Allan Didier

Meet and Zoom

Google Meet (formerly Hangouts) and Zoom are the most common video conferencing platforms. We all got used to them last year. Zoom has a few more features (like breakout rooms), but it costs money for a real account. These are for doing live meetings and can be recorded for playback later. Since you don’t really store any information in them and I know I won’t go back and show them next year to my students, you don’t use them to create content. They are used to deliver content. 

Time

Minimal time needed to set up a meeting.

Access for Students and Parents

I prefer to share the link via Google Classroom instead of email. If I accidentally close the meeting or mess it up I can just change the link in Google Classroom rather than re-sending the email.  

Updating and Modifying

The stuff is live. No updating and modifying allowed.

Longevity

Unknown. Zoom has been around for a while. As we know, Google Meets is new and ever changing. I’m not sure how long it will be around, but I am not concerned because nothing is saved to them.

Cost

Google Meet is free, even for personal users. Zoom costs money if you want a better account.

My Usage

Like everyone else, I use them for video meetings with my class. Despite the occasional hiccup and changing features, it Google Meets works fine for what I need. I don’t see me using it much, though, when we go back to face-to-face classes.