Waco ISD: Google Applications
An introduction to Google Apps for Education in WISD
What is Google Workspace for Education?
Productivity suite that embraces the 4 C’s of 21st Century Learning (Communication, Collaboration, Creativity, and Critical Thinking)
Suite includes a word processor (Google Docs), a spreadsheet tool (Google Sheets), a presentation tool (Google Slides), and a learning management system (Google Classroom), Video Conferencing (Google Meets) and a Team Collaboration Space (Google Chat Spaces).
Google Meet vs. Zoom
Because we have upgraded to Google Workspace for Education, we now have advanced features for Google Meets that allows us to utilize that application for video conferencing vs. Zoom. Below are some of the features that Google Meets for Education Plus has for our teachers and students.
- Video conferences for up to 500 participants (Zoom has up to 100)
- Dedicated link and easy set up in Google Classroom (Zoom has to be set up)
- Teachers are automatically set up as the host (Zoom has to be set up)
- For meetings started within Classroom, only students and teachers in the class can join. (Zoom allows others to join)
- Sharing screens from Google Drive, Docs, Sheets, and Slides (Zoom has to be added)
- Record meetings directly to your Google Drive automatically (Zoom is added expense)
- Attendance tracking with automated reports (Zoom has this as well)
- Noise cancellation (Zoom as well)
- Automatically transcribe the meet (Zoom is added expense)
- Control presenting features and who can present (Zoom has this as well)
- Mute individuals or everyone at once (Zoom has this as well)
- Eject people from the meet (Zoom has this as well)
- Automatically block anonymous attendees (Zoom has to be set up)
- Video Lock or turn off video for all (Zoom does not have this feature)
- Live captioning in a range of languages (Zoom is optional)
- Digital whiteboards (Zoom has this as well)
- Breakout Rooms (Zoom has this as well)
- Q and A & Polls (Zoom has this as well)
- Live Stream to people in wacoisd.org (Zoom does not have this)
- Live Stream to public outside of wacoisd.org (Zoom does not have this)
The best part of Google meets is that you already have an account with your Waco ISD Gmail account. It is ready to go!
Resources:
Learn more about Google Meets and video conferencing here.
Before we Begin...
Training for all the Google Suites for Education can be accessed by signing up and choosing your desired course from TCEA here.
You can also go here --> for support and learning from Google
Icons and Terminology
Google Drive
Google Docs
Google Slides
Faculty & Staff Helpdesk
Please remember that if you need assistance with your technology, the helpdesk is here to assist you.
- navigate to https://helpdesk.wacoisd.org/
- Sign in with your Waco ISD username and password.
- Click on Have a problem? Report it.. or the Want Software? (This is for all district approved software)
- Or you can: call 254-755-9599 Monday - Friday 7:30AM - 5:00PM or email helpdesk@wacoisd.org
Waco ISD Technology Services
Email: helpdesk@wacoisd.org
Website: wacoisd.org
Location: 112 South 6th Street, Waco, TX, USA
Twitter: @jerrynallen_