Google LLC announced a raft of updates today that it says are intended to advance education, both online and offline, in the classroom and also in remote learning environments.

The most important new update is the launch of Google Workspace for Education, which is meant to align the company’s education tools with the new Google Workspace product that was announced last year. Formerly known as G Suite for Education, the offering includes Google’s full suite of productivity tools, such as Classroom, Meet, Gmail, Drive, Docs, Sheets and Slides.

The product is available in four editions, including a free version called Google Workspace for Education Fundamentals. For institutions that need better security and more powerful educational tools, there are three premium versions of the product. Google Workspace for Education Standard provides access to the Google Security Center and enables greater visibility with tools such as audit logs and advance mobile management capabilities.

There’s also a new Teaching and Learning Upgrade that builds on those two products with more advanced video communication capabilities in Google Meet. And there are additional features in Classroom to help “enrich class experiences,” Shantanu Sinha, Google for Education product and design lead, said in a blog post.

Finally, there’s Google Workspace for Education Plus, which Google said is the most comprehensive version, with advanced security and analytics, teaching and learning capabilities.

Sinha said that Education Fundamentals and Education Plus are already available today, while the Education Standard and the Teaching and Learning Upgrade versions will be available starting in April.

Coming updates for Google Classroom

The most important tool within Google Workspace for Education is the Google Classroom product, which is a service that makes it easy for teachers to create, distribute and grade assignments for their students. It enables teachers to create an online classroom area from where they can manage all of the documents their students need. The documents are stored in Google Drive and can be edited using tools such as Google Docs, Sheets, Slides and so on.

Google Classroom is gaining a whole bunch of upgrades later this year, including new add-ons available through a marketplace that make it easier for students to download and use various third-party EdTech tools. The add-ons feature will be made available later this year for Education Plus or Teaching and Learning Upgrade users only, Google said.

Other new updates that will soon arrive include Classroom audit logs, which will enable administrators to investigate Classroom-related issues and pinpoint instigating events, such as who removed a student from a class or who archived a class on a specific date.

Meanwhile, the upcoming Classroom activity logs feature will provide institutions with deeper insights about Classroom adoption and engagement by exporting data to the Google BigQuery analytics service. Teachers will also get more tools for tracking student engagement so they can see who is progressing and who is falling behind, Google said.

Finally, the Google Classroom app will gain new capabilities that will enable students with slow or intermittent internet connections to work offline, review assignments, open files and write assignments in Google Docs, even when they’re not connected to the web.

Google Meet gains more engagement and safety features

Google Meet is another essential tool with Google Workspace for Education that enables teachers and their students to interact face-to-face over a video call. Google says that its main priorities in terms of education is to make sure that online meetings are safe and secure and that students can stay engaged, and to that end Google Meet is gaining several new features.

The updates include an easy way for teachers to mute all classroom participants at once so they can keep their classroom on track without any interruptions. In addition, Google said it’s planning to make important moderation tools such as controlling who can join meetings or use the chat or share their screen, directly from iOS and Android devices. Teachers will also get the option to end the meeting for all participants at once to prevent people from lingering in the classroom once it’s finished.

New education features for Google Chromebooks

Google is also planning to launch more than 40 new Chromebook devices this year, including a number of convertible models that can function as both a laptop and a tablet device, with a stylus, touchscreen and dual-cameras, so students can take notes, edit videos, draw and record screencasts as they learn.

“Every new Chromebook is equipped to deliver exceptional Google Meet and Zoom experiences, right out of the box,” said Chrome OS product manager Andy Russell. “We also have devices that can better support students with limited access to the internet, or in countries with strong mobile broadband networks. These devices, called Always Connected devices, have an LTE connectivity option that allows you to connect via your preferred cellular network.”

The new Chromebooks will also have more accessibility features for students with disabilities, including a new screen reader tool called ChromeVox.

Google is also adding more policies to the Google Admin Console for schools to manage fleets of Chromebooks they provide to their students. They include new policies for Zero Touch Enrollment that makes it easier to deploy and manage Chromebooks remotely. There’s also a new resource for schools that Google said will help them to choose the most suitable Chromebook devices based on their specific needs.

Image: Google