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Bard is no more; hello Gemini (+9 more important updates)
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✴️ Want to become a Google Certified Trainer? Join me for the Trainer Academy this spring! ✴️ Ciao from Italy, Reader! I'm writing and recording this episode on the road in Europe with my family. I'm grateful for good wifi and a mobile work setup that lets me travel and keep up with work at the same time! AI continues to dominate the headlines, but Google also announced a lot of great little updates for Calendar, Meet, Docs, Classroom, and more! Read on to get all the important updates for February 2024. 🎦 Watch on YouTube | 🎧 Listen to the podcast | ✍️ Share the blog post 1. Bard is now Gemini – Google announced a major re-branding and additional capabilities for their latest AI model which is now called “Gemini.” The new mobile app for Android is pretty slick! 2. Beta Test Google’s AI for Education tools – If your school is using EDU Plus you can ask your IT director to sign up for early access to generative AI tools specifically designed for education. 3. New features announced at BETT – The majority of these announcements require premium access to Google Workspace. Groups in Google Classroom and Classroom notifications on Chromebooks are the two updates I’m most excited about. 4. Sort, filter, and manage comments – The next time you view a Doc or Slide presentation you will see some new options for showing, hiding, and managing comments. This is a nice update for busy documents. 5. New AI features for the Chrome browser – Chrome can help organize your tabs, design custom themes, write a witty review all using AI. Unfortunately, these new features aren’t launching for Chromebooks just yet, but you can try them on Chrome for Mac and PC. 6. Improvements to Appointment Schedules – you can now add co hosts to appointment schedules, add appointments to secondary calendars, and check multiple calendars for conflicts. I use this feature a lot and it’s getting better! 7. Updates for Google Meet – You can now pin important messages in Google Meet for people who join late. Meet now supports captions and translations in 31 new languages. 8. Google Classroom Templates – It’s a whole lot easier to share an entire class or collection of lessons with Google Classroom. Shareable templates are now available for all EDU plus customers. Currently this feature only works within your domain. 9. New Book: EDU Protocols for Young Learners – This year I have been learning a lot about EDUProtocols by Jon Corippo and Marlena Hebern. This new book takes these proven strategies and modifies them for grades PK-2. 10. Art Remix – this new experiment from Google Arts and culture takes classic works of art and remixes them using AI prompts. This is a great activity to teach students how to be descriptive when using AI to generate images. That wraps up the noteworthy updates and links for this month. I'll be in Europe for a few more days before returning home for a busy month of conferences, keynotes, and webinars in March! If you will be attending the MACUL conference in Michigan, please say hello! And if you have ever thought about becoming a Google Certified Trainer so that you can provide professional development for schools, consider joining me for the Trainer Academy launching this spring! Cheers! John R. Sowash 📨 Did someone forward this email to you? Click here to add your name to my monthly email list! John R. Sowash is a former HS biology teacher and principal who helps teachers use technology to improve instruction. You can pick up a copy of his book, read his blog, or invite him to come and visit your school |
The Google EDU Update
by John Sowash
Tired of missing out on the coolest Google updates and new features? Join thousands of other teachers who rely on my monthly newsletter to stay ahead of the curve. Get the top 10 updates, teaching inspiration, and time-saving links delivered straight to your inbox.
✴️ My summer course schedule is live! Join me for the Admin Bootcamp or Google Certification Academy! These events will fill quickly! ✴️ Hi Reader! Teaching in the spring is challenging: Motivation is low for students and the teachers! 😂 Hang in there, the finish line is approaching. There are some pretty cool updates this month. I'm really interested in trying out "Google Vids" which was announced last week and tabbed Google Docs sounds like something I would use. Those are just two of the...
Hello Reader, Registration is open for my spring and summer Google Admin events: Google Admin Bootcamp: May 8-22, 2024 (click for details) Chromebook Academy: June 17 - July 1, 2024 (click for details) These two virtual events are my attempt at saving you the stress and confusion I experienced as I navigated blindly through the Google Admin Console! This is NOT an online course! These two events are LIVE virtual sessions via Google Meet. Each session will focus on a key area of the Google...
Hello Reader, About few years into my teaching career, I realized there were some big issues I needed to address: My salary was much too low to support my growing family. I was frustrated by the lack of incentive to improve as a teacher. My work/life balance was getting worse, not better. This is also roughly the time when I heard about the Google Certified Trainer program. I applied, was accepted, and five years later, made the jump to a full-time edtech coach and consultant. I don't know...