“Explore” the New Feature of the Newly-Named G Suite

Google Apps for Education is undergoing a few improvements including a brand new name—G Suite for Education—and a new smart feature, Explore.

Explore (which can be found in Google Sheets, Google Docs, and Google Slides) was designed to help simplify typically complicated tasks and is sure to be a hit in your classroom. Take a look at the 4 ways this new feature is making the G Suite even sweeter.

1. Say “Buh-Bye” to Memorizing Complicated Formulas

In Google Sheets, Explore will allow users to easily analyze data without the hurdle of understanding formulas. To do this, Explore will convert written questions into formulas. This means that students will be able to spend more time analyzing and less time figuring out complicated formulas.

For example: Your students are working on creating a budget for their next school dance. You ask them to provide you with the total cost of decorations. Instead of typing in a formula to locate that answer, they can type “What is the total cost of decorations?” into Explore. Google Sheets will then provide them with the answer.

2. Save Time with Dynamic Design

In Google Slides, Explore will allow users to create more polished and stylish presentations. According to Google, “Explore will dynamically generate design suggestions, based on the content of your slide.” Users will be able to select from the recommendations and add it to their Sheet without cropping or resizing the image, saving the user time.

3. Support Writing and Strengthen Understanding with Intelligent Recommendations

In Google Docs, Explore will recommended additional information and resources based on the topics within your document . Using “machine intelligence,” recommendations can include websites, articles, images, and videos which can help support the information found within the doc.

For example, imagine one of your students is writing an essay on Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “The Scarlet Letter.” Based on the content of their essay, Explore could recommend an image of a painting depicting Boston’s Puritan community in the 1640s, a magazine article documenting the history of the book’s publication, or a Youtube video that includes clips of the novel being referenced in pop culture.

4. Better Organize Your Schedule

Lastly, Explore for Google Calendar will allow users to access available meeting rooms and resources more effectively. Explore will find times when all invitees are free, which rooms and resources are available based on previous bookings and events, and help solve conflicts when no time or room is available. This can be a great resource for teachers looking to schedule team meetings or students working on group assignments.

To Learn More…

To learn more about Explore and how you can become an expert on all things G Suite, sign up for one of our many Google-centered courses with Teq Online PD. Don’t have a Teq Online PD account? No worries. You can sign up for a free 7- day trial here!

Written by Brittany Handler
and Nina Sclafani