Google announced this Wednesday (17) some new features for its video calling and meeting tool, Google Meet. The releases include a way for the teacher or school to transcribe the audio of a class that has already taken place, allowing the created text to be sent to students.
New features come to Google Meet (Image: disclosure/Google)
Gradually, the search giant has been adding features to Google Meet, as has recently happened with the arrival of an attendance list at meetings and the possibility of raising your hand, virtually, to be able to draw attention and speak. This time the company brings another package of new tools, focusing on their use in schools.
The first ones involve greater control by the teacher within the class that is taught by the service’s video call. The first novelty is the possibility of preventing anonymous users from accessing the created group, along with listing which participants can write in the room’s text chat.
The educator can also end the call for all students simultaneously. The promise to deliver these features on Google Meet is set for “over the next few months.” Still under control of the room, but with arrival in the next few weeks, is the possibility of muting the audio of everyone present at the same time. This tool will be expanded in the near future, allowing the teacher to indicate when participants can remove the muted microphone for the entire room, or set the threshold for each one.
Teachers on Google Meet will be able to mute all microphones at once (Image: disclosure/Google)
The transcript of a meeting or class to text is expected to be released only sometime later this year. In it, the teacher can use the resource to send information presented to students who were unable to participate in the class, or use parts of the call in future moments.
In both cases, the teacher will be able to review the transcribed content throughout the class, correct any errors or remove some part, and then store or share it with their students.
Participants can react on Google Meet with emojis
Another novelty, also expected to arrive at the end of this year, is the possibility of reacting to what a speaker or professor says in a meeting. The feature will be present in the same icon responsible for raising the hand, with options to respond with a thumbs up, a laugh, a heart, bursting confetti and the wave of a single hand.
Google Meet with reaction and skin tones (Image: publicity/Google)
For stickers that involve skin, it is possible to configure a specific tone for all subsequent reactions, making the default color for the conversation – a configuration made by each user, not by the teacher or lecturer.
Other novelties are focused on the class administration screen. They include the possibility to control whether students from one school can participate in classes from another institution, going to the insertion of a tool capable of ending all video calls in progress across the entire school.
Finally, users who use a Chromebook or tablet with Chrome OS to attend classes or meetings held by Google Meet, will notice a small improvement in the performance of the laptop at this time. The improvements introduced by the service’s development team will be present in the capture of audio, video and even when other windows are opened during an active call.
