Tag Archives: G Suite for Education

Google for Education transformation reports window open, available worldwide

What’s changing 

Google for Education transformation reports are available for K-12 Google Workspace for Education customers worldwide, at no additional cost. Note: transformation reports are only available in English only at this time. 


The next reporting window is open as of May 3, 2021. See below for more information on generating your transformation report.



Who’s impacted 

Admins 



Why you’d use it 

The transformation report is a free tool designed to help quantify your organization’s Google for Education implementation across our products and programs. Semester-based reports track usage trends over time and make it easy to understand how your organization is using Google Workspace for Education, Chromebooks, and progressing through Certification programs. 


Based on usage information and survey responses, you’ll receive tailored recommendations and resources from Google for Education to help you drive more impact across your organization. 


See here for more information about Google for Education transformation reports, as well as a list of frequently asked questions.


Getting started 

  • Admins: Google Workspace for Education super admins must log in to the transformation report tool between May 3rd and May 21st to ensure a report will be available on June 2, 2021. Within the tool, we strongly recommend Admins:

    • Update their settings, specifically their student enrollment and faculty count. 
    • Customize the product reporting windows — we recommend selecting two 12-week periods of time, current and previous, to display product data.
    • Take and share Transformation Survey:
      • If you log in within that time frame, but don’t take or share the survey, you’ll still receive a report—it will simply lack a valuable section of survey data, recommended next steps, and resources. 
      • See our FAQs for recommendations on who to share the survey with and this email template when sharing with your leadership team.

  • End users: No action required. 

Rollout pace 


Availability 

  • Available to K-12 Google Workspace Education Fundamentals and Education Plus customers
  • Not available to Google Workspace Essentials, Business Starter, Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Essentials, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Frontline, and Nonprofits, as well as G Suite Basic and Business customers

Resources 

Automatically save your response progress in Google Forms: Beta available for Google Workspace for Education customers

What’s changing 

Next week, we’re launching draft responses for Google Forms in beta. When responding to a Google Form, Quiz or Quiz assignment in Classroom while signed into your Google Workspace account, your progress will automatically be saved as a draft for 30 days from your last edit or until the form is completed. 

This beta is only available to Google Workspace for Education customers. Admins can use this form to express interest in participating in the beta. 



Who’s impacted 

Admins and end users 

Why it’s important 

With this new feature, you won't have to start over if you can't complete a form or quiz in one sitting, if you want to switch between multiple devices, or if your internet connection cuts out before your answers have been submitted. 

Additional details 

Note that during the beta, Forms will only automatically save your progress as a draft for users in your domain when they’re signed in to their Google Workspace for Education account. 


Data location requirements 
In order to participate in the beta, your domain cannot have data location requirements. To determine if you have data regions, use this Help Center article regarding geographic location for your data. 


Feature availability 
While this beta is only available for Google Workspace for Education customers, this feature will be made available to all Google Workspace customers later this year. We’ll provide an update on the Workspace Updates blog when this feature becomes generally available. 

Getting started 

  • Admins: Google Workspace for Education admins can use this form to express interest in joining the Draft Responses Beta for Google Forms. You’ll be notified via email once accepted into the beta and when the beta becomes available. 
  • End users: No action required. Once the beta starts, your draft responses will automatically be saved when logged in to your Google account. To view your drafted responses, simply reopen the form link when logged in to your Google account. 

Availability 

  • Available to Google Workspace for Education Fundamentals, Education Plus, Education Standard, and Teaching and Learning Upgrade customers 
  • Not available to Google Workspace Essentials, Business Starter, Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Essentials, Enterprise Standard, and Enterprise Plus, as well as G Suite Basic, Business, Frontline, and Nonprofits customers 

Resources 

Introducing Google Workspace for Education

What’s changing 

We’re excited to announce that G Suite for Education is now Google Workspace for Education. We hope that this change will provide you greater choice and flexibility in selecting the best tools to empower your institution. As part of this change, Google Workspace for Education will now be available in four distinct editions instead of just two: 
  • Google Workspace for Education Fundamentals is the new name for G Suite for Education. It will continue to be free to qualifying schools and universities. If you’re currently using this edition, you won't see any changes besides a new name and new features. Learn more. 
  • Google Workspace for Education Standard is a new option that builds on Education Fundamentals to provide institutions with enhanced security. Learn more. 
  • Teaching and Learning Upgrade is a new option that builds on Education Fundamentals or Education Standard to offer advanced video communication capabilities, enriched class experiences in Classroom, and tools that guide critical thinking and academic integrity. Learn more. 
  • Google Workspace for Education Plus is the new name for G Suite Enterprise for Education. This includes all features from Education Fundamentals, Education Standard, the Teaching and Learning upgrade, and more. Learn more. 

In addition to these changes, we’re updating our storage policies. See more details below. 



Who’s impacted 

Admins 


Why it’s important 

More than 170 million students and educators worldwide rely on our suite of tools. With the launch of Google Workspace for Education, everything you need to teach, learn, connect, and share will remain all in one place, accessible from anywhere on any device. It will also include all the products you already use, like Google Classroom, Meet, Gmail, Calendar, Drive, Docs, Sheets, Slides, and many more. 

We hope the new offerings help us meet the diverse needs of institutions around the globe, from Pre-K to PhD. 


Additional details 

Introducing a new storage policy 
Google has traditionally offered unlimited storage to qualifying schools and universities for free. In July 2022, we'll implement a new pooled storage model for all Google Workspace for Education editions. 

We remain committed to providing all institutions around the world with a best-in-class experience, including ample free storage to support quality educational experiences. The new storage model will provide schools and universities with a baseline of 100TB of pooled cloud storage shared across all of their users—more than enough storage for over 100 million docs, 8 million presentations or 400,000 hours of video. To empower admins to adapt to this model and optimize their storage, we will provide tools to identify and manage how storage is used and allocated far in advance of the policy going into effect. 

You don't need to do anything today, and this updated storage model will impact less than 1% of institutions. We will contact impacted institutions by email in the coming weeks to discuss a range of options for getting the storage they need. For details on how to prepare for this upcoming change or to learn more about how you’ll be able to increase the storage pool for your institution, please visit our Help Center. 


Getting started 

  • Admins: 
  • End users: Users will automatically get the features in their new edition. 

Rollout pace 

  • Google Workspace Education Fundamentals and Education Plus are available today. Institutions will be able to purchase Education Standard and the Teaching and Learning Upgrade starting April 14, 2021. 
  • The new storage policy will go into effect for existing customers on all Google Workspace for Education editions in July 2022. 

Availability 

  • Applicable to Google Workspace for Education Fundamentals (formerly known as G Suite for Education) and Google Workspace for Education Plus (formerly known as G Suite Enterprise for Education) customers 
  • Not applicable to Google Workspace Essentials, Business Starter, Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Essentials, Enterprise Standard, and Enterprise Plus, as well as G Suite Basic, Business, and Nonprofits customers 

Resources 

Turn Google Meet Quick access on or off from Google Calendar

Quick launch summary 

Meeting organizers in G Suite for Education and Enterprise for Education domains can now turn Quick access on or off for a meeting from the event in Google Calendar. The Quick access setting helps organizers control if participants must ask to join the video meeting. By adding controls to calendar events, organizers can configure the setting appropriately in advance of the meeting. Previously, the setting could only be controlled via the Host controls menu during the meeting. 

As announced last week, the Quick access setting is now “sticky” for recurring meetings. That means that if you change the setting—either before the meeting via Google Calendar or during the meeting via in-call settings—it will be saved for any future meetings that use the same meeting code. 
Control Quick access from the event in Google Calendar 


Getting started 

  • Admins: There is no admin control for this feature. 
  • End users: Quick access is turned ON by default for all meetings. It can be turned off or on for each meeting, and any changes will be saved for future meetings that use the same meeting code. Visit our Help Center to learn more about Quick access. 

Rollout pace 

Availability 

  • Available to G Suite for Education and Enterprise for Education customers 
  • Not available to Google Workspace Essentials, Business Starter, Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Essentials, Enterprise Standard, and Enterprise Plus, as well as G Suite Basic, Business, and Nonprofits customers 

Resources 

Some Google Meet settings now “sticky” for Education users

Quick launch summary 

Based on your feedback, we’re changing the behavior of some Google Meet settings for G Suite for Education and Enterprise for Education customers. Specifically, certain settings are now “sticky.” This means that if you turn them on or off during a meeting, they will be saved for any future meetings that use the same meeting code. Previously, all settings would return to their default state whenever a meeting was restarted. 

This change will apply to these settings: 


Settings are saved for each meeting code, not per user 

Any changes will only be saved for the specific meeting code, and will not affect other meetings that the user owns with a different meeting code. Additionally, if you change these settings in a one-time, nicknamed, or instant meeting, the settings will not be saved, and will return to their default state after the meeting ends. Scenarios when meetings have the same meeting code include: 
  • Some recurring meetings (including recurring meetings scheduled via Google Calendar) 
  • A meeting owner joins, exits, then rejoins the same meeting 


Getting started 

Rollout pace 

Availability 

  • Available to G Suite Education and Enterprise for Education customers Not available to Google Workspace Essentials, Business Starter, Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Essentials, Enterprise Standard, and Enterprise Plus, as well as G Suite Basic, Business, and Nonprofits customers 

Resources 

Improving originality reports in Google Classroom and Assignments to better detect potential plagiarism

Quick launch summary 

Originality reports in Google Classroom and Assignments are now better at detecting potential plagiarism by alerting you when a document contains symbols from different alphabets or other writing systems. 

Students sometimes swap out specific characters with similar looking symbols in order to trick plagiarism detection technology. For example, if the letter “a'' is replaced with the Greek symbol “⍺” or Cyrillic symbol “α,” a plagiarized assignment may not be detected as such. 

Originality reports will now alert you when a document contains symbols from another alphabet or writing system. Educators can then review it and determine whether the student had a legitimate reason for using those different symbols. Note that students who use originality reports will not see this feature. 

Getting started 

  • Admins: There is no admin control for this feature. 
  • End users: This feature will be automatically available to educators when originality reports are turned on for an assignment. Visit the Help Center to learn more about using originality reports. 

Rollout pace 

Availability 

  • Available to G Suite for Education and Enterprise for Education customers, as well as standalone Classroom and Assignments users 
  • Not available to Google Workspace Essentials, Business Starter, Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Essentials, Enterprise Standard, and Enterprise Plus, as well as G Suite Basic, Business and Nonprofits customers 

Resources 

Google for Education transformation reports window open, availability expanded worldwide

What’s changing 

Google for Education transformation reports are now available for K-12 G Suite for Education and G Suite Enterprise for Education customers worldwide, at no additional cost. Note that transformation reports are only available in English at this time. 

The next reporting window will open on November 2, 2020. See below for more information on generating your transformation report. 


Who’s impacted

Admins 


Why you’d use it

The transformation report is a free tool designed to help quantify an organization’s Google for Education implementation across our products and programs. Semester-based reports track usage trends over time and make it easy to understand how your organization is using G Suite, Chromebooks, and progressing through Certification and Transformation programs. 

Based on survey responses and usage information, you’ll receive tailored recommendations and resources from Google for Education to help you drive more impact across your organization. 

To learn more about Google for Education transformation reports, see here. For a list of frequently asked questions, see here. 


Additional details 

November 2020 survey window 
G Suite for Education and G Suite Enterprise for Education super admins must log in to the transformation report tool between November 2nd and November 20th to generate their report. 

If you log in within that time frame, but don’t take or share the survey, you’ll still receive a report—it will simply lack a valuable section of survey data, recommended next steps, and resources. 



Gather additional feedback from your users 
Super admins can share the transformation survey with key members of their leadership team to gather feedback on how their organization is doing in seven key areas. 

We created this email template for you to copy and paste when sharing the survey link with your team (see “Who should fill out the survey?” and “How can I communicate the value of the survey to my team?”). 


Getting started 

Rollout pace 

Availability 

  • Available to K-12 Education and Enterprise for Education customers 
  • Not available to Essentials, Business Starter, Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Essentials, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, and Nonprofits customers 

Resources 

Google Meet attendance reports available now for education meetings

Update

[October 12, 2020]: This rollout for this feature is now complete.
-
[September 29, 2020]: The rollout for this feature is currently paused while we evaluate performance. We apologize for the delay — we’ll provide an update here when rollout resumes.

What’s changing 

Organizers of G Suite Enterprise for Education meetings will now receive an attendance report via email once the meeting is over. Attendance reports will be generated for web or mobile meetings with at least five (and no more than 250) participants and will contain the following information for each:
  • Participant’s name 
  • Participant’s email 
  • Length of time a participant was on the call, including when they joined and exited 
Once a meeting is finished, you’ll receive an attendance report via email.

The attendance report contains the names, email addresses, and duration of time participants were in the meeting.


Students who have the ability to create meetings will receive attendance reports as well. 

Who’s impacted 

End users 

Why you’d use it 

We hope attendance reports will help meeting organizers keep track of who attended their meetings and for how long, which can be challenging during larger meetings or while presenting. 

Additional details 

Recording attendance for ejected or dial-in participants 
We’ll record the attendance of any participants who chose to dial in. The obfuscated phone number and name displayed during the meeting will appear in the attendance report. 

If a meeting participant is ejected and re-admitted to the meeting, you’ll see the time they first joined and the time they last left. The total duration of their attendance will be a sum of their sessions. 

Getting started 

  • Admins: At this time, there is no admin control for this feature. We’re planning to introduce this setting later this year; stay tuned to the G Suite Updates blog to learn when it launches. 
  • End users: There is no end user setting for this feature. Attendance reports will automatically be sent to the meeting host. Visit the Help Center to learn more about attendance tracking. 

Rollout pace 

Availability 

  • Available to G Suite Enterprise for Education customers only at this time. 
  • Not available to G Suite Essentials, G Suite Basic, G Suite Business, G Suite for Education, G Suite Enterprise, and G Suite for Nonprofits customers. Stay tuned to the G Suite Updates blog for information when this launches to additional customers. 

Resources 

Easily add and manage citations in Google Docs

Quick launch summary 

We’re launching a new feature to help you add, manage, and format academic citations in Google Docs. This will make writing academic papers easier since you won’t have to use add-ons, or copy citations from other tools. 

Using this feature, you can easily insert in-text citations and create a bibliography in the MLA, APA, or Chicago (author-date) styles. Sources types supported include books, book sections, websites, journal articles and newspaper articles. 

Citations tool in Google Docs 

Getting started 

Rollout pace 

Availability 

  • Available to all G Suite customers 

Resources 

Improvements to Google Classroom: class links, SIS export, ApSki integration, and more

Quick launch summary 

Today, we announced several new features that will help administrators, teachers, and students be more productive using our tools. See our Google for Education blog to learn more about these features and other upcoming launches in Google for Education. 

Announced improvements to Google Classroom include: 
  • New to-do widgets: We’re adding a to-do widget for students and a to-review widget for teachers to help keep track of work in Google Classroom. Learn more. 
  • Join classes via link: Teachers can now send out links to classes, which students can join with a single click. This can help educators share classes anywhere they communicate with students, including in messaging platforms. Learn more. 
  • Student information systems (SIS) grade export: You can now export grades from Gradebook to your SIS. This can make it easier to keep track of grades in one central location. Learn more. 
  • Support for new languages: We’re launching Classroom in 10 additional Indian languages. Soon, Classroom will support over 54 languages globally. 
In addition to these improvements, we’re also making other changes: 
  • Assignments now generally available: Assignments will move from beta to general availability. Learn more. 
  • Applied Digital Skills integration: You can now connect your Google Classroom account with Applied Digital Skills to import classes, student rosters, and assign Applied Digital Skills lessons more seamlessly. Learn more. 


Who’s impacted 

Admins, teachers, and end users 

Getting started 

Rollout pace 

Availability 

  • Available to all G Suite editions. 

Resources