Hangouts

Hangouts is a messaging app from Google that allows users to video chat one-on-one or with up to 10 people simultaneously. Plus, users can send and receive text, voice, photos, videos, GIFs, and emojis. Hangouts syncs with all of a user’s devices –tablet, phone, and desktop– through the user’s Google+ profile. To connect with people, users select individuals from their Google contacts and add them to their Hangouts contacts list. From there, users can view a contact’s Google+ profile, video call, start a Hangout, or voice call. Users can also call any American land line or mobile for free with Hangouts.

Instructional Ideas

1. Teachers can use this app to keep in touch with parents in a variety of ways. For example, teachers can have online office hours, hold parent/teacher meetings, or host a virtual “Meet the Teacher” night with this app.
2. Teachers can use Hangouts to answer questions, run summer sessions, or tutor students after school hours or during study sessions.
3. Students can use Hangouts to communicate with each other to collaborate on projects. Teachers can hold students accountable by either joining the conversation or require students submit an artifact or work that was created during this Hangouts session.
4. Guest speakers can join the classroom and interact with teachers and students using this app. Teachers can then have students write about their guest speaker in Pages, Swiftkey, or Google Docs. Students can hand in their assignments via Dropbox or Google Drive.
5. In the Foreign Language, English, or Social Studies classroom, students can have Hangouts pen pals at a different school that is located in another state, country, or continent. For English, students can use the text feature of Hangouts to write to students at different schools. For Foreign Language, students can use the text, phone, and video-call features to improve their speaking and writing skills with peers who are native speakers of that language. For the Social Studies classroom, students can meet government officials, see new places, or talk to people from different cultures.

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