Google Presents Important Features In Meet, Audience Number Can Be 100 Thousand People

Google gives Workspace users two options for creating live streams. (photo: doc.google)

JAKARTA - Google launched several features in Meet as well as new capabilities for teachers or teachers who register for Google's Workspace for Education Plus and Teaching and Learning Upgrade package.

One of its features includes automatic transcription. Google argues that text-based documents should take up less space than full records for teachers who want to save or share their past lessons and make it easier to review, search, and deliver lessons to students.

In addition, there is also a poll feature and a question and answer session for teachers who use Meet to live stream their lessons. This has the potential to open up more opportunities for interactivity.

These features are already available in Google Meet standard meetings but not during live streaming. In fact, Google is also expanding the reach of Meet live streaming, as schools can stream live events, such as school board meetings or meetings, directly to YouTube.

Previously, Google gave Workspace users two options for creating live streams. Now, Google has also increased the number of audiences that were previously 500 people in an organization, now up to 100,000 people.

The update will give more people a chance to watch because live streaming to YouTube means anyone can watch unless the video is private.

Reported earlier, Google is also bringing out a new Screencast app which Google says is built into ChromeOS as part of its M103 update.

With the app, teachers can record, trim, copy, and share lessons on screen while giving students the opportunity to re-watch lessons from Google Drive and create their own videos with screen recording tools.

Google says teachers can also use the Screencast app to draw or write on videos if they're using a Chromebook with a touchscreen.

An update is also coming to Gmail, users can add alternative text to their images. This is useful for people who use screen readers, as it lets them know what is included in their email.

While this update is modest, it proves Google is putting more effort into expanding its footprint in education, which Google has built on since distance learning during the COVID-19 pandemic.