With the digitalization of Indian education from classrooms to the online mode of education, Google has been one of the keys that helps students of all ages. Be it students or teachers, Google has been the main source of information for everyone with the transformation of education. The giant internet search engine, Google has updated itself for the benefit of students and teachers. Google has introduced tools for being of better help to students and teachers in their process of online education. It is said that Google will be adding around fifty new features in the Google Classroom App and the Google Meet App.

What’s New in Google?

The 50 new features will mainly be for promoting education in remote India. Due to the pandemic caused by the Covid-19 virus, learning through applications is in trend. In this situation, Google has been the aid to millions of students in India. During the lockdown, Google had launched “Teach from Anywhere” in which there were seven different languages other than English, with the help of this app about nine lakh students could get the facility of remote education. To offer more control and options to teachers and educators, the G Suite for Education is now being updated to Google Workspace for Education. The free version of G Suite for Education will be renamed as Google Workspace for Fundamentals for Education, and no improvements would be seen to users of this edition except for the new name and new features.

Offline Mode of Classroom Introduced by Google:

The Google classroom application will now have offline mode as well. Even when the students are offline, they will be able to access the given assignments, drive attachments, and also write assignments in Google Docs while being offline.

Tracking the Activity of the Students:

Google has added a feature that will help the teachers or the authorities to access the student's activity in Google classrooms. The student’s engagement in class, the time when one enters and leaves class will be recorded using this feature.

To Utilize These Features, Do We Need a Premium Account?

These are some of the features we will be discussing here, teachers will be able to mute all the students from their end so that they do not unmute themselves and make unwanted noise. A window is created where students will get to upload the pictures of their assignments in a single document. In this way their work, research and assignments will be recorded. Teachers get to end the meeting for all the students with one click. Once the teacher ends the meeting, no one will be able to continue being a part of the meeting. A hand-raising feature will be added in Meet, later this year, to help students ask questions. Adding to this, G Suite Enterprise for Education will come with a new question and answer and also a polling feature to engage students. To access these facilities all you have to do is download Google Classrooms from the Play Store on your phone. The rest does not require any payment. Your institution or school can have their server using the premium account. It is totally up to your school or college and you will not require a premium account.

Are These Features Helpful to Students and Teachers?

These features are very helpful for students and teachers especially when the mode of education has evolved and has become digitized. With the influence of the pandemic, education has seen a backset especially for students who are less privileged. But Google has tried to make things easier for students to learn and know from home. Sitting for examinations through Google Classrooms is also very easy and easily accessible. A wider tiled view with up to 49 participants and a shared whiteboard with Jamboard will be available at Meet, in September, to enhance interaction during the virtual sessions. For teachers, with a simple turn, the Classroom Android app will have an enhanced mobile grading system that would allow them to rate student submissions and exchange feedback.

Exclusive Features of Google:

Google Meet would have a feature that would allow multiple hosts for a meeting, enabling educators to collaborate easily with other facilitators. It would have moderator controls for all hosts of the conference. However, this function will be released later this year. Not only that, but teachers will also have the option of finishing the meeting for all, which would allow teachers to ensure that after the teachers have left, no students hang on in the meeting. Blurred backgrounds will arrive at Meet in October for more privacy. As part of G Suite Enterprise for Education, attendance monitoring during virtual meetings, and breakout rooms, so that a class can be divided into smaller groups for simultaneous discussions, will also be available in the same month.

What about Students who do not have Stable Connectivity?

Other resources would discuss the realities of attending classes from home, where internet connections are not always secure, or not accessible at all for certain low-income students. Students will be able to start their work offline, review activities, open Drive attachments and write in Google Docs without an internet connection with an updated Classroom Android app. All educational clients, coming later this year, will be able to use the temporary recording feature to record and store a meeting and post the recording within their jurisdiction for up to 30 days before the video expires.

Final Words:

The company also offers moderator controls such as disabled in-meeting chat, end meetings for all members, management of join requests, and an alternative requiring an instructor to join a meeting. The originality of your assignments and homework will automatically run a plagiarism test which will state your creativity of the work. Soon 15 languages will be available on teams other than English. Google is one of the best platforms for online education now. It is also trying to improve its facilities and make learning easier far and wide in every corner of India.