Yes. Students can easily communicate by posting comments on the Stream page of the class (which works like a Facebook page). They can also communicate through Gmail (in our scenario IIU email) or directly through the built-in chat when students share their Docs or Sheets with each other.
Google Meet is another way of
communicating with one another. However, most of the communication and
collaboration among the students is done within the framework of an existing
assignment or course contents and with the permission of the teacher.