Spaces and Chat in Gmail

 Google has recently been spending a lot of time updating all of their products to work easier and more efficiently together to help increase productivity in the workplace. One of those places is a revamped Gmail. If you open up Gmail and look on the left-hand side, you could see Chat and Spaces already enabled. If not, go to settings (the gear), click on See All Settings, and then click on Chat and Meet to turn it on. 

So what is Chat? Chat is a communication tool that allows you to chat with another person or a group of people back and forth. Think of it as an instant messaging feature. 

What is Spaces? Spaces goes with Chat. If you have a group chat, you can turn it into Spaces which is a place where you can share files and assign tasks to each other. If you need to get together in a live event, you can easily open up a Google Meet (like Zoom) too. 

For more information on Gmail Spaces, read this blog post from TCEA. There is also this video but it does seem to be more for business leaders than teachers.

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