Google announced on Tuesday the availability of new Chrome and Classroom features for teachers and students.
The tech titan is introducing a new “reading mode” for Chrome, as well as an AI-powered Hand Raise Gesture Detection feature for Meet.
The new “reading mode” is a customizable reader view that will be available in the company’s browser’s side panel.
The new feature is intended to assist students who have dyslexia or ADHD.
Reading mode reduces distracting elements on the screen, such as images and videos, to help users focus on the main content of a page.
The new AI-powered Hand Raise Gesture Detection feature, which will be available to all Google Workspace for Education users, aims to make meetings more natural.
When you raise your hand physically, Meet will raise the Hand Raise icon and move you to the main grid. The new feature will be made available in the coming months.
Google is also introducing a new “co-presenting” feature that will allow two or more teachers to manage slides together in the coming months.
Another new Google Classroom feature will allow educators to embed interactive questions into YouTube videos and assign them to students.
Students can answer the questions as the video plays, receive real-time feedback on their responses, and rewatch the video if necessary.
Educators can learn about their student’s progress, such as which questions they struggled with.
This feature’s beta version will be available in English, Japanese, Malay, Portuguese, and Spanish.
Google also announced a new “practice sets” feature that will use AI to assist educators in converting their existing teaching content into interactive assignments and providing more personalized support.
In the coming weeks, practice sets will be available globally in English, with plans for additional languages in the future.
Google also announced new updates to Screencast, its tool that allows educators to record and share lessons.
The company is adding support for recording and transcription in a dozen new languages, including Italian, Japanese, Spanish, and Swedish.
Furthermore, Google is releasing a web player so that students and teachers can watch screencasts in any browser on any device.
Google is also introducing demo tools that allow users to animate clicks and taps on the screen, as well as highlight any keyboard shortcuts they use. The new updates will be available to ChromeOS 112 users beginning in early April.
Google initially introduced a slew of new features for teachers and students during the pandemic when schools were closed, but has since continued to introduce new online-based education features for both teachers and students.
