Google and Slack deepen partnership to help teams work better together
Google and Slack share the same vision for the future of work: that smart software can bring teams together and make all of their work and conversations seamlessly available in one place. The result is that teams can move faster and more efficiently. We’ve each been building towards this vision independently, and today we’re announcing a partnership that represents our intent to build towards this vision together.
We also share the same commitment with Slack to offer our customers choice through open platforms. We want our customers to use the tools they need to be successful and for many companies, including AOL, R/GA and Shopify, that's a combination of G Suite and Slack.
Through this partnership we’re increasing our joint product and engineering efforts to strengthen the link between the content in Google Drive and the communication in Slack.
“At R/GA, we’ve found that we create our best work when we can bring teams together in real time from different disciplines, and often different locations. Rolling out G Suite and Slack across the agency, we’ve been able to seamlessly collaborate, connect more easily with our clients, produce better work and reduce the time it takes to get the work done. We depend on smooth integrations to make the most of what both platforms can do for our teams and our clients,” says Nick Coronges, Chief Technology Officer at R/GA.
Google Docs and Drive were among the earliest Slack integrations and remain the most popular. In fact, a Drive file is imported in Slack approximately 60,000 times every weekday; that’s a file shared every 1.4 seconds.
Our partnership will focus on several new, richer features including:
- Instant permissions: We’re smoothing out permissions so that files shared in Slack are immediately available to the right teammates. When a file from Google Drive is shared in a Slack channel, the system will automatically confirm that everyone in the channel has access to that file. You can easily add or remove file collaborators with a single click.
- Previews and notifications: Files shared in Slack will preview the content you need at a glance. And you’ll never miss an update, since Google Drive and Docs notifications will be delivered to you in Slack.
- Slack channels + Team Drives: Team Drives keep teams in sync by creating a central place for shared content, enabled by a new group-level ownership model. Announced in September, Team Drives is currently available to early adopter customers and slated for broader release in 2017. Customers will be able to pair Team Drives and Slack channels to keep content and conversations in sync. New files uploaded to the connected Slack channel will be automatically stored in the Team Drive; relevant Team Drive updates will be shared in Slack, and the set of people with access will stay in sync between the two products.
- Provisioning Slack from G Suite: Companies that run on G Suite already run their organizations via the cloud, and soon with just a couple of clicks in the G Suite Admin console they can provision Slack for teams or the entire company.
Working with Slack, we’ll continue to explore how we can make our products work better together, but also ways Google products and technologies can help Slack scale and serve their customers. We look forward to the many ways we can work with Slack and to the enhanced experience we'll deliver together for our customers.
via The Official Google Blog http://ift.tt/2hjC1ZH
Partnering to Help Curb the Spread of Terrorist Content Online
Starting today, we commit to the creation of a shared industry database of “hashes” — unique digital “fingerprints” — for violent terrorist imagery or terrorist recruitment videos or images that we have removed from our services. By sharing this information with each other, we may use the shared hashes to help identify potential terrorist content on our respective hosted consumer platforms. We hope this collaboration will lead to greater efficiency as we continue to enforce our policies to help curb the pressing global issue of terrorist content online.
Our companies will begin sharing hashes of the most extreme and egregious terrorist images and videos we have removed from our services — content most likely to violate all of our respective companies' content policies. Participating companies can add hashes of terrorist images or videos that are identified on one of our platforms to the database. Other participating companies can then use those hashes to identify such content on their services, review against their respective policies and definitions, and remove matching content as appropriate.
As we continue to collaborate and share best practices, each company will independently determine what image and video hashes to contribute to the shared database. No personally identifiable information will be shared, and matching content will not be automatically removed. Each company will continue to apply its own policies and definitions of terrorist content when deciding whether to remove content when a match to a shared hash is found. And each company will continue to apply its practice of transparency and review for any government requests, as well as retain its own appeal process for removal decisions and grievances. As part of this collaboration, we will all focus on how to involve additional companies in the future.
Throughout this collaboration, we are committed to protecting our users' privacy and their ability to express themselves freely and safely on our platforms. We also seek to engage with the wider community of interested stakeholders in a transparent, thoughtful and responsible way as we further our shared objective to prevent the spread of terrorist content online while respecting human rights.
via The Official Google Blog http://ift.tt/2h0zNBZ
How teachers and students can develop learning skills for school – and beyond
Editor’s note: As part of the ExploreEDU event series, schools are working with Google for Education Premier Partners to throw open their doors and invite neighboring educators to learn first-hand from their own experiences using Google tools to innovate and improve. To see if there is an event near you, visit the ExploreEDU site. For those who can’t join in person, we’ll also share the schools’ experiences here. Today’s guest author is Shanna Schwarzer, assistant principal from Jefferson City High School. The district is hosting an event on December 8 with Tierney Brothers.
We use the word “professional” often when we talk to students about their performance and behavior. We want them to view classrooms as workplaces, and take their “jobs” as students just as seriously as employees in the corporate world do – that is, the job of learning. Today, technology plays a larger role in helping our students become enthusiastic and curious learners. Now that we’re a 1:1 school, with every student using a device, we make sure every teacher is prepared for guiding students in using technology. Here’s what we’ve done to support students and teachers on this journey.
1. Creating an in-house help desk staffed by students
We’ve created a class called “Help Desk,” in which students learn how to make basic repairs on our devices or help fix Wi-Fi networks. They also learn business communication skills, like how to greet fellow students and teachers who visit the help desk. Teachers use lesson plans from the nonprofit group GenYES, which promotes technology training for students.
Not only does our help desk educate students on understanding technology, it saves time for our IT team, since students make minor repairs and solve simple tech issues in our classrooms.
Help desk image; [Caption] Students learn how to solve common IT issues in Jefferson City High School's "Help Desk" class.
2. Scheduling monthly “tech summits” for teachers
We help teachers keep their tech skills sharp with required monthly tech summits. These 45-minute sessions focus on a specific topic, such as how to organize files in Google Drive and the SAMR (substitution/augmentation/modification/redefinition) model for understanding how technology can impact teaching and learning. Some summits are roundtables, where teachers can discuss current tech and learning challenges. After one summit on blended learning and setting up station rotations, teachers felt confident to set up these rotations in their own classrooms, based on their lessons plans.
3. Go all in and embrace occasional failures
Not all students will learn how to use technology at the same pace. We decided it was best for us to go all in because both students and teachers can reap the benefits right away. For example, some students may resist using Google Classroom at first, because they’re more comfortable with completing assignments on paper. If you allow their hesitation to delay implementation, students will miss out on the opportunity to get feedback from teachers or share ideas with classmates.
When we try to change student learning and our efforts falter, we talk about it – we don’t cover it up. Teachers and students will learn from the failed attempts and improve next time. One big obstacle teachers have to overcome has been grading. When they are trying to use Classroom and grade electronically, it becomes a hurdle. Early on, we found many teachers weren’t using Classroom for grading, because they were used to paper. We recognized that we had to go back and “teach the teachers” why grading within Classroom made sense. Now they understand how online grading frees them up from the hassles of mounds of paperwork!
4. Allow teachers to create their own paths with technology
We recognize that teachers will use technology differently based on their preferences and subjects. For instance, some teachers simply use Classroom to supplement their teaching with online articles posted in the “About” stream. Others may use Classroom as a place for students to turn in homework assignments. Teachers’ comfort level can grow throughout the year as they gain confidence and share ideas with their colleagues.
Don’t throw out good teaching methods just because they don’t fit into what’s expected in a 1:1 program. Let the technology complement the teaching.
Preparing students to become lifelong learners isn’t an overnight process, and it certainly isn’t easy. When you hit rough spots, remind yourself that you’re positioning students for success in college and the workforce, where they’ll use technology to collaborate and learn every day. You’re preparing them for the real world.
via The Official Google Blog http://ift.tt/2h0np50
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