Zoom v/s Google Meet For Teachers - Which one should YOU use?

Google Meet or Zoom? What's better for videoconferencing? 

Let's find out! Hey everybody! Welcome to Techy Hydra - Education for Tech Lovers! If this is your first-time reading, welcome! 

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Without further ado, let's take a look. 

Some people are using Google Meet, others are using Zoom. Right now with all this virtual learning, which is the best and why? Let's get to it! Okay right off the bat let's take a look at the download requirements for Google Meet. 

There is no download requirement - all you have to do is go to meet.google.com, enter that website or click on the link to any invitation and you're in! No download required. 

On the other hand, with Zoom, you do have to download some initial software. It doesn't take a lot of time, but you do have to do it one time for each device. If you have a slower computer it may not work so well. 

There are a few steps to go through, but if you want to join in a meeting with Zoom you WILL have to do a download. 

The next thing I want to take a look at is the number of participants. Zoom does have a Meet beat by a long shot. You can add up to 250 people in a Zoom meeting, whereas with Google Meet you're only gonna have about a hundred people allowed. Now for most people, this is not gonna be that big of a deal. Most teachers aren't going to have classes bigger than 100. 

However, in my opinion, the more important thing here is the view. With Zoom you can see more people, you can have a better page view of the people, and the grid view that you have with it is actually really neat, so you can see just about everybody at one time. Whereas with Google Meet you have a very limited view of the people that are in the meeting with you. 

Now there is a Google extension called Grid View for Meet. You could install that and you can run that with Google Chrome. It should help a little bit, but in this case, Zoom has definitely got the upper hand here. 

Taking a look at time limits for meetings - now, due to Corona Virus and the pandemic that's going on right now, Zoom has removed their current time limit. Normally you're allowed 40 minutes per meeting with a basic account. They've removed that, so right now there is unlimited time on your meetings. 

However, with Google Meet this is just all the time, 24/7, no matter what the situation, there will always be an unlimited time meeting frame for your meetings. So getting into some of the meat and potatoes, we're talking about creating meetings, and in this category, they're pretty much both the same. 

Both Zoom and Meet can make an instant meeting, meaning you can start it right now, you can pop it up, you can get people in there, and they both also have the option to schedule a meeting at a later date. One slight difference would be that Google Meet does that using Google Calendar, whereas using Zoom it would be directly through their website. So you don't go to meet.google.com and do a future appointment, you have to do the Calendar for that, whereas Zoom you can do both instant and scheduled later in the same spot.

Now on the other hand, when we talk about invitation RSVPs, this is actually a pretty major difference. With Google Meet it's very simple to do an RSVP system. You go into Google Calendar, you set the date and time that you want it to happen. Once you're within Calendar and you click on videoconferencing, there's an option to the right to enter email addresses and send invites directly, and this is huge. 

Now with Zoom, you can still invite people, but all you can do on their website is get a URL where you have to copy the address, then you have to go into your own email system, whether that's Outlook, or Gmail, or Yahoo, or whatever it is you're using. You have to create an email, add the participants, and then paste the address. To me, that's way more steps and it's very inconvenient, so in this case definitely Google Meet. Before we get back to the last five reasons, I want to ask a quick question of the week. Which one are you using and why? 

Are you using something different? If so, what? Post your comments down below. Let's start the debate! Collaborating together is always the best way to learn, and in the comments section that's exactly what we're here to do. 

Now talking about account access, this really depends on what you're using it for and what work you're in. If you're a teacher this shouldn't be an issue for Google Meet, but you do need a .edu account, so if you're using Google Meet and you don't have a .edu account you're not going to be able to host meetings, you're only going to be able to participate. For teachers, this isn't a problem, but if you're not teaching this could be an issue for you. 

With Zoom you need an account to host, but it's free, it's easy to set up. All you need is an email address and once you do that you're in. But you do not need an account to participate. However, to use some of the higher-powered features you do need a paid account, which is anywhere from 15 to 20 bucks a month. 

However, at some point in time when things get back to normal, Zoom is going to reinstate their 40-minute time limit on meetings, and you will need a pro account in order to extend that, so please keep that in mind. Now chat options - this is where Zoom has Google Meet beat hands-down. If you're hosting a meeting with lots of people, you're gonna want to use Zoom, plain and simple. 

With Google Meet, it's great, you can do basic chat on the side, you can talk to one another, you can post things, but that's about it. With Zoom, however, you can do basic chat, you can do things such as virtually raise your hand when everybody is muted, that way you can signal that you have something to say without trying to wave your hand on the screen. They have the ability to vote yes or no on things, so if the host were to ask a question and say, "Hey everybody, what do you think," the entire chat room will be able to make an individual vote. There are reactions available, such as clapping, thumbs up. 

There are ways to show how you feel about certain things without chiming in and speaking, and they also have the ability to send individual messages to one another. So if you're in a room full of 50 people and you just want to say something to Sarah, you have that ability (as long as the host gives you participation access). Regardless, Zoom is definitely the champion of this one. Taking a look at screen sharing abilities, both Zoom and Meet have the ability to do a screen share. Whoever the host is can hit the button and will instantly share the screen, whether it be one tab or the entire window. 

Both also have the ability to record what's going on. It's a little bit easier for Zoom to just hit record and go. With Meet you have to go through a few hoops, but they still have that capability. One bonus for Zoom though is that while you're sharing the screen you have the ability to bring up a whiteboard, and you also have the ability to annotate on top of your screen. You can draw on it, you can make notes, and to me, that's an extra plus for Zoom. One of the key things is the ability to moderate what's going on during the virtual meeting. Everybody's kind of new to this right now. We've been forced to use a system that we're not necessarily used to. 

With Meet you have the ability to mute somebody, one person. You can mute everybody one at a time, and you also have the ability to kick somebody out of a room, to remove them from the meeting. With Zoom, you can do the same thing. You can mute somebody and you can also kick them out of the room if you need to. 

However, on top of that you have the ability to hit "mute all," which if there are 50 people, it's really easy to do, so just hit mute instead of saying, "Hey everybody, please hit mute." It's just a really simple tool to have. 

On top of that, you can turn to chat off. You can disable the chat 100%. You can also close the room, which means you end the meeting and kick everybody out. With Google Meet, if I'm the host and I leave the room, everybody else can still hang behind, and there's nothing I can do about that. So with Zoom, you have the ability to close the meeting for everybody and that ends the meeting. 

You also have the ability to set up waiting rooms, which is where people go to wait while the meeting is being set up. You can also see who's in that lobby and admit people as they're ready to come in. So that's another great feature for zoom and another instance of them winning this hands-down. And this last one I want to talk about, it's kind of the knockout blow for Zoom. It is the bonus features. As you can see here, clearly Google Meet doesn't have any, but Zoom has a couple cool things. It can file share in chat, so you can include actual files in your chat. 

They also have a really cool ability to take large groups and break them up into smaller groups via breakout rooms. So let's say I have 50 people and I want people to discuss something in groups of five, I can set that up. They'll be sent out of the main room into the small groups where they'll get to chat until the host shuts it down, and they'll come back together and will reconvene. It's a super neat addition. 

Also, and perhaps most importantly, is the ability to password protect a room. You can set up a password that the user is required to have in order to enter the room. This is a really big step, especially given all the reports of lots of hacking going on, virtual hacking where people are entering rooms, being inappropriate. It's just another layer of protection that's really helpful for you to use. 

Well as you can see...winner by knockout is Zoom! As always, we hope you enjoyed the video content for today. If you did, please consider subscribing, liking our videos, and sharing with a friend. 

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