August 2025
August 2025
Google Generative AI Course For Teachers
Organize Google docs with Workspaces in Drive - Google Slam video
Savannah AI with Kinder Write Up/Kacie 2/12 Team Lead mtg
Library Media Endorsement https://forms.office.com/pages/responsepage.aspx?id=Q7JFLI8UfUOZ2GJgWjK4QIv8P8hZN-ZEhQ9SJRKYir5UQUZLQjNFWkpZR1NNQzRLMlVTRUNSOEZTMi4u&route=shorturl
Notebook LM - age restriction, podcast and interactive features
Google Gen AI Course for teachers - free
Google Labs - Whisk - plushie
Docs Cover Images/pageless and Tabs
Brisk free teacher AI tool https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1Tp61CKSGQ77spV7qrEdheghtDOq8F_UdfZL71ykXZzM/edit?usp=drive_link
Adobe - ai generated coloring pages, coloring tools that keep coloring in the lines, Guided Activities build skill sets, Learn Tab (light bulb) video instructions, project dub coming soon (create video of yourself talking in multiple languages, Time Capsule activity add generative images to the suitcase, Adobe Classrooms to easily distribute and get back assignments and Class Gallery where students can see each others work, Turn yourself into an action figure, 12 days of creativity
Canva: built in presentation tools like timer, curtain, blur screen, mic drop, live polls and quizzes, Visual suite AI Dream Lab (age restriction), Magic Write, Cheat Sheet prompts, Magic Media ai generated graphics and video, Magic Eraser reove objects from an image, Magic Grab move objects in an image, read hand written pages and translate, change reading level of print text, Magic Expand to fit a different area, recolor a presentation
Google Demo Slam https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1HtyHj1E1xGFwfDduJjBWbJfHGUSF30mi/edit?usp=drive_link&ouid=110319645211699115198&rtpof=true&sd=true
Google Read Along - allowed for use
Gale, World Book or one of those
What's New In Chrome chrome://whats-new/
Minecraft Dig Deeper email from Chris on 2/11/25 AI
New in Google email from 1/24
NEWSLETTER GOOGLE FOR EDUCATION | JANUARY 2025
Three Things to Know | Product News | Educator Resources | Extra Credit
At BETT in London, we announced a whole set of new product updates for 2025. See how we're building streamlined class management tools for educators and responsible and helpful AI tools, made for education, along with more admin controls and tools to make learning more collaborative and creative. To learn more about these updates, and all of the Google for Education announcements made at BETT, check out our launch guide.
Check out new features to help teachers manage Chromebooks in class and improve instruction using Chromebook Plus. Make the most of class time with Class tools, available on Chromebooks with Google Workspace for Education Plus.
See how educators and students can use no cost AI tools like the Gemini app and Notebook LM and paid tools like Gemini for Workspace to improve working, teaching, and learning.
Keeping students and educators safe online is no small task. While no technology can completely eliminate your risk, significant new controls across Google Workspace for Education and Chromebooks can help create even safer learning environments.
Many students in classrooms around the world require more personalized ways to learn effectively. So we're introducing several new features across Google Workspace for Education and Chromebooks designed to address the diverse needs of students globally.
Face control, an AI-powered accessibility feature, is now rolling out on Chromebooks. With Face control, you can control the cursor by moving your head and perform various actions using facial gestures, making it groundbreaking for people with motor impairments or other physical limitations. Learn more in this blog and access it rolling out in ChromeOS update M132.
Sign up today to hear from Google for Education product experts, partners and your peers - every month! We'll be hosting online sessions on the latest advancements in Google for Education, including the latest with Gemini AI, NotebookLM, Chromebooks, Google Workspace for Education, and Classroom to help make learning more personal and differentiation more achievable.
Use Google's Read Along to celebrate World Read Aloud Day! Assign Read Along activities that make reading aloud fun and helpful by linking to readalong.google or from right within Google Classroom if you have Read Along enabled.
HP introduced new additions to the HP Fortis portfolio this month! The HP Fortis G1i series unlocks students’ learning potential with powerful performance to tackle daily tasks and enhanced collaboration experiences, while providing protection against modern threats. Key features for the HP Fortis G1i 14-inch Chromebook, HP Fortis G1i 11-inch Chromebook, and HP Fortis Flip G1i 11-inch Chromebook include:.
Supercharged performance with next-generation Intel® processors featuring up to 16GB memory and up to 128GB UFS, storage
Built-in HD webcam, microphone, and crystal-clear audio to foster collaborative learning experiences
Chrome Enterprise Upgrade and Chrome Education Upgrade to simplify device management.
Google Readalong Beta needs to be enabled if we're going to use it
Gemini for Teens available yet? Taylorsville Sr
Google Vids
Google Read Along in Google Classroom
Adobe Express news
Gale/Adding It right into Canvas refer back to the breakout from January
Video tools/Jan breakout
From AI-powered learning tools to enhanced accessibility features, we had more than 65 new features in 2024! Learn more about new features, plus get a preview of what's to come in 2025.
Last month, we launched a Google Vids to Google Workspace for Education to empower educators and students to easily create and collaborate with video. Now, educators can access Vids right from the assignment creation page within Google Classroom.
With the Gemini mobile app - now available on iOS and Android - you can do research or find quick answers while on the go. You can also leverage the camera of the phone to take pictures of handwritten notes and export them into Google Docs or Gmail, or create presentation-ready visualizations of a chart that was drawn on a whiteboard.
Gemini LTI™ helps enhance the educational experience for both educators and students by providing AI-driven tools and features powered by Gemini within their LMS environment. To start, Gemini LTI™ integrates with Canvas by Instructure and Powerschool Schoology Learning. Learn more.
Earlier this year we introduced Gems in Gemini Advanced, custom AI experts that can help streamline time-consuming tasks, generate innovative ideas, and enhance productivity. We're introducing new Gems built by Google, including a 'Hiring consultant' that can help create consistent job descriptions or interview questions and a 'Sentiment analyzer' that can help you understand student and parent feedback.
With new HIPPA and ISO certifications, education institutions can have the peace of mind that data (including personally identifiable, financial and medical information) submitted to or generated by the Gemini app will be handled in accordance with recognized security controls and privacy frameworks.With these certifications, Gemini for Workspace and the Gemini app each have a comprehensive set of safety, privacy and security certifications internationally recognized by regulatory and compliance bodies. Learn more.
NotebookLM Plus is now included in the Gemini Education add-ons, helping accelerate learning and knowledge sharing with AI grounded in your sources. Add your organization's strategy plan, education standards, lecture notes and course readings; NotebookLM Plus can help you generate summaries, guided lesson plans, study guides, discussion questions, quizzes and more.
Get your students exploring the world of artificial intelligence to learn about its real-world applications. Our two AI lessons, Discover AI in Daily Life and Explore a Topic: Generative AI, help your students develop practical skills like critical thinking, problem-solving, and digital creativity.
Take a minute to encourage your school community to sign up for the Google for Education Navigator. We curate and share online tutorials, guides, and invites to in-person events throughout the year, to help educators and school administrators navigate Google for Education tools.
This month, we're celebrating CS Education Week with a collection of free PD and classroom resources offered by Google and nonprofit organizations. Learn more about Google.org’s recent investments to support organizations that are furthering CS education equity and access.
What’s in store for 2025? Hear from Shantanu Sinha, Vice President of Google for Education, to get a sneak peek into what's next. Watch the video.
Make informed decisions about which Google for Education tools and features your school can implement. Our comprehensive product guide has the latest details on features, availability, and more.
Are you an Education Leader?
Start today with Google Workspace for Education Fundamentals
A suite of secure and easy-to-use tools — provided at no cost — that help improve collaboration, productivity, and class management.
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From: Donnaly Crull <donnaly.crull@nearpod.com>
Date: Friday, November 22, 2024 at 11:36 AM
To:
Cc: Braxton Thornley <braxton@uen.org>
Subject: Nearpod first introduction to AI is now live! | AI Create 🪄
Hello Utah partners,
You've asked a couple of times, "When will Nearpod do something with AI?" well, it's here. Say hello to AI Create.
AI Create is a question generator—and it’s Nearpod’s first teacher-facing AI feature. It allows teachers to generate multiple-choice questions on any topic. Whether you're teaching math, science, history, or even something niche like outer space or oxford commas, all you need is a topic. AI Create will generate ready-to-use questions that can be seamlessly integrated into two of Nearpod’s most popular activities: Standard Multiple Choice or Time to Climb.
Most importantly— Teachers can review, tweak, add, and delete questions directly in their Nearpod slides. The AI gives you the power to save time on prep by giving you a starting point, while keeping full control over the final content.
Here are the questions you might be asking yourselves:
Can Districts and Schools turn off AI Create?
Yes, this option is available in the admin.
What technology is Nearpod using for AI Create?
Currently, Nearpod’s AI Create is powered by OpenAI’s GPT-4.o mini. Nearpod has developed a proprietary system of intermediary prompts, safety guards, evaluations, and validations to ensure the output is safe, relevant, appropriate, and tailored for the classroom.
How does AI Create ensure there is a human in the loop?
AI Create requires teacher review and input at multiple points throughout the question generation flow. First, once questions are generated, teachers must proactively select which questions they’d like to include in their activity before those questions are added. Additionally, after they've added the questions they have the opportunity to review and edit before saving the activity.
Does Nearpod use teacher data to train the AI model?
No, Nearpod’s AI does not use or collect any user data to train the model.
This is just the beginning of what Nearpod will be doing with AI. As always, please reach out with any questions!
Donnaly Crull
Senior Customer Success Manager | Utah
Ed Tech Champions
Teaching Books notes and other from CForum
Celebrate the 10th anniversary of Minecraft Education and Code.Org partnership with the launch of this year's Hour of Code: The Show Must Go On!
The Show Must Go On brings computer science to life! Students use coding to solve fun challenges and save a chaotic show. They'll create music, invent dance moves, and design costumes while learning key CS concepts. This adventure teaches computational thinking, aligns with CS standards, and builds skills in algorithm design and debugging. It's a creative, collaborative way to make coding click for students of all skill levels.
See below for access to all the resources you will need to leverage in the classroom or share with your educators to experience Hour of Code!
Landing Page - Includes ALL Resources
Trailer -To preview this awesome new world!
Educator Resources -To review the lesson page, supporting materials for the classroom, and research on facilitating Hour of Code in Minecraft
Launch Blog - To read more about the details of the world and the learning experiences involved!
To share on social and for additional excitement about the release, see articles below:
Don’t forget to sign your educators and students up for a Live Play Along during CS Ed Week!
Register for an event in English
Register for an event in Spanish
Please let us know if you have any questions or need support as you share this with your educators, coaches, and leaders across your districts.
Kindly,
Jade & Morgan
Teaching Books and Sora - Josh email 10/16
Utah's Online Library and Teaching Books
Sora - set up the Utah Online Library piece to access magazines, etc.
https://sites.google.com/schools.utah.gov/usbeaisummitsmaterials/home
AI Summit Site
All materials from the AI Summits are available at bit.ly/usbeaisummit. Feel free to share any of those materials with your educator communities.
Melissa's ideas
What's new in Screencastify email 9/25
We are excited to share some fantastic new features that will help you make the most of your edtech tools this school year. From enhancing accessibility to encouraging student reflection, these updates are designed to make teaching and learning more impactful and inclusive.
1. Enhance Accessibility with World Language Captions and AI Voice Over
You can now make your school-wide announcements accessible to everyone in your educational community by adding world language captions and AI voice overs. Whether you’re sharing important updates or engaging content, this feature allows you to:
Enable translated captions in over 50 languages
Include AI voice overs for enhanced accessibility
Track viewing analytics to see engagement
2. Encourage Student Reflection with Submit
Metacognition and reflection are powerful learning tools, and with Submit, you can integrate these practices throughout the school year. Submit allows students to create video responses, fostering goal setting and reflective learning.
3. Engage students and capture formative data with Quiz
Gather essential formative data on specific learning standards by using interactive video lessons. With added abilities like AI-Powered Question Generation, no skipping video settings, and automatic short answer grading, quickly create, assign, and assess using Screencastify Quiz.
Exciting new features at Screencastify! 🎉
Helping Teachers Save Time with AI-Powered Tools
We understand that a teacher’s most precious resource is time. That’s why we’ve been hard at work developing AI-driven features designed to streamline your workflow, making it easier than ever to create interactive lessons and engage your students.
Introducing AI Assistant
With just one click, effortlessly add captions, a title, and a description to your video. Let the AI handle the details, so you can focus on what matters most—teaching.
AI-Powered Question Generation
Easily curate a list of AI-generated questions to include in any recorded video. This feature allows you to track student comprehension, boost engagement, and monitor progress by integrating quizzes seamlessly into your lessons.
AI Short Answer Grading
Say goodbye to hours spent grading. Our upcoming AI Short Answer Grading tool will allow your AI Assistant to not only help create quizzes but grade them too. From multiple choice to short answer questions, this feature will enable quick and efficient assessment, giving you more time to focus on your students.
Want a sneak peak? Sign up for a time here.
Introducing Peer Collaboration with Submit
Encourage active learning and foster a collaborative classroom environment by using Submit’s new functionality. By empowering students to support and learn from one another, this feature opens up new possibilities for deeper engagement and enriched educational experiences.
Peer Viewing and Commenting
With Submit, students can now engage with their peers by viewing and commenting on each other’s videos. Encourage collaboration and active learning by enabling students to give constructive feedback on presentations, share insights on assignments, or discuss their peers' work. This new functionality opens up endless possibilities for interaction and deeper learning.
Simplify Video Lesson Creation and Assignment Workflows through LMS Integrations
Save time creating, assigning, and grading interactive video lessons by integrating Screencastify with Schoology, Canvas, and Google Add-On. Create, assign, and grade all in one platform with LMS integrations.
Things to include in the September newsletter
Ed Tech Champions
New program features in Adobe and Padlet
Reminder about premium subscriptions
Josh - blog post
Hi Teresa,
This is the post that Chris suggested be shared in the newsletter - https://granitemedia.org/2024/07/how-to-get-involved-in-our-review-books-program/
I don’t know if it is the best time to promote this to all teachers, though; sharing it in one of later months would be fine with me.
UEN EMAIL 9/24
Enhancing Teaching with AI Technology
By Braxton Thornley
Large Language Models (LLMs) are strange: seemingly intelligent yet unable to reason, broadly useful yet prone to mistakes, generally robotic yet riddled with quirks. As teachers and students explore AI, many feel overwhelmed by its potential yet struggle to fully utilize it. While simple AI tasks don't require complex prompts, more challenging ones might.
Here are six recommendations for getting started:
1. Understand AI’s Limitations
As with all technology tools, LLMs come with limitations. Understanding these limitations is an important step in using AI effectively.
LLMs predict the next word and string words together based on statistical probability. They don't have the power to reason or understand concepts like humans do.
LLMs are prone to generating inaccurate information, known as "hallucinations," when data is unavailable. This can result in confident but false assertions.
"LLMs struggle to solve math problems effectively and often give circuitous explanations of their process. They should not be relied upon for computational purposes."
2. Provide a Persona
Once you have a firm grasp of the limitations you’re working within, it’s time to begin prompting. The first key component of an effective prompt is providing the AI with a job or persona. Tell the AI the role it should fulfill.
3. Define the Goal
After providing a persona, define the AI's goal. The clearer the instructions, the better. For example, “Your goal is to help me become a better writer, not necessarily fix my writing for me. You will accomplish this goal by asking questions more frequently than providing suggestions.”
4. Clarify the Context
At this step, you should tell the AI more about its audience. If I were creating a custom chatbot for students, I might tell the AI my students’ ages and the content area for my course. In this case, because I am the one who will be interacting with the AI, I would provide details about myself that would help the AI fine-tune its responses to me: “I am an experienced writer with a bachelor’s degree in English. Please provide feedback accordingly.”
5. Guide the Process
The next step is to provide the AI tool with process-oriented instructions. How should it structure its responses, and when should it give one type of response rather than another? This step should make up the bulk of your prompt. In my prompt, I might write, “I will only provide you with five to six sentences of my writing at a time. After I provide you with a portion of my writing, point out two areas of potential improvement and ask which I’d like to address. I will choose one of the options. After I choose one of the options, generate three guiding questions that will help direct my revision process.”
6. Iterate and Revise
Working with AI is a skill that takes practice. As the old saying goes, if at first you don’t succeed, adjust your prompt and try again. You might also consider asking the AI what type of information it needs to reach the stated goal.
Regardless of your process here, remember that all writing—including writing intended for AI—is iterative. However, if you’re still feeling stuck, we’ve included additional resources below!
New Freeform function in Padlet
Groups in Google Classroom
Ed Tech Champions
Premium Licenses
Using AI for Community Building, Relationship Building, Get To Know You activitites
Translation in Book Creator, voice and text
Adobe Express Presentations email 4/23
Hi District Partners,
And just like that – back to school season is here! Today, the Adobe Express for Education team has begun launching new features for K12 teachers, admins and students. As we head into the new year, we’re making creative skill-building even easier, unveiling responsible generative AI that is designed to be classroom safe, and surfacing new opportunities for all students to create across the curriculum.
Check out and share this Adobe Express for Education - August Newsletter, filled with important updates and exciting resources heading into the fall.
Some of my favorite updates:
· 18 new Guided Activities — step-by-step instructions for quick, subject-relevant projects, all available inside Adobe Express on the Educator Resources Tab. These are SO helpful for building teacher and student confidence with quick skill-builders directly within Express. If there’s one update I’ve been most excited about personally, this is it. Great community- and skill-builders for the first weeks of the year!
· August Creative Challenge — Our monthly creative challenges continue, and they’re now featured inside Adobe Express, making it even easier to use with students. See the template, video, and instructions, all in one place. In this month’s challenge, students fill their dream Back-to-School backpack using Generative Fill.
· Text to template, a new generative AI feature, lets teachers and students generate a template with a prompt.
· Grade and subject filters — find the right resources for your class in just a couple clicks with the new search filters for specific grade levels and subject areas.
· Blog Post on what’s new and coming throughout Back-to-School
· Back-to-School Virtual PD sessions throughout August
· iPad App Update coming August 8 – more details on this Express Page (password: iPads2024)
Some of you may have already heard about some these updates if you’ve spoken with our team in the past few weeks, and I’m so glad they’re now here! We’ll continue to launch new and exciting features as August continues.
If you, your coaches, and/or teachers would like additional guidance on some of these new features, please attend our Creativity Counts: Back to School Webinar sessions. Anyone from your districts is welcome! HERE’S OUR LANDING PAGE FOR THIS SERIES
Sessions are 40 minutes with an optional 20 minute workshop and Q&A
These sessions start on August 15th and run through October
After school with 2 timeslot options (we hope this will work for your elementary and secondary teachers)
These sessions are in no particular order and attendees can pick and choose which sessions work best for them
Any registered attendees that miss the sessions will have the option to watch the recordings
Screencastify email content from 4/23
Hey, Teresa!
As you're getting more comfortable with Screencastify, we want to remind you about the resources available to you. Whether you're new to screencasting or an experienced pro, we've got something for you!
📖 Check out our blog for tips and tricks on creating amazing videos. From best practices for recording to creative ideas for video projects, we've got you covered.
🎓 Ready to take your skills to the next level? Screencastify University offers a series of courses designed to help you become a screencasting pro. From beginner basics to advanced techniques, our courses cover it all.
👥 Join us for one of our upcoming webinars to get even more tips and tricks from the pros. From creating engaging videos, our webinars cover a range of topics.
We're always here to help, so if you have any questions or need assistance, don't hesitate to reach out. We're committed to helping you create amazing videos with Screencastify.
UCET Content/Highlights
Another School AI Tutorial
School AI EMAIL Janelle 3/26
school AI email 4/9 Subject Tutors
Josh's email 4/11 Sora Text to Speech Read to Me feature is new
Figma.com Jamboard replacement/free to educators
Animate your drawing/https://sketch.metademolab.com/ Did I add this already?
Kami updates
I hope that you are doing well! As spring is approaching I have been making some resources for my customers to share with their teachers and staff. Often with ed tech apps - new features are added and teachers don't always know about them. I created a quick spring resource that has some quick videos on some of the new features in Kami. Great for tech updates and newsletters. I am including the Canvas and Google Classroom one I made! I would love if you could share them in a newsletter, email, or to your coaches!
If you have any questions - please let me know!! Thanks so much!