{"id":6557,"date":"2020-08-11T18:40:00","date_gmt":"2020-08-11T18:40:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/aviancetechnologies.com\/blog\/what-remote-learning-will-look-like-this-fall-in-meet-teams-and-zoom\/"},"modified":"2020-08-11T18:40:00","modified_gmt":"2020-08-11T18:40:00","slug":"what-remote-learning-will-look-like-this-fall-in-meet-teams-and-zoom","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/aviancetechnologies.com\/blog\/what-remote-learning-will-look-like-this-fall-in-meet-teams-and-zoom\/","title":{"rendered":"What remote learning will look like this fall in Meet, Teams, and Zoom"},"content":{"rendered":"

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What remote learning will look like this fall in Meet, Teams, and Zoom<\/h2>\n

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In March and early April, schools flipped from in-school instruction to distance learning seemingly overnight. Now, this fall, teachers using Microsoft Teams, Google Classroom and Meet, and Zoom are returning to teach online once again.<\/p>\n

How each teacher and school district will use each tool may vary. But we\u2019ve spoken with Microsoft and Google, and teachers who are using these applications, to understand what each \u201cvirtual classroom\u201d experience will be like when kids go back to school this fall, and how it will differ from this past spring.<\/p>\n

Signing up school districts and teaching students the ins and outs of their respective platforms is an enormous strategic win for tech platforms like Google and Microsoft. Both companies have rolled out a dizzying rush of new features to meet the urgent demands of these users.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Google\u2019s traditional advantage has been in hardware. Its cheap, managed Chromebooks have served as a vehicle to install Google Classroom and Meet inside American school districts.\u00a0Part of Microsoft\u2019s benefit is that it can offer a powerful, integrated suite of applications, including Microsoft Office, Teams, and FlipGrid.\u00a0Finally, there\u2019s Zoom, the videoconferencing service that\u2019s now become ubiquitous with video chat.<\/p>\n

Google: Catching up in a big way<\/h2>\n

In New York State, Zoom offered a number of features that Google didn\u2019t when the school systems suddenly flipped to distanced learning, according to\u00a0Bill Vacca, Director of Instructional Technology at Mohonasen Central School District in Rotterdam, NY. But among Microsoft, Google, and Zoom, Google was the only company that had filed the requisite certificate to meet Education Law Section 2-d, which governs data privacy\u2014which meant that the state adopted Google\u2019s G Suite for Education, including Google Classroom and Google Meet. Though the others have now filed their certificates, that readiness gave Google a leg up.<\/p>\n

\"Google<\/a> Google<\/small>
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An example of Google Classroom from a student\u2019s perspective.<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Google\u2019s ecosystem is based upon G Suite. Google Classroom provides a hub to direct students to specific tasks, which they can perform with Google Docs, Slides, Keep, and other applications. Meetings are conducted by Meet. Schools can choose from the free G Suite for Education, or else pay for G Suite Enterprise for Education, which adds more advanced features. (Google provides a detailed comparison chart<\/a>\u00a0of the two flavors.)<\/p>\n

On Tuesday, Google will launch what the company calls The Anywhere School, to introduce Google Classroom\u2019s new features for in-person and remote learning for the fall. Many of Google\u2019s new Meet features will be familiar, as they were announced in June: a 49-person view that will debut in September, custom and blurred virtual backgrounds that can be managed by administrators rolling out in October, alongside breakout rooms and attendance tracking; plus Meet\u2019s new integration with Google\u2019s Jamboard digital whiteboard and more.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Google<\/a> Google<\/small>
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A stream of assignments within Google Classroom.<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Google plans to announce a few new features as well for Classroom, according to Zach Yeskel, a product manager for Google. Improvements for the To-Do page within Classroom are being added to help see what\u2019s coming up. As a hedge against first-day setup problems, students can be sent a link to join Classroom directly. New administrator dashboards will also be available.\u00a0<\/p>\n