Learning with Google: Announcements for 2021

Earlier today, Google held their global online livestream "Learning with Google."  Over the course of ninety minutes, they rolled out a roadmap of upcoming changes and upgrades to the Google platform happening between now and the end of the year.  It was a bit of an information blitz and I felt exhausted afterward trying to take notes and keep up.   If there was ever such a deluge of new Google announcements released in one afternoon, I can't remember it. 

As a way of digesting some of the highlights of their announcements, I thought I'd blog!   Let me say a disclaimer from the top: as much as I am trying to be accurate, I could have made an inaccurate note or the timetable might change.  So make sure you check directly with Google (like using the link to the Google Education blog entry above) to verify pricing and other details.

A Change of Name and Four Options

First, a question to make you feel your age:  did you know that Google Suite apps are over a decade old?  Hard to believe Docs and Drive started back in 2008.  As these tools grew from Google Apps for Education to G Suite for Education, many wondered if our free ride would end.   And it hasn't yet...at least, not quite.

The good news: Google says they are committed to a free option for education.  However, besides a name change to Google Workspace for Education (to better align with their actual Workspace business offering), it will now offer THREE premium paid tiers: Google Workspace for Education Standard, Teaching and Learning Upgrade, and Google Workspace for Education Plus.

What are the differences?

• Google Workspace for Education Fundamentals is basically the current free version of G Suite for Education. 
• Google Workspace for Education Standard will be available for $3 per student per year (and you have to purchase for all students in your domain all at once). It offers a bit extra over Fundamentals, but mainly on the admin side of the fence: enhanced security features, some log exporting, and easier data migration.
• Teaching and Learning Upgrade will be available for $4 per license, per adult, per month.  (Assuming you want the upgrade all year, that means $48.00 per staff member.) This granular distinction is important, in case you possibly only want certain staff to have this upgrade and only for a certain number of months.  Teaching and Learning includes originality reports for student work, a soon to launch Classroom Add Ons feature (see the below section for more details), and many of the previously announced Google Meet features like breakout rooms, recordings that do not expire after 30 days, and room polling.  As you decide which staff may need the upgrade, consider the people who will most likely be leading will need it.  For example, a staff member with the T & L upgrade who creates a Google Meet can have breakout rooms AND a non-upgraded staff or student attending such a Meet would still be able to interact in those breakout rooms; however, if a non-upgraded staff member creates a Meet, breakout rooms are not an option.   (One assumes features like Classroom Add Ons work in a similar way; it is a question of whether the creator of the Classroom has the upgrade or not.)
• Google Workspace for Education Plus -- formerly Google Enterprise for Education -- is the Cadillac version, available in April for $5 per student per year (and you have to purchase for all students in your domain all at once). It includes all the features of Education Standard AND Teaching and Learning Upgrade.  You also get some bonus features such as an interior Google search (allowing you to look up public Docs across your domain), livestream capability to 100K users, and a synching of Google Classroom rosters to your SIS (Student Information System, such as Infinite Campus).  As you budget and consider your options, definitely compare your total cost of upgrading all staff to Teaching and Learning versus the cost of upgrading your domain to Plus -- you may find that with just a little more expense, Plus provides maximum benefit.

From this point forward, when you hear a new Google feature launch, verify which tier it will apply to.  It may not be yours!  For more details on your options:

• Read this Google blog entry.
• A useful chart that compares the four editions is available here.

Google Classroom, Forms, Docs,  and Jamboard Upgrades

Fun fact: since February of 2020, Google Classroom has gone from 40 million users to 150 million worldwide!

Here are some other highlights rolling out by the end of the year:

• Google will launch a Classroom Add Ons "store."  This creates an opportunity to put certain outside tools inside of your Classroom Assignments -- students can access and complete them without leaving the tab, and then their scores/grades will go straight to the Classroom's gradebook.  Announced partners available at launch will include Nearpod and Kahoot.  Available with Teaching and Learning Upgrade or with Plus.
• There will be a "Student Engagement Tracking" to analyze student usage.  When did they last log in? What was the last thing they submitted?
• For admin, deeper and more detailed analytics of Classroom usage across the domain.  Available with Standards or with Plus.
• The mobile app version of Classroom will be able to work offline and will be more effective with intermittent Internet/cellular connection.  Additionally, a student using the Classroom app will have an easier time, and more options, for submitting pictures (such as taking a pic of a "paper and pencil" assignment).
• Rich Text Formatting is coming.  You can finally bold, italic, underline text! Add bulleted lists!
• Forms:  The angels must be singing, because Forms will begin saving your work in the background as you type and select.  No more lost information from accidentally leaving the page, closing the tab, or losing your Internet connection.  And if any of those things happen, you will be able to return to the Form and pick up where you left off.  (Data is remembered for 30 days or until the Form is submitted, whichever happens first.)  That includes Form Quizzes!
• Docs:  The Citations feature is improving with some smart suggestions. For those with Education Plus, Google is adding an "Approval" feature under File; you would be able to submit your Doc to selected members of your team to "sign off" on your work.
• Jamboard: you will finally be able to track changes and see edits made by your students!
• For more details and other coming Classroom features, read this Google blog entry.

A preview of "Student Engagement Tracking" in Google Classroom coming later this year.

Google Meet

What would so many of us do without Meet during pandemic teaching?  Therefore, and not surprisingly, Google spent some significant time talking about the future of Meet.

Google first tipped their hand to the start of premium tiers with Meet features that were exclusive for those that paid for Enterprise, such as beloved breakout rooms.  In fairness to Google, however, not all of its upgrades cost money, and some of the future ones will be for (free) Fundamentals unless otherwise noted.

• At the end of the meeting, teachers will have the option to end the Meet for all participants, including those in breakout rooms.  That means no more students possibly staying on to chat without you.
• In the next few weeks, you will be able to mute all participants, and choose whether students can unmute themselves.
• Starting in August, there will be several improvements for Meets that are integrated into a Google Classroom:
• students will not be able to join the Meet until a teacher starts it
• only students and teachers of that Classroom can join that Meet
• all teachers of that Classroom will have moderator controls
• In Google Calendar, breakout room participants can be determined in advance while creating a calendar event.  Available with Teaching and Learning Upgrade and with Plus.
• Besides hand raising, students will also be able to react with emojis -- and in a wonderful nod to diversity, can change the skin tone of the emojis to better reflect themselves.
• Meet will also be better optimized to work with lower strength WiFi.
• For more details and other coming Meet features, read this Google blog entry.

Chromebooks

Admittedly, I was a bit surprised to hear newsworthy updates for Chromebooks and its Chrome OS, but they included:

• Starting with Chrome 89 (launching March 9), the OS for Chromebooks will include a built in screen recording tool!  This may replace your current screen recording apps like Screencastify that need to be separately installed and may have limited recording times.
• Google Meet will be optimized for Chromebooks and Chrome, which will especially be welcome when multitasking or for Chromebooks near their end of life.  This may become important as more anecdotes and news stories come out about Chromebooks struggling with other teleconferencing platforms that could also be shortening their life cycle.
• More Chromebooks will be offered with dual cameras, allowing students to better take pictures or record videos beyond selfies.

Accessibility and the Future of Assistive Technology

While "Accessibility" has always been part of Chrome settings that follow you across devices, Google announced some upcoming features such as multiple options for changing your cursor color.  (For more on Google and accessibility, check out this link.)  The livestream ended with an interesting discussion on the future of Google as assistive technology.  Consider "assistive" as any way to augment or make your life easier; for example, Chrome remembering your password or autofilling your shipping address.  Artificial Intelligence, however, is making the possibilities even more intriguing.  AI may become your next classroom Instructional Assistant!  (And yes, I'm trademarking the acronym AIIA.).  Google shared how districts are utilizing Google Cloud Success Services to create a chat virtual assistant, and in one example, it was able to solve 92% of user inquiries on its own.  Other examples include typing an equation into the Google search button and getting a step by step explanation of the solution (something you can do now with the mobile Google Lens app), or typing "[kind of problem] practice problems" to get virtual self-tutoring. 

An example of searching "linear equations practice problems." Note that you not only get those practice problems, but an overview, examples and more!

Between the product announcements, the livestream shared some inspirational pandemic teaching stories from across the world. Diana Parra, Professor of Information and Technology in Medellin, Columbia, said: "My challenge at the moment as a teacher, is to take the technical things we know, and amidst a crisis, to make them human."  May we all do our best to take the digital tools at our disposal to make our teaching not about the Internet or Google Apps or the device but the human student at the other side of our screen.  Our teaching may not be in person, but we can still try to make it personal.  

If you're interested in watching the archived livestream, here is the video (1 hour 37 minutes): 

What is an upcoming Google feature that makes you excited?  Share in the Comments below!

Edit 2/19/21: The archived video of the livestream is now published, and I added it to the blog entry.  Also, I made a small edit about the Forms update - an incomplete Form is only saved for 30 days or until it is submitted, whichever comes first.

Edt 2/23/21: After watching a presentation today by AmplifiedIT, a few more clarifications and corrections: The new Doc Approval feature is only available for Education Plus, Chrome 89 is launching March 9, and I explained what could potentially happen when T & L upgraded staff interact with non-upgraded staff.

Edit 4/28/21:  I was made aware that the Teaching and Learning upgrade license is based on a MONTHLY fee, not annually like Standard and Plus.  I updated the information above to reflect this, as well as included a useful Google resource that compares the editions side by side.

Flubaroo, Doctopus, and Goobric

Today, I thought I would discuss a very obscure, hardly ever used edtech tool:  Google.

Ahhh, I kid of course.  Of all the questions I got asked most often by teachers in our district this year, the top one must have been, "When will we get Google Apps for Education [GAFE, which rhymes with "laugh"] for Shelby County?"   (Unlike the public version of Google Drive, no individual can get GAFE; the district has to decide to activate it. ) So, Shelby County took the plunge mid-April, and we have been quietly having teachers activate their accounts over the last few weeks.   We won't stay quiet for long, though!  We are about to kick off a PD plan based on the "train the trainers" model.   First, a school team was chosen by each principal, consisting of a teacher, the Library Media Specialist, the Instructional Coach, and a district person (for example, I am a part of Wright Elementary's team).  All of these teams came together and were trained on Google in mid-May (thanks Laura Raganas!) and will lead several days of PD in the first week of June, right after our Closing Day.

When discussing GAFE, one of the key questions that come up is, "How is GAFE different than 'regular' Google Drive?"  Let's begin by first addressing the ways they are similar.  Drive in both modes still allows you create, collaborate with, and share files and folders.  They both have the same productivity apps (Docs, Sheets, Slides, Forms and others) that allow you to make documents in the cloud in a way that never gets lost and constantly gets saved in the background.  However, there are some differences worth noting.  Here are some, but by no means all:

• GAFE has an unlimited Drive space per user (compared to 15 GB for the public version).
• GAFE operates in a "walled garden."  Besides the typical private/unlisted/public versions of regular Google documents, Sites, Blog, etc., you can also choose that certain things are only visible to users logged into the school domain.
• GAFE users have access to Google Classroom, while public Google users do not.*
• Many of the GAFE users' functions, such as Chrome apps and extensions, can be easily managed and pushed out by an admin console controlling the domain.

All of this info about GAFE is really just to give some context about today's entry.  These tools hold a lot of promise in transforming the way we collaborate and teach in our district.  One intriguing Google tool in particular is Google Forms, which is unlike Docs, Sheets, and Slides in that there is no direct Microsoft program that is its doppleganger.  At its most basic, Forms allows you to compile information from recipients -- this could be as simple as a survey.   Share the link and anyone can click on it to get to the Form and answer the questions. When you create a Form, a corresponding Sheet is made where the submissions are automatically organized and saved.   That said, it's the ability to use Google Forms as an assessment tool with students that I'm particularly excited about.  A survey could just as easily be a quiz and you could use the Sheet to review and grade answers manually.  However, what if you had a way to grade instantly, easily distribute copies of a template, and assess using a rubric that automatically attached itself to the bottom of a student's Doc?   Then you need Flubaroo, Doctopus, and Goobric.  The best part?  All three are free!

Flubaroo is a Google Add-on that is done on the Google Sheet where the submitted answers have gone.  (Find Add-on's like Flubaroo under Sheets top menu Add-ons > Get Add-Ons.  Each Add-on has to be installed with permissions given to run only once; afterwards, your Add-On will be available to run on all future Sheets when needed.)  Note that you as the teacher have to submit a correct set of answers via the Form for this to work, as Flubaroo will use this submission for an answer key.  Watch this video for how Flubaroo can grade your student's answers.  It's very easy and only takes a few times of practice before you will be an expert!

Doctopus is also another Add-on for Sheets.  It allows you to take an existing Google file -- for example, a Google Doc -- and easily send copies of it to a series of students from a previously created roster.  This in essence makes your document into a reproducible template, where the "copy" version will have its own unique file name that the student can edit without messing up your original, then share back to you for assessment.  (Note that Google Classroom does a very similar function.)  This video helps explain how to use Doctopus (thanks Jay Atwood!) as well as some general info on Google Add-ons:

Goobric is a Chrome app instead of a true Add-on.  Once installed on your Chrome browser, you are ready to partner up with Doctopus.  Goobric will take that shared template edited by your student and use a rubric (created by you, or now from a library of pre-made resources) that you can score.  This scored rubric, along with written feedback, will be attached to the bottom of the student's copy (IF it's a Google Doc) which means the student can easily see and review it.  Now you have a way of assessing more than just multiple choice quizzes; grading essays or projects can be done digitally as well.   This last video (again by Jay Atwood) walks through how to use Goobric:

Of course, there are other helpful Add-ons, but hopefully this gives you a sense of how Google Forms can truly change our efficacy and save time.   Good luck playing with these tools!

Do you use Flubaroo, Doctopus or Goobric?  What do you think of them, and how have you used them?  Share your Comments below.

*Although available to all GAFE users, we decided not to include training on Google Classroom next week for two reasons.  First, it allows us to spend more training time on other tools.  Second, we will get training on a true, robust Learning Management System when one is picked by the district and it rolls out in Fall 2015.   Starting next school year, you could decide to use Google Classroom if your students' GAFE accounts are added to the domain.

UPDATE 4/28/20: This entry remains popular (or so the Blogger metrics tell me), but since it was written nearly five years ago, it's probably not a surprise that many things have changed and updated since it was published.  I will share three things.  First: a few years ago, Google opened up Google Classroom to ALL Google accounts, so you no longer have to have an "educational domain" to use it.  Second: Google Forms now integrates a quiz feature inside of the tool that also includes a grading option, which perhaps makes some of the tools above redundant (go under the Settings gear icon to make a Form a quiz and follow these directions).  Third: while some of the add-ons above are still available and remain popular, Google Classroom integrated several of these features into itself. For example, inside of Classroom, you can make a template and "pass out" personalized (named) copies to your students, much like Doctopus could do; however, you can now do it easily and without the time-consuming use of Sheets and add-ons indicated above.

Lenovo Yoga: fixing your audio for HDMI connection

The new Southside Elementary, which just opened in August 2014, is unique in our district when it comes to technology.  As they built the school, they made sure that input plates to the new projectors reflected current standards.  Therefore, one of the ways you can hook up to the projector is via HDMI.

Yesterday, as I was preparing for some PD I will have here on Feb. 13 (topics include Google Forms, Augmented Reality, and SMART Board power tips), I plugged in my Lenovo Thinkpad Yoga device to a SMART board.  First, in order for the SMART Board to work as a touchscreen and use the Notebook '11 software, you need to plug the Yoga via a USB cord to the input plate.  Here's the first hurdle: you need to use the USB on the RIGHT side of the Yoga or you will get an error message.  Next, you need the display to show up on the screen. The Lenovo Yoga has a mini-HDMI port on the right side, whereas the wall plate has a normal size HDMI input.  This leads us to the second hurdle: make sure you pick up a mini-HDMI to regular size HDMI cord (one online store with good prices is here).

Now, I got the display on the screen, and the SMART board's touch capability was working fine.   However, I could not get my sound to come through the room's speakers!  So that leads us to the final hurdle: you need to update your Lenovo's drivers to get both video AND audio to output via your HDMI cable.

1. Go to the Lenovo Thinkpad Yoga driver website.
2. Look for the "Conextant CX20751 Audio Driver for Windows 8.1 (64 bit)" (see picture below).
3. Download and install the driver.  This will take a few minutes and require a restart of the Lenovo Yoga.
4. After a successful installation, there is nothing you should have to do; when your HDMI is hooked to a display, both video and audio should automatically work.

Two final thoughts before I end this entry:

• If you are having other issues with your Lenovo, check out some previous Edtech Elixirs entries.
• The driver fix above will need to be done regardless of what display device your Lenovo Yoga is hooked up to via HDMI.  For example, if you plug it up to your HDTV, you still need to update the driver or the sound will not come through the TV's speakers.

TUIT: Mindi Keiner-Rummel, EMS

Mindi Keiner-Rummel is a veteran educator.  In her 23 year career she has been a teacher, counselor, and administrator. Mrs. Keiner-Rummel has been at East Middle School since 2005, mainly in the role of ECE teacher, but also recently as a Math Intervention specialist.

Mindi is also proof that even after more than two decades in education, you should never stop learning and growing . . . particularly in edtech, which is why she is getting a #ShelbyTUITshoutout.  To help her team of teachers gather data on students, she created a Google Form for the first time.  Now they can easily submit observation data on the fly, and the information goes to the Form's Google Sheet for later analysis by Mindi.  Additionally, she is using Symbaloo.  Mrs. Keiner-Rummel first saw it in a differentiated instruction/ELL PD that I had at EMS, and realized its potential for organizing and sharing resources with others in a graphical interface.

Symbaloo is a free and easy tool to use.  You create a "webmix" of resources by making tiles that are directly linked to URLs.  (No long web addresses to type -- just click and go!) The tiles can be customizable in different colors and icons.  Once ready, you can publish the webmix and share the URL for others to visit.  You can edit it as often as you like.  Symbaloo can help with DI. Imagine color-coding tiles red for one group of students, blue for another, and so on; when students visit the webmix, they know what resources/content/activities they are to click on by what color grouping the teacher has assigned.   Of course, you can make many different webmixes: one for each period, for each grade level, etc.  It should be noted that Symbaloo is not limited to webmixes created by teachers. Here is a popular video made by a 7th grader where she discusses using Symbaloo to organize her "personal learning environment" (PLE):

Mindi has been working on a Symbaloo with math sites her colleagues can use. Click and check it out!  Again, it is a work in progress, but already has several useful sites for middle school math.

Mrs. Keiner-Rummel inspired me to finally make my own Symbaloo.  So here's a "Greatest Hits" of my favorite edtech from my various presentations and blog entries so far.  Note the deliberate arrangement of the tiles.  On the left side is student productivity tools, top center is apps, bottom center is data collection/formative assessment tools that create reports and allow tracking of performance, and the right side is tools that help a teacher better organize or manage their classroom environment. (When you are the creator of the webmix, Symbaloo gives you an embed code to plug it directly into your website, as I've done below.)


Congrats to Mindi for her well deserved #ShelbyTUITshoutout!

EdCampKY, a Postscript

Whoa! Wow! (And afterwards: Whew!)  Just over one week after the first EdcampKY in Bardstown, Kentucky, I am still trying to decompress the good ideas from the "unconference," and can't wait for it to continue on a regular basis throughout the state.

I'll get to a list of my takeaways from EdcampKY in a moment, but first things first.  As powerful as Twitter and other social media platforms are, it's always a treat to see colleagues face to face again  (Donnie Piercey, James Allen, Loretta Shake, Matt Arledge), or for the first time (Mike Paul).

Before I forget, I should also mention that it was a pleasure to meet the principal (Wes Bradley) and assistant principal (Heather Warrell) of the host site, Thomas Nelson High School.  Only three years old, it is built for innovation and collaboration.  Several times I wandered into a classroom and couldn't tell if I was in a high school, or a college campus, or a corporate retreat.  The culture of learning is palpable.  (I took several Twitter pics of the facility, so scroll back through my tweets if interested.)

So, narrowed down, here are six things I learned from Edcamp.

1. The "unconference" approach to PD:  As an organizer of professional development myself, it is extremely hard to see how you could leave it to chance and teacher initiative what the topics of sessions might be until the very morning of your conference, much less who might moderate or facilitate them.  But that's what an unconference does.  Although session assignments are sometimes done with index cards taped to a wall, Google Sheets filled out by the Edcamp organizers provided a digital way to keep the latest session information on track. Also, a true session in such an environment is more of a "give and take" discussion than a "sit and get" presentation.  I think there was a bit of a struggle sometimes to accept this, both for moderators wanting to share their expertise and for the attendees.  However, some of the best sessions were ones where educators popcorned their thoughts around the room.   In the end, an unconference model may just be a cure for the summertime PD blues -- creating opportunity for teacher leadership, time for discussion, and immediacy for feeding educators the exact learning they need, when they need it.

2.  KET Board Builder: Amy Grant shared several of the resources available through the various KET digital resources of EncycloMedia (PBS LearningMedia, Discovery Education, and KET ED On Demand).  While I knew there was plenty there, I usually don't have time to explore it, so that was appreciated info. One of the bigger finds was the Board Builder, a way of creating a electronic "poster" by only adding multimedia from within KET's own resources, making it filtered and vetted.  These Boards require a login and can only be shared with other users within the site, but it might especially be a welcome multimedia tool for those wanting a safe project tool for younger students.

3.  Google Form Add-Ons:  Recently I have experimented with running scripts with Google Forms, giving you ways to unlock even more powerful tools. (If you are interested in the same, here's a page about them.)  Scripts are not easy, and have to be installed every time you want to run them.  However, Google Forms finally have Add-Ons (as a menu choice at the top of an opened Form), some of which recreate functions previously available only in complicated scripts.  Better than that, once installed they can be used over and over and in an easy to use way.  My favorites so far are Choice Eliminator (which takes a multiple choice option away as someone choose one and submits the form -- perfect for scheduling meetings or "first come first serve" project choices) and Form Values (which allows you to save recurring lists of answer choices for questions, like all the schools in the district, to easily insert them repeatedly into Forms).

4.  Shelfies.  A librarian shared this term in one of the session discussions, and I love the idea.  Take a picture of your bookshelf and share it with others.  That lead me to brainstorm a little app-smashing: annotate the picture with Thinglink, adding URLS to author websites, book trailer videos of students chatting up the book, or text-based information.  Stick an iPad near the shelf with the Thinglink on view, and your "shelfie" will now come to life for students, becoming an interactive kiosk. (As it turns out, I'm not the first to brainstorm this idea.  For example, here's one in German.)

5.  NewsELA.   This site takes actual up-to-date news articles and provides an incredible service for teachers and students needing differentiation and more non-fiction, as required by Core Content: you can scale the reading by adjusting the complexity of the text at one of five different levels.  Most have comprehension quizzes as well.  You are limited to five articles without registering, but once you do, you have unlimited access.

6.  Photomath.  This free app is currently available for iOS and Windows (Android coming in 2015); with it, Mike Paul easily won the Edcamp Tech Slam.  It's not hard to see why.  Magic seems the only plausible way that it can work. Using a bit of augmented reality technology, scan a math worksheet that is printed (NOT handwritten) and Photomath will not only solve the equation, but show you the steps on how to get there.  Scary?  A bit. It's technology like this that reminds us that students can get the answers without us, so it is up to teachers to change the questions and make sure students can do the thinking.  Here's a video of it in action:


PhotoMath from MicroBLINK on Vimeo.

Looking forward to returning to another Edcamp soon.   Until then, I'll occasionally check in on the hashtag #edcampky and continue following their Twitter account.

Have you used any of the tools above?  Do you have questions about an "unconference"?  If you went to the 10/25 EdcampKY, what did you think?  Please Comment below.