Online Lessons With Google Meet

Google Meet is a free video and audio conferencing platform that only requires users to have an account with Google to create and schedule meetings. Google Meet supports audio, video, screen sharing, and up to 100 users per call.  

Signing Up For Google

To set up a meeting using Google Meet you'll need a free account with Google. If you'd like to use Google Meet for online lessons and you don't already have an account with Google, you can create a free account on Google's Sign-Up Page.

A Google account isn't required for other users to join and participate in a meeting using Google Meet (i.e. after the meeting has been created by a user with a Google account), so you don't need to worry about your tutors and students needing a Google account to access their online lessons.  

What You Need From Google Meet to Integrate With Teachworks

To create Locations in Teachworks that link to Google Meet you'll need to first create a meeting in Google and save the unique URL that links to your Google Meeting.

You can follow these steps to create a Meeting in Google and access the Meeting URL:

1. Go to https://meet.google.com/
2. Click the “Join or start a meeting” button
3. Name your meeting space and click "Continue"

Copy and paste the URL for your Meeting. The URL is permanent and has no expiration date, so it can be used to access your Meeting over and over again without needing to create a new meeting each time. We're also going to use the URL to complete the steps below to create a location in Teachworks.

Adding Google Meet Locations in Teachworks

Once you have a Google Meeting link you can use the Location Links Add-On to create a Location in Teachworks that links to the Google Meeting anywhere the Location for a lesson is referenced. 

1. Enable the Location Links Add-On if you haven”t already done so. You can do that by logging into your admin account and going to Account & Settings > Integrations & Add-Ons > Location Links > Enable.
2. Once the add-on is enabled, go to Account & Settings > Locations > Add Location.
3. Enter a name for your Google Meeting. Add the Google Meeting link to the “Link” field. The link doesn’t include https://, so be sure to add that to the beginning of the link when you add it:
   
4. It may be a good idea to check the “Display Conflicts” box so the Conflict Checker will display conflicts if more than one lesson is scheduled for a location at any given time.
   
5. Click “Save.”
6. If you plan to create more than one Google Meeting location for online lessons, you can repeat the steps listed above to add each one as a Location in Teachworks.

Scheduling Lessons That Link To Google Meetings

Scheduling accessible online lessons is easy once you've set up Locations that link to Google Meetings. When scheduling lessons, simply select one of the Google Meeting location in the "Location" field on the Schedule Lesson Form.  

Where Users Can Find The Link To Their Online Lesson

On the Calendar: Students, parents, and tutors can login to their Teachworks account and access their online lessons by going to their Calendar, clicking on the lesson, and clicking "View." The "Location" in the view lesson pop-up window will be hyperlinked to the Google Meeting.

Lesson Reminders: If you've enabled automated lesson reminders, you can include the {LOCATION} merge tag in the student and family lesson reminder email templates, and lesson reminders will include a link to Google Meet Locations.    

Employee reminders include their lessons for an entire day. You can add the {EVENTS} merge tag to the Employee Reminder Template and the location of each of the employee's lessons will be included in the email reminder. 

This article has more information about Customizing Notification Templates.