How to Use Google Meet
for Online Teaching and
Distance Learning
“How do I teach online?”
“How do I introduce my
students to distance learning?”
Google Meet is a better choice for workfrom-home teachers; it’s secure and
equipped with useful remote-teaching
features that will make distance learning a
breeze for you and your students.
Step-by-step guide on how to use Google
Meet for distance learning
1. Setting up a virtual classroom on Google Meet
using Google Calendar
Use the Google Calendar route to set up your virtual classroom.
Google Calendar can send out reminder alarms to your students
shortly before class starts. For example, if you have a Math Class at
9:30 a.m. every Wednesday, you can input this into Google Calendar
and the platform will alert your students at 9:20 a.m. to join your
virtual classroom on Google Meet. This guide will focus on setting up
distance learning using Google Calendar.
Step 1. Click on the square, nine-dot icon (next to your
initial or profile photo) on the top-right corner. Click on
“Calendar.”
Step 2. Click anywhere within the
calendar and select “More options.”
Step 3. Type in the name of your class and
plug in the starting date and time. If your class
occurs weekly, select the drop-down box
labeled “Does not repeat” and click “weekly.”
You can also click “Custom” if your class recurs
multiple times a week.
Step 4. Click on the “Add conferencing” drop-down
box and click “Join Hangouts Meet.” This will autogenerate a link that your students will click on to join
your virtual classroom. Important: Keep this link
somewhere safe; it is the online location of your new
virtual classroom.
Step 5. Click on Notification. Click on email.
Leaving it on the default 10-minute alarm will
send an email reminder to your students 10
minutes before your class starts.
Step 6. In the description box, you can add
details about the class and any links you’d like
your students to have easy access to (e.g. the
syllabus).
Step 7. On the right side of the page, you can add your students’
email addresses under “Guests.” Make sure the “Modify event”
box is not ticked because you don’t want to give students
authority to change anything. Unselect “Invite others” if you
don’t want to give students permission to invite someone else
into your classroom. And finally, untick “See guest list” if you
want to keep your invitees’ email addresses hidden.
Step 8. Click “save” and “send.” Congratulations. You’ve just sent
out an invitation to all your students to attend your virtual
classroom.
How to use Google Meet for
distance learning lectures
Step 1. Remember that link I told you to save while making
your class invitation on Google Calendar? Plug it into your
browser. You can also find the link by navigating to Google
Calendar and clicking on the class slot you created.
Step 2. Upon clicking the link, you’ll find yourself in a virtual
waiting room. Your students won’t be able to see you yet.
This is the best time to adjust your camera and sound
settings. If you don’t wish to be visible, click on the camera
icon to turn off your webcam.
Step 3. Click “Join now” to join your virtual classroom. To
silence distracting noises, ask your students to mute their
microphones before lecturing. If a few students forget to
mute themselves, you can always navigate to the “People”
icon on the top-right corner then scroll through your
students and mute the offenders by clicking on the mic icon
on their window. The “People” section is also a great way to
check attendance.
Step 4. Click “Present now” when you’re ready
to screen share educational materials (e.g. a
PowerPoint presentation) with your students.
You can choose to share your entire screen or a
specific window. Just be sure to get rid of
anything you don’t want your students to see.
Useful features on Google Meet for teachers
and students
Google Meet is jam-packed with beneficial
features that will enhance your virtual teaching
experience and optimize distance learning for
your students.
Adding captions in Google Meet
On the bottom-right corner, you can click on “Turn on
captions” for students who may find captions helpful. The
captions aren’t perfect, but they’re useful for students who
may be hard of hearing, speak English as a second language
or have attention issues.
Pinning in Google Meet
Pinning is a useful tool when you have a student
presenting his or her project to the entire class. In the
“People” section, you can hover your cursor over the
student’s window and click on the pin. Google Meet
will then make their window the center-of-focus for
all the participants in your virtual classroom.
Using the Google Meet chat for Q&A
sessions
If students have a question, they can
click on the Chat button on the topright corner and type in their query.
Recording your Google Meet classes
One of the coolest features of Google Hangouts Meet —
and also a temporary post-COVID-19 perk that was once
only for premium G Suite members — is the option to
record your lectures. You can do this by navigating to the
three-dot icon on the bottom right and clicking "Record
Meeting." Once you hang up from the video call with your
students, the recorded lecture will be saved to your Google
Drive.
Thank you!