Communicating with Instant Messaging

Google Hangouts - The Instant Messenger You Didn't Know You Had

Communication is one of the biggest adjustments we have to make in the new remote learning environment. Remote work is a hallmark of the business world and they have been using instant messengers for years—and with good reason. 

Real-Time Communication: Instant messaging is the virtual equivalent of stopping by someone's desk to ask a question. If the person you need to talk to is online, you can instantly send and receive messages.

Convenience: It's possible to take part in multiple conversations at once or to be working on something else at the same time you are communicating with a colleague.

Saves Time: Email is time consuming—not only the time to compose, but waiting for a response (if you get one) and possibly asking follow-up questions. Instant messaging is more of a dialogue—short back-and-forth interaction between individuals or small groups.

I'm a big fan of Google Hangouts, which is part of the G Suite. There are three main ways to access Hangouts: (1) Go through the app menu and open Hangouts as a new tab in your browser; (2) Get the Chrome extension and open Hangouts as its own app; or (3) Download the Hangouts app for your phone or tablet.

Hangouts has been around for years and what I like about it is the versatility. It has options for text messaging (my preference), video calls or voice calls.

*I've adjusted my Hangouts settings so anyone who has my email address can message me directly. Otherwise, by default, you will need to send an invitation to those with whom you want to communicate and vice versa.

There are rumors Google might discontinue Hangouts sometime in 2020, but for now, it's available and a great option for quick conversations.

Newer to the G Suite are two other Hangouts-branded apps, Google Chat and Google Meet.

Google Chat is cool because it allows you to create chat rooms. In our current setting, you could use a room for your office hours or you could set up a space for students in a particular class to meet and discuss content, topics, etc. The only caveat (from my perspective) is once you've created a room you have to invite others to it. There is no way to generate a link or a code that you can give to students. In other words, you need to send invitations to every student or colleague you want to access the room.

UPDATE: Since I wrote this I've discovered district settings do not allow for Google Chat conversations to be saved. To me, this means it might not be a great place to post asynchronous discussions you need to refer back to, but it might still be a useful tool for real-time communication, i.e. office hours.

Google Meet is video conferencing software that can accommodate up to 100 users at a time, and it's easy to use. Either open the app and select Join or start a meeting, or schedule it using your Google calendar. You can invite participants by name or provide a link to join the meeting. There's even an option for participants to call in using a pin number. Screen sharing is also available.

*At this time, all Google Meet accounts have been upgraded to Meet Premium, which allows for 250 participants on a single call.

Want to chat? Send me a message through Hangouts. Let me know if you need help or want to practice with any of these products.