Google is constantly making updates to the services that they offer. Some of the updates are only affect the administrative side of G Suite for Education. I rarely write about those updates. Then there are updates that have a direct impact on teachers and students. Those are the ones that I usually write about. Here are six updates to Google products that were made in May and have an impact on teachers and students.
New Google Docs Formatting Options
As was announced yesterday, there are a couple of new formatting options in Google Documents. The new options include new section and page break options. You can also now adjust the margins for a section of a document without affect the margins for the rest of the document. These features are available to some users right now and will be widely available in the coming weeks.
A New Carmen Sandiego Game in Google Earth
Following up on the popularity of the Carmen Sandiego game that was released in Google Earth in March, Google added another Carmen Sandiego game to Google Earth in May. Watch my video below to see how to access the new game.
Google Sites Photo Carousels
Google Sites now has an option to include a photo carousel within your site’s pages. You’ll be able to insert images by uploading from your computer or importing from your Google account.
Team Drives Renamed as Shared Drives
This change was actually announced on the last day of April, but the change didn’t start going into effect until May 21st. The change has already happened in some G Suite for Edu domains and is still coming soon to others.
A New Version of Google Books
The new users interface for Google Books appeared in May. What my video to see what’s new and how it works.
Gmail Confidential Mode
The new confidential mode for Gmail started to appear in some domains in May. By the end of June it will be on by default in all G Suite domains. This could be a great option to use when you’re emailing colleagues about issues related to students. Watch my video below to see how the confidential mode works.
