What's New in Google - April 2019

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What's New in G Suite

Catch up on everything new in G Suite for Education from April 2019, and see great ideas and resources!

Below is the recorded video from our April 2019 Google User Meeting, along with the meeting agenda and all the awesome resources and G Suite updates from the last month. This includes 31 new Google updates and 13 Google resources for your class.

The monthly meetings are hosted by the Google Educator Group of Ohio, but are open to anyone from any location. The purpose of these meetings is to:

  • Connect Google-using educators
  • Share the latest Google Apps news and features
  • Provide tutorials, demonstrations, and how-to’s
  • Share best practices of how Google Apps is being used within schools
  • Ask questions and get answers

The video from the meeting is recorded and available for later viewing for those who cannot attend or connect live. See below to view the recorded video, agenda, and all the resources from the April 2019 meeting: 

Note: If you would like to see each of the agenda items with links directly to those spots in the video, open the video using the YouTube link below and then click “Show More” below the video.

You can view the full Google Document agenda with links to all the Google Apps updates from the last month, as well as all the resources covered in the meeting in the Google Doc linked below.

Agenda details

Upcoming Events 

What's New in G Suite 

 April 2019 

  • Roundup of Google's April Fools announcements
  • Play Snakes game on Google Maps - Resource Link
  • Google Tulip communicates with plants - Resource Link
  • New Screen Cleaner in the Files app - Resource Link
  • Collection of old April Fools videos from Google - Resource Link
  • Gmail getting option to schedule when an email is sent - Resource Link
  • Gmail Smart Compose getting personalization options - Resource Link
  • Google Slides getting option to embed MP3 and WAV audio files from Drive into Slides - Resource Link (Recording Tools - Resource Link)
  • New "Training" and "Updates" option in Gmail, Calendar, Docs, Sheets, and Slides - Resource Link
  • Gmail Smart Compose can now make suggestions for the subject of your email - Resource Link
  • Hangouts Chat screen get updated layout with sections for People, Rooms, and Bots - Resource Link
  • Google Search adds "before" and "after" date filter commands - Resource Link
  • Google Assistant will now work with G Suite accounts, starting with Calendar integration - Resource Link
  • Admins getting options for advanced phishing and malware protection for Gmail - Resource Link
  • Google Drive getting option to label and search for files with metadata, such as categories - Resource Link
    Google Drive getting built-in feature to edit Microsoft Office files in Docs, Sheets, and Slides - Resource Link
  • Google launching Currents as replacement for Google+ in G Suite - Resource Link
  • Hangouts Meet getting option for live captions - Resource Link
  • Coming soon - Comparison in Docs - compare two Google Docs and review the differences as suggested edits in a new Doc - Resource Link
  • Google launching Add-ons for G Suite that work across multiple apps - Resource Link
    Activity Dashboard for Docs, Sheets, and Slides now getting Sharing History and Comment Trend features - Resource Link
  • 9 new updates coming to Google Sites - Resource Link
  • Google's Science Journal app now syncs experiment data to Drive for easy access anywhere - Resource Link
  • Google Slides getting option to customize theme colors in Slides - Resource Link
  • Improvements coming to search in Team Drive, including hiding specific Team Drives and searching by creator - Resource Link
  • Classroom gets updates including filtering for topics in the Classwork page, new items posting to the top of the Classwork page, and new attached material view - Resource Link
  • Updates for Sheets including Guides, Multi-Selecting Objects, Enhanced Pivot Table Insertion, Copy and paste images into Sheets, Formula backed charts inserted from Answers - Resource Link
  • Google Chrome getting "reader mode" to display simplified, clean version of webpages - Resource Link
  • Google Fit app now available on iOS - Resource Link
  • Updated offline mode for Docs, Sheets, and Slides - Resource Link
  • Google Earth Timelapse gets updates with more years, easier navigation, and mobile support - Resource Link
  • "Team Drives" is being renamed to "Shared Drives" - Resource Link 

Show and Tell 

  • Introducing the Control Alt Achieve Podcast - Resource Link
  • Hipster Google 2 - Even More Google Tools You Probably Never Heard Of - Resource Link
  • 4 Free and Easy Audio Recording Tools for Google Slides - Resource Link
  • Google Slides Short and Long Vowel Sounds Audio Activity - Resource Link
  • Google Slides Instagram Template - Resource Link
  • Use Google Drawings to create your class logo - Resource Link
  • Random Student Selector using Google Slides - Resource Link
  • Create a mobile app from Google Sheets in minutes with the free Glide service - Resource Link
  • 6 Killer Productivity Tips for Google Sheets - Resource Link
  • Choose Your Own Adventures with Google Forms - Resource Link
  • Super Mario themed Google Slides template for student self-paced activities - Resource Link
  • A Beginner's Guide to Google Slides - Resource Link
  • OCALI Apps for Autism and Low Incidence - Resource Link 

To see the schedule for upcoming Google User Group meetings visit:
Google User Group schedule - https://sites.google.com/view/geg-ohio/monthly-meetings

If you have something to share and would like to join the Hangout for an upcoming meeting, send me an email to let me know at: ericcurts@gmail.com  

cross posted at www.controlaltachieve.com

Eric Curts is an education trainer and consultant with over 20 years' experience throughout the U.S. He is an authorized Google Education Trainer and a Google Certified Innovator. Read his blog at www.controlaltachieve.com and follow him on Google+ and @ericcurts on Twitter.

Eric Curts