Network Conferencing: Google Meet 1

Steven J Zeil

Last modified: Sep 15, 2018
Contents:

In this course you will be working in teams, and your team members might not be able to meet with you in person. Although email, forums, and wikis can serve for much communication, there will be times when you need to talk “synchronously”

This is the first of two mandatory exercises to explore options in network conferencing.

You will need a PC with a good internet connection, a microphone, and headphones for this exercise.

1 At Least 24 hours Before Your Recitation Section

  1. Check your email. For this exercise, the instructor will have sent you an invitation to participate in a Google Meet session.

  2. As an ODU student, you have a Google account for your @odu.edu email. This is what you must use to participate in all class-related meetings. Log into your ODU email to be sure that your browser is logged in under your ODU account rather than any personal GMail/Google account that you might also have.

    • You may want to explicitly logout of your personal GMail account before logging into your ODU Account

  3. In a separate tab/window, check your Google calendar. You should see the event listed there.

  4. Links in the email and calendar entry will allow you to indicate whether you plan to attend. Click on one to indicate that you plan to attend.

  5. Check the system reqts for the machine you expect to use.

    Note in particular that you will need to use the Chrome or Firefox browsers. In particular, Internet Explorer, Edge, and Safari are not supported.

2 At Least 15 Minutes Before Your Scheduled Meeting

  1. Again, log into your ODU email to be sure that your browser is logged in under your ODU account rather than any personal GMail/Google account that you might also have.

  2. Enter the meeting by using the “Join Hangouts Meet” link in the invitation email or in the calendar entry.

  3. If this is your first time using Meet video conferencing, you may be prompted to load a browser plugin. If not, but all that you see is a large green “speech bubble” with quotations marks inside it, click on it and you may be prompted to install the browser plugin.

  4. Wait for your group members to arrive.

3 During Your Meeting

While you wait for the instructor,

  1. Note that each person has control over which person occupies the large central area of the call window on their own screen. Simply click on one of the thumbnail images at the bottom of the call to bring up that person. Try this a few times.

  2. At the bottom center of your screen, you should see your main meeting controls.

     

    These allow you to

    1. Mute or activate your microphone
    2. Leave the call
    3. Turn your camera on and off

    Try the microphone and camera controls out. Note that etiquette in network conferences is to mute your microphone when you are not speaking. This reduces the amount of background noise that everyone must deal with. It also reduces the chances of echoing and feedback.

    In very large conferences (more than a half dozen or so people), it’s also common to switch one’s video feed off when not speaking or actively engaged in the conversation. Turning your video back on is then a signal for attention, rather like raising your hand in class.

  3. In the upper right corner, you should see a small control area.

     

    Clicking on the chat box at the top right will drop down a text chat window, useful is someone’s microphone is not working. It’s also useful for doing things like sending a URL to other people so they can copy-and-paste it into their browser.

     
  4. Near the bottom right of your screen, you can find another important control.

     

    • The “Present Now” button allows you to do “screen sharing”, presenting your entire screen or a specific window to the other participants. You’ll play with that more in just a bit.
  5. Your instructor will join you briefly near the beginning of your scheduled session.

4 After the Instructor Leaves

Practice screen sharing and get yourselves set up for next week’s session:

One by one, take turns doing the following:

  1. Use the “Present Now” control to turn on screen sharing.

    You will be given a choice of what to share: your entire screen or just selected windows.

    If you are the first person to take a turn, share your entire screen.

    If you are the second person to take a turn, share your web browser.

    After the first two people have tried, the remainder may share either their entire screen or their web browser.

  2. Ask your team-mates to describe to you what they see from your PC. In particular, can they read the text in your window(s)?

    If you are sharing just your web browser window, try resizing the window at full-screen and to just half the screen height and width. Ask your teammates how this affects what they see.

  3. Right-click on a line in your web-browser to bring up a pop-up menu. Tell your team-mates what you have done and ask them to again describe to you what they see from your PC.

  4. Click on a menu in your web-browser to drop down a list of menu entries. Tell your team-mates what you have done and ask them to again describe to you what they see from your PC.

  5. Navigate to your recitation section in Blackboard. In the “My Groups” area, you should see that you have been added to a “WebConference…” group. Enter your group’s Discussion Board.

    • If you are the first person here, create a new thread titled “Counting Off”. Post your @odu.edu email address followed by the number “1”.

    • Each subsequent person should reply to that post, adding their ODU email address and a successively higher number (2, 3. …).

When all team members have observed one another go through this, you can leave the conference. You are done for this week.