Missing Hangouts on Air? Here are Some Alternatives!

Hey All!

How many of you loved Google Hangouts on Air? I know I did. I could connect with my students, often have them as co-presenters as we discussed complex concepts. I could archive those videos and students and others could watch them later. So many others used it to organise webinars and PD bootcamps many of which I attended as a viewer and even co-hosted. I know that so many educators, including you did this and more amazing things with HoA. 




A couple of years ago HoA was jettisoned from G+ and it moved into YouTube. The change wasn't so bad and most of us made the transition pretty easily. I know I did and expanded my work to include students beyond my own and invited guest presenters to my webinar from multiple locations and held live 'round-tables' as the student audience watched live, asked and had their questions answered live. It benefitted students from remote areas, who did not always have access to good teachers and resources. I benefitted because now I have an amazing network of educators I am learning so much from. 







But then early in 2019 Google announced its plan to  kill HoA in YouTube. The replacement now either requires you to download encoders to be able to live-stream or you can directly use your webcam. Both are pretty limited in their scope in their current form and pretty pretty geeky and I do struggle with geeky things (I use the term with utmost respect). You can't invite guest speakers nor can you share your screen, two features that are really crucial to the webinar model that I use. 

There is Hangout Meet, but there are limitations if you are on GSuite Basic or GSuite for Education. for increased functionality you will need GSuite Enterprise or GSuite Enterprise for Education which in turn need to be paid for. For most of us educators it is difficult to budget for it as individuals. And convincing the school purse-string holders isn't always an easy job.

Zoom is another possibility. But again its a freemium service but the free version is very limited.




So as I searched around for ideas, I came across two types of products.



1. Software you can download, both open source and paid.
2. Browser based softwares










Among the first lot are:  

• OBS Studio (Open Source)
• ECamm Live (for Mac)
• Wirecast Studio (Download is free but otherwise paid license)
• Zoom (Paid subscription)

For Browser based options you do not need to download anything into your computer, but you can launch straight away into broadcasting.

• BeLive (Can only broadcast to Facebook Live and Twitch, but not on YouTube yet, though that might be in the pipeline. Not the cheapest)
• StreamYard*: Pretty flexible and non-geeky. You can broadcast to Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Twitch and Periscope. 
• Lightstream Studio: more advanced features and controls than StreamYard. But more geeky for me. 

Let's talk about the last two in a bit more detail...

Comparing StreamYard* and Lightstream Studio:

StreamYard

Lightstream Studio

1.  Both automatically record and archive the livestream on your YT channel, just like HoA, to be viewed later. 
2. Inviting guests is a breeze! All you need to do is send your guests a link. No sign up is required. StreamYard allows 5 guests at a time. Lightstream allows 7. But you can have more participants in the Greenroom. You can alternate between your guests being projected and those in the greenroom (does that make sense?)
3. In StreamYard Guests can join from their mobile phones, though for hosting must be done from a laptop. In Lightstream I could not find a way to join as a guest from my mobile... (Maybe I was doing something wrong)
4. In Lightstream, you can login from your phone as well and remote control your livestream from it. Neat, right? I didn't see this feature for StreamYard
5. You can share your screen during the broadcast in both applications.
6. StreamYard is more template based, so you have a few presets you can use to choose your layout. Lightstream allows you more control over that.
7. The Free version of StreamYard includes the company Logo. If you want your own personalised overlays and logos, you will need to subscribe to the service. Lightstream is free and allows you to put your own branding, background and logos for free. 
8. Lightstream has an option of downloading the software as well, if that's your thing, so you have more features and controls. StreamYard does not have this option.
9. And as far as I could tell, Lightstream is FREE!! They say it is going to remain free, though they may bring more advanced features for a payment later on. StreamYard has a free plan and two subscription plans to give you more features.
10. In StreamYard you can multi-stream to multiple platforms simultaneously with the  pro-version (USD 39/mo) But only one at a time if you use the free version.  Lightstream on the other hand does not allow for multistreaming natively. You can use Restream io to do so. 
11. As of now there is no limit on the number or length of your livestream on both the platforms, that I could figure out. But I think if your broadcasts are very long, it may nor get recorded and archived on YouTube. 
12. Streamyard has a referrals programme (Check the end of the post), Livestream is free as of now so it does not need a referral incentive.

So to round off.. after trying out both, I definitely found StreamYard easier to use, but Lightstream gives you more control and options. Both of these are to watch out for in the coming months as broadcasters try to adjust to life after Hangouts on Air. 

Try both and let me know which one you prefer to host your live broadcasts.

Teach SMART!

          Sanchita Ghosh

*Referral Link: You'll get $10 in credit, if you spend $25 with them. I'll get $25 in credit.

New Updates in Google Forms October 2019

Hi All! 

About 10 days ago, I opened a new Google Form for a registration form that I was setting up for the parents of the students I teach, and I got a nice surprise!


What was it? Google Forms with a NEW LOOK!                                 

This update is in keeping with the changes that Google has been making to the visual layout and design of all its GSuite products. 

This is a gradual roll out. So my GSuite for Education account is reflecting this change, but not in my personal account yet. But it will happen soon!


Let us take a quick look! 

                                                          

Old Forms: 

Broad Banner. Could be set to have an image preset within the application or personalised image could be uploaded. Themes could be set as well. Basic variety of fonts available.



New Forms: 

Look has changes radically. Though we can still select a banner image, themes and fonts as earlier.




                                                                  

Old Forms: Respondent View







New Forms: 

Banner image is separated from the main body of the Form. Each element now, banner, title and description and each question now is housed in its own rectangle (if that makes any sense).





                                                          



Old Forms: Responses Tab

New Forms: Layout has changed!




The changes as you can see are largely cosmetic. The Layout now is cleaner and in line with the changes that we have seen in most other GSuite products in recent months.

                                                  

As of now I am happy with these visual changes. But here is my wishlist from Google Forms:

1. There should be autosave when I am filling the form, so that if I am interrupted, I can come back to it a a later time and complete the rest of it, without having to start all over again.
2. Get an option for assigning a time limit on each question.
3. Have a way of setting up play-offs to make things exciting in class.
4. Have Version History, so I can check the changes or restore an earlier version. This is especially important when you have collaborators working with you on the same Form.   

I know Quizziz and Kahoot fulfil numbers 2 and 3, but I would like to see them in Google Forms too!

Have you seen the New Look Google Forms in your GSuite account yet? What are your thoughts?

Do let me know in the comments!

Until next time.....

Teach SMART!
   
             Sanchita Ghosh

Design a Digital Rangoli Template with Google Sheets

Hi All!

Diwali is round the corner and we all know that crackers have always been the most controversial part of the festivals, not only for the pollution it causes, but also the bad rap due to the involvement of child labour. The noise they create, causing distress to infants, senior citizens, heart patients and those with respiratory problems. They also harm birds and animals around us. 

So we talk about cleaner ways to celebrate this festival. One of the methods suggested is making rangolis. Different parts of India has a tradition of rangoli making, dry rice powder, rice powder paste, with flower petals etc. 

 
 


But did you know you could make digital rangolis too? Even create a template for your students to create their own digital designs. 

You can make a copy of my template by clicking HERE. 

But it is better to learn. So let's get started.

Step 1: Open a new Google Sheet

Step 2: Add more Columns

Step 3: Resize the Columns to get Square Grids



Step 4: Make Column A Wider for the Colour Key





Step 5: Conditional Formatting


You will need to 2 things:
a. The cell colour
b. Text colour.

Both need to do both so that when numbers are typed in the cell, it remains invisible.





Tip: Repeat till you have all your desired colours. Keep it simple, stick to single digits only.



Step 6: Set up the Colour Key





Step 7: Test it Out

Step 8: Share with your Students

a. You can use Google Classroom to assign it to your students, set it so that each student gets a copy. 
b. Alternately, you can force a copy (replace 'edit' with 'copy' in the url). 
c. You can even duplicate the tab so that each student has a tab to work on. 

Happy Diwali!!