Google Meet

Using Meet:

Best used for

  • Office hours
  • Advising sessions
  • Student group assignments
  • Components of mostly face-to-face small seminar classes when the students are, at times, in many different locations, especially if the classes are upper level or graduate.

Unique features and applications for teaching

  • Screen sharing of Google Docs is integrated within the platform. This makes creating group projects, presentations, and spreadsheets easier for students to share.
  • Using Google+, faculty can organize students into Circles.
    • Class Circles can be used to invite the entire class to a discussion.
    • Circles can be used to segment students into groups and facilitate meetings and collaboration on group projects.
    • Topic Circles can be created where students are assigned a topic to be discussed prior to class. Questions can also be assigned that you would like answered in the next class session.
  • YouTube is integrated in the platform and can be used to:
    • Present prepared materials or items of interest (e.g. current or archived news items).
    • Provide examples and illustrations.
    • Speak over a recorded demonstration.

Set up advising sessions or office hours

  • By appointment – invite a specific person at a specific time.
  • Open – log on and create a Hangout visible to any group of students. Keep the window open for a specific period of time and allow students to “drop in.”

Special considerations for best practices

  • The screen is organized with the speaker highlighted in the center and the rest of the participants lined up along the bottom of the screen. The person speaking “has the floor,” so extra noise or speaking out of turn can interrupt the flow. Therefore:
    • It is important to set rules for how to take turns speaking at the outset. Write up and distribute those guidelines in advance of the sessions.
    • Make sure students are aware that ambient noise (music, tapping) might be enough to give them inadvertent voice-activated “control” of the session.
Google Meet can be initiated via Google Calendar or through a Google+ account. The link to Meet can also be sent to students via email. One can make a permanent link as a meeting space for various needs (office hours, group discussions, etc).