Google Workspace: AI, Pageless Formats, Emojis, and More!

@LisaBerghoff/@MrKimDHS

Google Docs and Beyond

Get ready for this, Google Docs is now old enough to drive! This year Docs celebrated its 16th birthday and many of you have probably noticed some subtle changes to its appearance. It's a little bit like Facebook user interface updates. You initially hate the appearance changes but eventually, you don't even remember what the old setup even looked like. Well in addition to some aesthetic changes, Google Docs has quietly added some powerful collaborative updates, some that we've highlighted before, but some that could positively impact your class, club, or activity!

Pageless Google Doc Format

It's kind of absurd how much of our educational budget is spent on printing and ink for assignments, homework, assessments, etc. Don't worry, don't worry I'm not about to go on a rant about going completely digital. Look, as an AP Econ teacher, I know full well that sometimes there isn't a substitute for traditional pen and paper. But with more and more of us pushing out digital assignments like Google Docs, it's sort of unnecessary to be bound by margins and page breaks on Docs. Now you can switch to the Pageless view of Google Docs and it's kinda awesome. Go to "file" and "page set" and you can switch over to "pageless" view. 

AI Summaries....oh no

Don't be alarmed, ChatGTP isn't taking over your Google Docs. But there is a neat AI-powered function that automatically generates what it thinks is a suitable summary of your document. By creating a document outline, the AI attempts to grasp the highlights of your document and delivers a bite-sized summary paragraph that is fully editable. Watch this GIF (soft g) of the summary AI in action:

Google Meets...meets Google Docs

Listen, I still shudder every time I even hear the word Zoom. I had a student remark that they took my class during remote summer school on Zoom and I was as shocked as anyone because I apparently blocked that part of my memory. Even so, conferencing can be an easy way to communicate and collaborate when there's some distance between us. You can now create Google Meets within a Google Doc. Let me try to explain. Think about every time we were on Zoom or Google Meets and someone shared a document. Our entire screen was filled with their shared screen and it left very little digital real estate for us to contribute or work on the document ourselves. Now, within Google Docs, you can create a video conference where everyone still has access to the document!

They quietly added a video conference button to Google Docs on the top right corner of the screen. Now no one has to "share their screen" and you can still communicate and collaborate in real-time!

Just click on the camera icon, choose "start a new meeting" and you have the option to share the file AND the video conference call all in one go!

Custom Building Blocks

We've highlighted the usage of the "@" sign on Google Docs in the past on this blog. They've expanded a bit of their menu with simple, yet powerful templates that allow students and staff to create project kickoff templates, milestones, to-do lists, code, calendar invites, and even email templates. You can write an important email on Docs enjoying the full menu of text editing customization (font, size, colors, etc), and then automatically convert the doc into a Gmail ready to be sent. Check out this fantastic 1-minute video that highlights the features of building blocks:

Calendar Draft Template

Similar to the email template, they've recently added a calendar template option. While I'm not entirely sure how much more utility you can get out of this integration versus merely using the calendar app, I'll have to test it out to see.

Emoji Voting Chips

Much like my reaction to the Emoji movie, I wasn't quite sure about emoji's clawing their way into every facet of our lives. But thumbs up and the fire emojis seem to be relatively tame. Users can quickly give non-verbal feedback on a variety of inputs.

Third-Party Smart Chips

OK so before we go any further, what the heck is a smart chip? Think about it this way: apps are to phones as smart chips are to Google Docs. If you hate that...think about it as Extensions are to Chrome as smart chips are to Google Docs.

Anyways, they are customizable tools that you can use to get more productivity or efficiency out of Google Docs. There is a ton of potential for third-party smart chips that can be more Education focused. While there aren't too many partner applications to choose from so far, I can see our usual educational integrations jumping on board soon.

Summary

OK, that seems like enough to get started. Just knowing that the changes happened is the first step. What I truly like about Google Workspace is how flawlessly it allows users to integrate every aspect of Google that we rely upon. On one document I can dynamically link a Google Slides presentation, PDFs, Calendar events, User emails, and more. That may seem overwhelming which is perfectly OK. Start with a SINGLE integration chip. Use it, get comfortable with it, see if you even like it. Then go on to another and before you know it, you'll be a Google Docs power user! As always, let me know if you have any questions or concerns!