jams with instructional staff and using them for departmental collaborative brainstorms. And who knows, before long you may look around at the implementation of Jams and think ‘we be Jammin’.
If you have any questions on best practices for your Admin console settings in consideration to Jamboard, consider joining our Google Technical Collaborative.
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Kendal Shomura
Google Consultant -
About the Author:
Kendal Shomura joined the Amplified IT team in 2018 after 7 years working in Public Schools as an educator, Instructional Coach, Technology Integration Specialist, and as a Professor in Masters of Educational Technology program at Touro University. He spent 3 years as a Google Administrator while training staff on how to integrate Google Workspace tools into their classrooms. Kendal’s wide array of experiences with Educational Technology allows him to understand the important nuances of technology in schools. Today, he is a Google for Education Consultant who works to help schools better understand their Google environment and empowers them to configure Google Workspace in the most optimum way for student safety while still allowing for robust usage of the tools.