AI is rapidly evolving, offering educators tools to enhance lesson planning and student engagement. Two upcoming webinars focus on the latest features of Gemini and Gemini Notebook for educators using Google Workspace via Glow. These sessions aim to showcase practical applications that simplify teaching workflows and promote responsible AI use.
The Gemini app enhances musical creativity by transforming prompts and images into personalised soundtracks. Teachers can create clips up to three minutes, customise various musical aspects, and export tracks as MP3 or MP4 files with cover art and subtitles, making it ideal for curriculum warm-ups, composition analysis or as background and focus audio.
There are some important changes to sharing from OneDrive and SharePoint in Glow M365. New external sharing links will expire after 360 days, with content owners receiving reminders. The default permission will also change to "View" for new sharing links, however content owners can still give "Edit" access when collaboration is required.
Google Sheets has introduced enhancements for importing Excel files, ensuring that tables maintain their structure and formatting during conversion. Users can now seamlessly import Excel tables as Sheets tables and linked pivot tables are fully supported. These updates eliminate the need for manual adjustments, allowing for immediate use of imported spreadsheets.
Google Workspace Glow users can now integrate Gemini Notebook into the Gemini Education app, enhancing response relevance based on notebook content. Users can add notebooks easily via the chat box and utilise them for content creation, research, and more, leveraging Gemini's advanced features for deeper learning experiences.
Gemini Notebook Glow now allows users with copy permissions to duplicate entire notebooks along with their associated sources and studio items. This feature facilitates customisation of existing work, enabling users, such as teachers, to enhance templates for specific projects. Notably, copied notebooks do not sync with the originals.
Gemini app now allows users to create slide presentations effortlessly through its Canvas feature. Users can input a text prompt or upload a source, and Gemini generates themed slides with images. Presentations can be exported to Google Slides for further collaboration. A knowledge hub article offers additional guidance and examples.
The Back to School 2026 update highlights live lesson schedules and significant events including Roald Dahl Day and World Mental Health Day. Training sessions cover Arts, Humanities, Science, and Maths, promoting inclusivity. Additionally, resources like lesson plans and e-books are available for primary and secondary educators.
Google Calendar is enhancing its event colouring feature, allowing users to personalise their calendars further with up to 200 custom colours. This update fulfills user demands for more customisation beyond the previous 11 colours, offering both a vast colour palette and an RGB colour picker for detailed selection on web and mobile apps.
