Feature enhancements to Google Classroom

Google Classroom launched this summer to make Google Apps for Education even simpler — saving teachers time and making it easier to collaborate with students. Today,Google launching five improvements to Classroom, focusing on things educators and students around the world told us were most important to them:

 

    • Groups integration: Ability to pre-populate classes using existing Google Groups. If your school uses tools like School Directory Sync, admins can sync class rosters from the student information system (SIS) into Groups.
    • Mark assignments as “done”: Students can mark assignments as complete even if there’s nothing to turn in (e.g. watch a video, read a chapter, bring something to class)
    • Export all grades: Teachers will now have the ability to download grades for all assignments at once, making it easier to export assignments to any gradebook
    • Sorting: Teachers can now choose to sort students by first or last name, depending on their needs
  • Greater teacher controls: Teachers can now set permissions for whether or not their class can post or comment in the stream, they can mute individual students from posting or commenting and can even view previously deleted items in the stream

 

Release track:
Rapid release and Scheduled release

Reference by : www.google.com


New sparkline options in Google Sheets

The SPARKLINE function in Google Sheets creates a miniature chart contained within a single cell, providing a quick visual depiction of data trends. With this launch, we’re adding two new types of sparklines – column and winloss – joining the existing line graph and bar chart options:

 comprompt-kb-google-sheets

Release track:

Rapid release and Scheduled release

For more information:
Drive G+ post
Help Center

Reference by : http://www.google.com/

New versions of the Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides iOS apps

New versions of the Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides apps for iOS are now available in the App Store. New features include:

  • Support for viewing and editing text in tables in the Docs app
  • Ability to insert, move, resize and rotate text boxes, shapes and lines in the Slides app
  • Enhanced support for iPhone 6/6+ (all apps)
  • General fixes and performance improvements (all apps)

Release track:
Rapid release and Scheduled release

For more information:
G+ post

 

Reference by www.google.com


 

Edit icons for Office files in Gmail desktop attachments

In Gmail, with a single click on the pencil icon in the attachment card, you can now convert any Office files sent as attachments to Docs, Sheets, or Slides. You can then start editing and enjoying the full benefits of a single document to keep track of, access from anywhere, and full revision history.

Release track:

Rapid release, with Scheduled release coming in two weeks

For more information:
Help Center
Drive G+ post

 

Reference by www.google.com


Table cell merging in Google Docs

This launch adds the ability to merge the cells of a table in Google Docs. Merged table cells can span more than one row and/or column.

To merge table cells, highlight the cells to be merged in your table and select Merge cells from the Table menu (or right click and select Merge cells).

Merged table cells in Word documents can now be imported as well.

Release track:
Rapid release, with Scheduled release coming in two weeks

For more information:
Drive G+ post
Help Center

 

Reference by www.google.com

Slide numbers in Google Slides

People using Google Slides can now add slide numbers to their presentations, providing a reference guide for both presenters and audiences. To add slide numbers, go to Insert > Slide numbers from the toolbar. You can then choose to apply slide numbers to all slides or selected slides. You can also choose to skip title slides:

 

 slide-numbers-in-google-slides

Release track:
Rapid release, with Scheduled release coming in two weeks

For more information:
Help Center
Drive G+ Post

 

Reference by www.google.com

 

 

Simplified sharing experience for Google Docs editors and Google Drive

Google launched a new simplified sharing experience for the Google Docs editors and Google Drive, making it easier for people to find and copy the link for a file or folder to share with others.

To give access to your content to others, click the blue “Share” button (or select a file/folder in Drive and click the person icon), and you’ll see a new “Get shareable link” button and grey icon in the upper right corner of the pop-up window. With one click on “Get shareable link,” you’ll see your file’s link appear and that the icon turns from grey to green, meaning that the file is ready to be shared with view-only access.

If you want anyone with the link to do more with your file, like leave comments and suggestions or make edits, just change “Can view” to “Can comment” or “Can edit” in the dropdown. And as always, if you only want certain people to be able to view, comment on, or edit your file, add their email addresses and we’ll send them a link that only they can access.

 

Release track:

Rapid release (gradual rollout), with Scheduled release coming two weeks after completion of rollout to Rapid

For more information:

Drive Blog Post

Help Center

Reference by www.google.com


Unlimited Drive storage for Google Apps for Education

As initially announced last month, this week we’ll be rolling out unlimited Drive storage to all Google Apps for Education schools at no charge.

Stay tuned for future updates on Google Apps Vault and enhanced auditing tools coming later this year to Google Apps for Education.

Release track:
Rapid release and Scheduled release

For more information:
Google for Education Blog post

Reference by www.google.com


Better collaboration in Hangouts video calls

To make it easier to collaborate during Hangouts video calls, Google enabled the sharing of links to any Drive file directly from the chat window. Shared links will show a preview of the file right in the chat message, even when other participants don’t have their chat window open. Clicking on the link will open the file in a different browser tab so you can conveniently work on it in full view.

To share a link from Drive during a Hangouts video call, click on the Chat icon and then click the Google Drive picker icon from within the chat window.

Note: this feature will replace the Google Drive Hangouts app, which will no longer be available as of December 15th, 2014.

Release track:
Rapid release and Scheduled release

For more information:
Google for Work G+ Post
Help Center

 

Reference by www.google.com

Admin provisioning of individual Google+ profiles

Previously, Google Apps administrators had no means by which to give people in their organizations a Google+ profile in order to connect with other employees and encourage collaboration and sharing in the organization. With today’s launch, admins can now perform individual profile upgrades centrally (bulk upgrades coming soon).
For people with Google+ enabled who have yet to register (i.e., create a profile), admins may individually create a basic Google+ profile on their behalf, certifying the employee is 18+ years of age (or specifying a birthday). After the admin has completed this action, the person for whom the profile was created will receive a Google+ welcome email explaining the action taken by the admin.
Notes
  • Today’s launch applies to Premier, Gov and higher-education EDU domains only (K-12 EDU domains are excluded).
  • People using Picasa or with a public chat photo are not eligible to be upgraded by an admin, and must create their own profile.

 

Release schedule:
Rapid release and Scheduled release
For more information:
Reference by www.google.com