Google Apps Update - Gmail and Calendar

Save time planning business travel and more with events from Gmail on Google Calendar Posted: 25 Aug 2015 12:37 PM PDT The Internet has made business travel―booking flights and hotels, reserving restaurant tables, buying event tickets, and more―infinitely easier. Adding that information to a calendar, on the other hand, has remained time-consuming and tedious, typically requiring people to copy and paste information from various confirmation emails. In the coming week, Gmail and Google Calendar will start working together to lighten that load for Google Apps customers, and make business travel planning even more seamless. When an individual receives an email in Gmail with flight, hotel, restaurant, or ticketed event information, that event will be automatically added to their Google Calendar, complete with things like flight numbers and check-in times. Calendar will even update those events if plans change and a new email is received (for instance, when a flight is delayed or a reservation pushed back). This feature will be enabled by default on desktop and mobile (both iOS and Android) for all Google Apps customers―with the exception of Google Apps for Government domains, for whom the feature is not available. Events from Gmail added to Calendar will be visible only to calendar owners by default (those with delegated access will not see these events). Calendar owners will be able to delete any individual unwanted events as well as adjust visibility settings, or disable the feature altogether, in their Calendar settings if so desired. At launch, people using Calendar will see an in-product screen, either on mobile or web (whichever is accessed first), explaining that events from Gmail will be automatically added for their account, and indicating that the feature can be disabled in settings. Once the first event from Gmail is added, a one-time email notification will also be sent to the user from Google Calendar, explaining the settings and sharing details for events from Gmail. Check out the Help Center for more information. Note: this feature is not available for Google Apps for Government customers Launch Details Release track:   Launch to Rapid release planned for next week, with Scheduled release following two weeks later (monitor the launch calendar for specific dates) Rollout pace:  Gradual rollout (potentially longer than 3 days for feature visibility) Impact:  All end users Action: Change management suggested/FYI More Information Help Center

Google Apps Update Alert: New Features of Google Classroom

I told you they were coming and a few of the updates are here and others will soon roll out during the beginning of the school year.  Here are more details about the update on Google Classroom.

Head back to school with new features in Google Classroom Posted: 24 Aug 2015 11:51 AM PDT As teachers gear up for the new school year, we’re adding a number of new features in Google Classroom to help them save time, engage with students, and keep everyone organized. Most of these features are rolling out this week, with others coming soon. Keep students engaged with question-driven discussions Since Classroom launched last year, teachers have been using their class stream to host student debates, Q&A, and discussions. Starting today, they’ll be able to do this in a more collaborative way. They can post questions to their class and allow students to have discussions by responding to each other’s answers (or not, depending on the setting chosen). For example, teachers could post a video and ask students to answer a question about it, or post an article and ask them to write a paragraph in response.  Reuse posts Teachers can now reuse assignments, announcements or questions from any one of their classes — or any class they co-teach, whether it’s from last year or last week. Once they choose what to copy, they’ll also be able to make changes before posting or assigning it. Calendar Integration In the next month, Classroom will automatically create a calendar for each class in Google Calendar. All assignments with a due date will be automatically added to class calendars and kept up to date. Teachers will be able to view their calendar from within Classroom or on Google Calendar, where they can manually add class events like field trips or guest speakers.  And a few more improvements based on teacher feedback: Bump a post: When teachers want to make sure an older item is easy for students to find, they can now move any post to the top of the stream.  Due dates optional: For long-term projects or student-driven assignments, teachers will have the option to create assignments that don’t have due dates.  Attach a Google Form to a post: Many teachers have been using Google Forms as an easy way to assign a test, quiz or survey to the class. Coming in the next few weeks, teachers and students will soon be able to attach Google Forms from Drive to posts and assignments, and get a link in Classroom to easily view the answers.  Launch Details Release track:  Launching to both Rapid release and Scheduled release this week, with the exception of Calendar integration and attaching a Google Form, which are planned for the coming weeks Rollout pace:  Full rollout (1–3 days for feature visibility) Impact:  All end users (teachers/students) Action:  Change management suggested/FYI More Information Help Center: Post a question Help Center: Reuse a post Help Center: Move posts

Google Apps Update Alert - Docs and Sheets Mobile Apps

New features in the Google Docs and Sheets mobile apps Posted: 20 Aug 2015 04:44 AM PDT The latest releases of the Google Docs and Sheets mobile apps include the following new features: Print Layout view in Google Docs for Android and iOS (Beta) - You can now select Print Layout from the overflow menu in the top right corner of the Docs app on Android and iOS to see a fully paginated, read-only version of your document. While you can’t make edits in that view, the document itself will be updated in real-time when collaborators make changes to it. This feature is currently in beta; additional functionality, including the ability to edit in Print Layout view, will roll out in the future. Autofill in Google Sheets for Android - Using the autofill feature, it’s easy to repeat information or complete a pattern in a Sheets spreadsheet on the web. This launch brings that same functionality to the Sheets app for Android. Simply select the data you want to repeat, as well as the cells where you want to repeat that data. Tap the selected data again to open a menu, and then select Autofill to automatically populate those cells. More intuitive keyboard functionality in Google Sheets for Android - Previously, when a user clicked into a cell, the Sheets Android app would automatically open the alphabetic keyboard—regardless of whether that cell contained text or numeric values. Going forward, the app will launch the alphabetic keyboard when the cell contains text and the numeric keyboard when the cell contains numbers or symbols. It will also offer an easy way to shift between the two keyboard options. Download the latest Google Docs and Sheets Android apps on Google Play and the latest Google Docs iOS app from the App Store. Launch Details Release track:  Launching to both Rapid release and Scheduled release Rollout pace:  Full rollout (1–3 days for feature visibility) Impact:  All end users Action:  Change management suggested/FYI More Information Help Center: Autofill

6 Important Google Classroom Updates

Alice Keeler recently wrote a blog post on 6 important updates for Google Classroom that will take effect during the next few weeks and should be implemented in the Fall of 2015.  Remember, it has only been a year since Google Classroom has been release and the team is constantly making changes. They are listening to our feedback!

Here are a few updates that will be implemented over the next few weeks:

1. Move a Post:  Use the menu, (the three dots), on the announcement and assignment to move the post to the top of the stream.
2. Reuse a Post:  This update has been announced at ISTE, but soon you will have the option to reuse a post from a previous announcement or assignment.  You can reuse a post from current classes, other classes, or archived classes.
3. Post a Question:  You will have the option to post a question to the stream, see the responses of the students, and assign points to their responses.
4. Calendar Integration:  This is HUGE!!! Now a calendar will be created when you create a class.  In addition, when you post announcements/assignments with due dates, they will be added to the calendar.
5. Optional Due Dates: You can toggle the due date on/off so that an assignment does not have a due date.  
6. Attach a Google Form:  Not available yet, but this will definitely be helpful. An easier way to attach a Google form to assignments and a link will be available for the teacher to find the responses.

When you log into Classroom, you may be prompted with a few new messages, as shown below: