Tech Talk - Google Chat

Most New Code Academy students have access to Google Chat as part of their Gmail Suite. It is an amazing tool for online learning, as it allows teachers to quickly communicate with students, and vice versa. Google Chat is also very useful for students working in groups, allowing them to collaborate with their teams in “real time”, the way teachers do, as well as many people in the business world. These are important skills for our students to learn, but they also need to learn how to use them correctly.

Google Chat has the potential to provide students with greater ownership over what they learn and how they learn. Like many other online tools, students need to use good digital citizenship skills as they use this tool. We are committed to helping students, staff and families make choices that maximize the positive and minimize the negative impacts of Google Chat in the online learning environment. The following tips and tricks will give students digital citizenship skills to make good choices online while using Google Chat.

When you look at the Google Chat option, you will see two types of chat, the first is called Chat, and the other is called Spaces. Chat is intended for 1:1 or small group communication. Spaces is meant for larger team collaboration.

Let’s say someone is chatting your student, and you do not wish to receive messages from them. If you hover your pointer over the name of the person who is chatting you, three vertical dots will appear. If you click the dots, you will see the option to Block, Hide, or Delete the conversation. You will want to Block the user you no longer wish to receive messages from. If you hide or delete, future messages will still be received from that user. Blocking them stops further messages entirely (until you choose to unblock them).

Spaces works in a similar way. You have the ability to hover over a group, click the three dots, and Block a Space. You have control over what messages you receive, and from who.

Of course, any time you receive messages that you feel are bullying or offensive, before blocking the message please screenshot the conversation and share it with your teacher so they know what is happening. This ensures we can contact the other student and address their online behavior.

Hopefully, this video helps with understanding Google Chat, why we use it, and how to have control over who your student receives messages from.

Check out our New Code Academy YouTube channel for other helpful Tech Videos, and our weekly NewsBYTEs. Like and Subscribe to the channel to receive updates for our new videos each week.

If you have questions about your New Code Academy Chromebook or Google Chat, you can contact me at rcannon@isd271.org.