What is the whiteboard on Google Meet?

Think of the whiteboard on Google Meet as if it were a physical whiteboard in a classroom or conference room. 

You can write and draw on it as you discuss your lecture, you use it to illustrate key points of the discussion, and you can also use it for interactive group activities. 

The whiteboard on Google Meet works the same way.  It was originally called a jamboard and was renamed to WHITEBOARD upon integration with GSuite.

Start a new whiteboard

Click on START A NEW WHITEBOARD to open a clean (unused).  Once you start a whiteboard, a link will be sent to all the participants of the meeting or call.  Once they receive the link, they can use the whiteboard immediately.

Choose from Google Drive

A copy of your previous whiteboards saved on the Google Drive of the person who started it.  All participants of the call where you started the whiteboard maintain access to the whiteboard unless you change the permissions for it.

 

 

 

 

Where can I access the whiteboard on Google Meet?

There are two places where you can find the whiteboard on Google Meet.  To illustrate, let us look at the Google Meet toolbar.

There are several icons to be found in the toolbar located at the bottom of the screen but to record a Google Meeting, you can go through ACTIVITIES or MORE OPTIONS.

Activities

The ACTIVITIES icon is the second icon from the right on your screen that looks like a triangle stacked on top of a square and circle.  When you click on that the ACTIVITIES panel will appear displaying two items: RECORDING and WHITEBOARDING. Click on the WHITEBOARDING button to trigger the whiteboard.

More options

The MORE OPTIONS button is among the set of icons found in the middle of the bottom of the screen and to the left of the END CALL button.  It appears as three dots stacked on top of each other.  In the illustration above, click on the second link from the top marked WHITEBOARD to trigger the whiteboard.  Sometimes the CAST THIS MEETING button does not appear, so the WHITEBOARD button will appear on top.

How do I use the whiteboard?

The whiteboard is an interactive interface, which means that everyone in the call could write, draw, and scribble in it.  At the top-middle of the screen is the FRAMES icon. It lets you add a frame which you or others can work on without deleting the content of the active frame.

On the left side of the whiteboard is the toolbar. It contains the different tools (such as the pen, eraser, select tool, sticky note, add image, add shape, text box, and laser) that you and your participants could use to illustrate, demonstrate, and emphasize key points, etc.

The whiteboard is very easy to use. If you are familiar with Microsoft Paint, Adobe Photoshop, or any graphic software, then this should be easy for you to figure out. Some of these features can also be found on Microsoft Office.

If you require additional explanations on how each tool works or would like to ask for one-on-one mentoring, CET’s Coaching and Capacity Building Team has mentors that could assist you.  Go to http://edtech.benilde.edu.ph/?page_id=6480 to make an appointment.