We have made it to our last day of Google, Day 10. Today, I am going to mention random google things that really don’t connect to one another. Why you ask? Why not!
YEAR END SEARCH
I always look forward to seeing what Google is going to share with us at the end of the year. They take a look at what had been searched throughout the year and put a video collage together. It is an opportunity to reflect on what has happened over the year. A lot happens in just a single year. At times, I forget about something or think to myself wow, it was that long ago? To see this years video, click HERE or watch below.
After watching the video, take a few minutes to see trends from the year (Year in Search 2021). You have the ability to see what caught peoples’ attention, who inspired people, and see what questions people had in common. This could be a great opportunity for students to look at stats.
For instance, did you know that…
- The world search “how to start a business” more than “how to get a job” in 2021.
- “How to move with plants” was search more than “how to move with pets” and “how to move with kids”, in 2021.
- “How to maintain mental healthy” was searched more this year than ever before globally.
These stats, and many more, can be found in the ‘explore the trends’ section of the website.
You can also encourage students to take a look at ‘see the top trends lists’ button toward the very bottom of the page. On the page students can look at the data on a particular item. In the gif example below, I looked at NBA search results, starting worldwide. Then I made the change to see what the graph looked like with United States selected only. Then I wanted to make a comparison with NBA and WNBA.
GOOGLE MEET UPDATES
While many teachers aren’t necessarily using Google Meet with their students this year, I still think it is good for everyone to know what new features are available.
Using Meet in Google Classroom
- Now, if a google classroom has multiple teachers as co-teachers, all teachers are now considered meeting hosts – which means both teachers are seeing host controls. Again, this holds true if you are using a meet link through Google Classroom.
- Now, if a student clicks on the link through Google Classroom, and they are the first one to do that, they will be sent to a waiting room until the teacher is ready. Again, this holds true if you are using a meet link through Google Classroom.
- Now, video participants that are not part of the Google Classroom can be asked to be admitted in by the host.
Host Features
The host now has the ability to mute video and microphone from all participants at once. This can be helpful when a student forgets to mute themselves. The image below is from the Google for Education team demonstrating the muting capabilities.
GOOGLE SITES
A simple but a great enhancement with Google Sites: In the past, if you wanted to create a drop down menu that had multiple sub pages under it, you had to create a page on your site first. In many cases, there was no need to put any content on this page. But there was no other way of creating a drop down menu without this ‘blank page’.
Now you have the ability to create a menu. In other words, I can create a menu that consists of a name and not a full page. This menu page then can hold subpages. How to make this happen?
- Go to the page menu, select the plus sign on the bottom
- Instead of selecting ‘new page’, choose ‘new menu’ instead
- Name the menu
You will notice the difference in the page column on the right. In the image above, ‘What is this?’ is a menu. You will see two square as an icon. ‘Artifacts’ is a page (not a menu). This means if I click on Artifacts, I will be brought to a page on the site. If I try to select ‘What is this?’, it will not bring me anywhere since it is a menu.
Hope you have enjoyed learning some new Google Tips over the past two weeks. May you have a happy and healthy holiday season.
If you have any questions, you know where to find me.
And that is my Spiel…
Craig M Sheil 