Choose What To Automate:

Google Workspace Studio

@LisaBerghoff

As educators, our to-do list often feels never ending. Between responding to emails, keeping up with lesson planning, and staying on top of our students' needs, it can feel like we're running as fast as we can on a hamster wheel. If you've ever wished your Google Docs could talk to your Gmail or that your Google forms could automatically organize themselves into Drive folders without you needing to lift a finger, keep reading.

What is Google Workspace Studio? 

Google Workspace Studio is essentially the connective tissue of the Google ecosystem. It is powered by Gemini and lets you automate multi-step tasks. You do not need to know how to code, you can just describe what you want to happen. For example: When I get an email with a pdf from Ron, save it to my "Edtech" folder. The studio builds the automation for you. 

Why Should I Try Google Workspace Studio?

Here are a few reasons I think you should give this a try.

1. Automate some of the tasks you do repetitively that don't actually require your expertise. Things like organizing your inbox or your drive can be handled without you spending the time on it. 

2. Make sure you never miss an important email. You can set up agents to scan your inbox for key words like "IEP meeting" or "please respond by" and ping you in Google chat immediately. 

3. Make digital organization easier. This can act like your own personal filing clerk. It can move between sheets, docs, and drive so your online spaces stay neater. 

4. Know and understand how these types of tools work. This is a very low risk way to try out agentic ai. Regardless of how you feel about it, it's in our ecosystem. Knowledge is power so this can give you some information. 

How Do I Use Google Workspace Studio?

You can get started in 3 simple steps.

1. Access the studio. Head over to studio.workspace.google.com or click the icon you see in the upper right corner of your screen in gmail.

2. Describe your dream scenario. On the "discover" page you will see a box that says " Describe a task for Gemini". Type exactly what you want in plain English. For example, "Every Friday at 2:30pm, send me a summary of all emails from parents I haven't replied to yet". 

3. Gemini will show you a "flow". It's a visual map of the steps. If it looks good, click on "test run", and then toggle it to on. If not, you can go in and edit to make it the way you want. 

Other options:

There are also templates of pre-made Flows if you aren't sure where to start. 

This short video does a nice job of showing the three ways to get started with Google Workspace Studio. You can use Gemini, use a template, or create on on your own from scratch.  

What are some examples of ways I could use this?

1. Problem: Parents are emailing you scanned permission slips and they are getting lost in your inbox.

    Starter: When I receive an email with an attachment

    Filter: If the subject contains "permission slip"

    Action: Save the attachment to a specific drive folder AND add a row to a Google sheet with the student's name and date received. 

2. Problem: You walk into school Monday morning feeling overwhelmed by 40 unread emails from the weekend.

    Starter: On Monday at 7:30am. 

    Action: Use Gemini to recap emails from the last 48 hours. Send a summary to Google chat.

Those are pretty advanced. Here are some nice templates to try.

• Star emails for follow-up
• Notify me about messages with a keyword
• Notify me about urgent emails
• Auto-add email attachments to Drive
• Notify me about emails from key people
• Send guests summaries and action items after a meeting
• Get meeting reminders in Chat
• Auto-create tasks for me from meeting transcripts

Want to try Google Workspace Studio but feeling like you want a friend to try it with you? Let me know. I'm here to help!

Putting AI To Good Use:

Custom Gem in Gemini

*Image created with Gemini

UDL/Blooms Planner

@LisaBerghoff

There has been so much chatter in the news lately about either: how technology and AI are destroying humanity, or how technology and AI are tools that we need to be utilizing if we want to keep up with our ever changing and progressing world. I'm here to say it is both of those things and none of those things. Being in schools, we have some control over what we decide to use for ourselves as well as in our classes. I strongly believe that it is the intent that determines whether or not technology is useful or harmful. Let's be clear about our purpose and thoughtful about our why when we select technology tools to use with students.

Today's tool is an example of how technology can be helpful to you. Stop scrolling on social media and try this. I created a custom Gem in Gemini just for you. This Gem is designed to help you level up your current assignments and activities both through a UDL lens as well as a Blooms lens. Click here to try it out. 

Why Should I Use The UDL/Blooms Activity Planner?

• We rarely have an honest perspective on our own teaching. Using a tool like AI can help remove some of the subjectiveness and it doesn't sting the way it does when you get feedback from an administrator or another teachers.
• This is a safe use of AI. Since the Gem was created using district credentials, all information is safe and data is kept private from the outside world.
• This can be an easy way to try out a Gem in a practical manner. See how it works for you and maybe decide if you want to make some of your own.
• AI will come up with ideas that you probably have not thought of.
• It will only take a couple of minutes and it's not going to do any harm to try it so just try it.
• This is a first pass for me and I would love feedback on how to make this tool better.

How Do I Use The UDL/Blooms Activity Planner?

• Start by clicking here
• Type "hello" or anything you want into the chat box. 
• Follow the prompts, enter your activity or lesson ideas and see what the results are.
• Refine! Didn't quite get what you were looking for? Keep asking and get very specific. 

Want some help getting started? Feel free to reach out with questions, suggestions, and ideas.

 

 What's New In Google Forms?

*image created by Gemini

@LisaBerghoff

Sometimes, while we are using the tools we use everyday, we forget that there are engineers pouring over pages and pages of feature requests and they are working to make the tools better. They quietly add features, or move buttons, or subtly make adjustments and these can be easily overlooked. Google Forms has recently gotten enough upgrades that I thought it would be a good idea to call out some of these that you might not know are there. Here are my favorites.

1. Automatically close a form on a specific date/time or when the responses have reached a limit.

I used to use an add-on for this and I'm thrilled that it is now built-in. Once your form is published, click the lines next to the published button to see the options. Here you can turn the form on or off to responders. You can also determine when the form should close. Choose a date and time or you can choose an amount of responses after which your form will no longer receive responses. 

2. Response Summary For Open-Ended Questions

Asking open-ended questions is a common way to get feedback and suggestions. The format of reading those in a spreadsheet is kind of a drag. Now, when you click the responses tab, you will first see an AI summary of the responses, with the actual responses below. Seeing a summary can be a real time saver for you. It will recognize patterns and trends in the responses. If you are not happy with the AI summary, you can click "retry" and give it another go. 

3. Help Me Create With Gemini

When you start off creating a form, you are now directed to a Gemini page where you can enter a prompt and have it get started on your form. You can also include the @ symbol to include content from your own files. If you have an assignment in your Google drive and want it to create a quiz, or an exit ticket, just write a prompt and include the file. This feature also supports multiple languages. 

4. Granular Sharing And Access Control

You can now specify exactly who can respond to your form. Instead of just limiting to inside vs. outside your organization, you can now indicate specific people you want to be able to respond to your form. The "send" button has been replaced with a "publish" button. This allows you to manage access to both responders and editors. Also, the responder link is already shortened for you.

5. Set Form Defaults

If you find yourself consistently going in and changing the settings in your forms and wondering how you can get your forms to start out the way you want them, this is for you. In the "settings" tab, scroll to where it says "defaults". These settings will be applied to your current form AND new forms that you create in the future. You can determine that it will always (or never) collect email addresses. You can also make all questions required by default. 

What are your favorite uses for Google forms? Want some help getting up and running with your forms? I'm here to help!

Mix And Match For Best Results!

NotebookLM and Gemini Together

@LisaBerghoff

I'm so curious about how various digital tools get used in schools. When I ask questions, I am often introduced to new ideas that are so exciting, energizing, and innovative and that pushes me to continue to try new things and stay curious.  I have been using Gemini quite a bit lately and recently noticed that you can now add a NotebookLM notebook as a resource. Like most new features, I looked at it and thought, why would someone want to use that? 

Why Would I Want To Integrate NotebookLM With Gemini?

That was my question too! I did a bunch of research so you don't have to. Here's a list for you.

• NotebookLM can't connect across notebooks on its own.
• NotebookLM has no other access beyond your sources. That's typically the point, but sometimes you want both: the accuracy of your own materials AND the general knowledge of the internet.
• NotebookLM is brilliant at answering questions and summarizing but when you want to create new content, it can be clunky.
• The chat in NotebookLM is not as interactive as Gemini's
• Make NotebookLM your library, while Gemini is your assistant.  This gives the assistant access to your library.
• Gemini's gem: learning coach is designed to help you learn. It comes up with a learning plan and provides a socratic style of interaction. By uploading a notebook, you can have this experience with your specific class materials.
• Gemini is VERY broad and NotebookLM is VERY specific. This gives you a happy medium.

How Do I Integrate A NotebookLM Notebook With Gemini?

1. Make sure you have a notebook ready to go in NotebookLM
2. Go to Gemini and click the + button
3. Find and add the notebook you want to use
4. Type your prompt into Gemini

I created a NotebookLM notebook with the UDL guidelines along with Blooms Taxonomy. I then loaded it into Gemini and asked it to create activities for me for a biology class. Check it out:

Is There Any Concern With Using These Two Tools Together?

As long as you are logged in using your school account, your data is safe. That said, always make sure you are using these tools for school appropriate activities. 

Ready to get started with NotebookLM AND Gemini?

Want some help? Let me know.

 

 How Do We Know The AI 

Isn't Making Stuff Up?

*Image created with NanoBanana2

@LisaBerghoff

I was working with our freshman advisory classes, teaching them about the ethical considerations when using AI, and also teaching them how to use some of the AI tools we have available to us in school.  At the end of one of the presentations, a student asked if there was any way to tell how much of an AI response output was made up by AI and how much of it was real. This was an excellent question. Frankly, I was a little embarrassed that I had not thought of addressing this with the other classes. I was excited to show the students the Double Check Response feature in Gemini. 

What Is Double Check Response?

Double Check Response is a feature that is built into Gemini. After you enter a prompt and receive an output, you can click on Double Check Response to help validate the response. It uses Google search to verify and cite claims that it makes. These links can then be used to go deeper and do more exploring of a topic or concept. They can also be used to help you do the critical thinking task of deciding whether or not to believe what the AI has given you.

How Do I Use Double Check Response?

1. Go to Gemini.google.com and enter a prompt. 

2. When you get your output, scroll to the end and click the three vertical dots. 

3. Click Double Check Response

Count to 5, then take a look, the pieces that can be cited will show up in green. 

The items that are in green will also have an arrow that you can click to see the source. 

Why Should I Use This Or Show It To My Students?

We are trying to teach our students how to be critical thinkers in the world of AI. This tool can help open the conversation beyond just saying- Make sure it's valid. Ask your students to look at the sources, evaluate them. Also, have them look at the parts of the output that are not in green. Is there anything there that should be questioned or researched further? Using this tool, especialy in front of students is a wonderful way to model how we want our kids to interact with AI moving forward. 

Are you ready to use Double Check Response? How about teaching this tool to students? If you want some help, please reach out. I'm happy to assist you.

Technology, But Make It Purposeful

The Triple E Framework

*image generated with nanobanana by Gemini

@LisaBerghoff

I was having a conversation with some teachers last week and we were talking about the issue we see, especially with our freshmen, with their inability to focus and attend in class. One teacher looked me in the eye and said- I know what I'm about to say goes completely against your belief system. She then proceeded to talk about how technology use in children is problematic. This made me twitch a little bit. I agree. Technology use in children is a huge problem. The comment to me about my belief system made me wonder. Have I given the impression that I personally believe that technology should be used for all things at all times?  This is most definitely not what I believe at all. In fact, I believe the opposite. I believe that if we are using technology there should be purpose behind it. I see a large part of my job helping teachers determine when it's best to use, and not to use, technology with students. 

What is important to remember is that we must be intentional with our technology use.

There are several frameworks designed to guide effective use of technology in education. Some that are well known are SAMR and TPACK. These are helpful when thinking about how technology is best used. The assumption is that the tech

But they don't answer the question: 

How is using this technology helping my students learn? 

I was thrilled when I learned about the Triple E Framework.

What Is The Triple E Framework?

The Triple E Framework, developed by Liz Kolb in 2011, was created to help bridge the gap between education technology and teaching practice in the classroom. It is meant to be a coaching tool to help you make decisions about instructional choices and technology use. What I love about it is that it is simple, concrete, and ensures that the use of technology is in service of student learning. The Triple E stands for Engage, Enhance, Extend. There are questions to answer within each of those that can help you determine whether or not technology should be used for a given learning activity. 

How Does The Triple E Framework Work?

The rubric is a wonderful guide. For each area, Engagement, Enhancement, and Extension, there are three questions to respond to. Simply assign a zero, one, or two for each question. Zero indicates no, One is used for sometimes, and 2 is used for yes. When you have completed all nine questions, add up the score. If your number is thirteen or higher, that indicates and excellent connection between the learning goals and the digital tool. If the score is between seven and twelve, there is some connection. If the total comes to six or lower, the connection between the tool and the learning goals is low, definitely do not use technology for this lesson or switch to a different tool. 

Here are the questions being asked: 

Let's not throw out the good because of the bad.

We are all super annoyed that the kids are constantly playing games on their chromebooks. It's frustrating when we want them to be on task and they are jumping from tab to tab. Our natural inclination is to police what's going on by blocking and closing tabs. What if we found a way to be intentional about technology use in our classes? Students don't have to come into class and immediately open their chromebooks. Perhaps your bellringer activity is an in-person conversation or a paper and pencil task. If we make it clear that when we are using technology there is a good reason and purpose for it, then we are modeling how we want our students to be thinking about their own technology use.

Are you ready to figure out how to be more intentional around technology use in your classes? Want to chat about it? I'm happy to help.

 

 But How Do We Know They're Thinking?
Snorkl: Instant Feedback On 
Authentic Student Thinking

@LisaBerghoff

With all of the new technology swirling around our learning spaces, it's easy to get lost. They each promise great things, especially the AI tools. Most claim that they will save teachers so much time. They also say that students will be thoroughly engaged, and that student learning will improve. These are all things we want. One of the issues is that these are variables that are very hard to measure. While it's easy to get caught up in the new shiny tools that are promising big things, it's most important to keep our compass pointed at student learning, specifically higher level thinking. That's why I'm so excited to share about Snorkl, which uses AI to help give feedback on student thinking. 

What Is Snorkl?

Snorkl is a platform that allows students to record and share their reasoning, then they receive instant AI powered feedback to push deep and meaningful learning. 

How Does Snorkl Work?

You create a problem, question, or prompt for your students. You can also select one that has already been created. Students then record themselves solving the problem or answering the question while explaining their reasoning. They have access to a white board where they can draw, type, or write as they speak, The AI reviews the student's explanation based on the guidance you have provided and provides the student with personalized feedback. 

How Do I Get Started With Snorkl?

Start off by navigating to snorkl.app and use your school Google account to log in. 

If this is your first time using Snorkl, I suggest you choose an activity to experience as a student. Choose "Try A Sample Activity".

When you're ready, you can find an activity that has already been created or you can create your own. Here are the steps:

1. Click on "Create An Activity"

2. Give it a title and then choose the student response type. You have 4 options: Whiteboard recording, whiteboard only, audio only, and writing. 

3. Add your activity. This can be an upload of a file like a pdf, or you can type the instructions. 

4. Click "AI Feedback Settings" to tell the AI how to give feedback on student responses. You can use the "Generate from Question" feature or you can enter it manually. 

You now have the option to try your activity as a student or to go ahead and assign it.

When you are ready to assign, you will add it to a class that you have created. You have some settings you can adjust such as whether or not to allow the whiteboard to translate to other languages. You can also limit the number of attempts and allow students to see each other's anonymous responses after they have submitted.

Once assigned, you will get a link to share with your students via Schoology. 

Here is a short video overview:

After your students complete the assignment, you will be able to see their responses in your Snorkl dashboard. You can see their scores, how many attempts they made, and review their responses. You can also click on "Insights" to get general information about how the class did.

From here, you can edit the activity if you want to give more practice or provide more scaffolds.

You have the ability to see all of your activities. You can see class progress as well as looking at individual students.

Why Should I Try Snorkl?

We know that students can sometimes fall through the cracks. With a tool like Snorkl, none of your students can hide in the back and phone it in. This really requires students to use their voice and show their thinking in a way that many other tools do not. Also, Snorkl lends itself to content areas that other AI tools don't do so well. If you are working with math and science, I really think this is where Snorkl shines. 

If you want to see how it works and get some help getting started, please reach out to me. I'm happy to help!