Google Announces New Education Features and AI Tools, New Chromebooks

• By Kate Lucariello
• 01/24/24

Google has announced 15 new Chromebooks and more than 30 new Google for Education features, both available now and to be rolled out this year, the company said in a blog about its recent and upcoming showcases at annual ed tech exhibition Bett 2024.

Recent and forthcoming tech and features will impact all areas of Google for Education offerings to address "some of the biggest challenges and opportunities facing education today, including using AI in the classroom," the company said.

Hallmarks include the following:

Time-saving resources:

• Duet AI in Workspace, to help teachers create and control their data when they build lesson plans in Docs, generate images in Slides, create plans in Sheets, and more;
• A Resources tab in Google Classroom to create and share interactive lessons with practice sets and videos;
• Actionable insights in Classroom Analytics into such areas as assignment progress, grades, and more; and
• eSignature for creating contracts, getting document and pdf signatures, and managing templates.

Personalized learning and assessments:

• Interactive video tasks, such as incorporating questions into assigned YouTube videos, with real-time feedback to students and student response insights to teachers. Beta testing for the questions feature is coming soon, Google said;
• Interactive practice sets and Google Forms translation into practice sets (in over 50 languages) with real-time feedback;
• Content creation based on student needs in Classroom, coming later in 2024; and
• Presentation recording of speaker spotlight and recordings in Slides, and use of an enhanced editing tool in Screencast on Chromebooks to send to students in preparation for classes.

Connectivity enhancements:

• Google Classroom assignments to appear on Chromebook home screens;
• No cost Learning Tools Interoperability: Google Assignments LTI 1.3 currently available to Canvas users and newly available to Schoology users; also, coming later this year, both Canvas and Schoology users will be able to access Google Meet;
• Education Plus and Teaching and Learning upgrade coming later this year, and teachers can export grades from Classroom to SIS gradebooks and set up classes with OneRoster SIS partners, to include Aspen, Infinite Campus, Skyward and soon PowerSchool; and
• App add-ons and licensing: The App Hub to be available in over 10 languages later this year, and new partner add-ons include Kami, Quizizz and Boom Learning, and other new partners will be joining this year. Also, any developer will be able to create an add-on (Fill out a developer interest form here).

Inclusion and security and safety environments:

• Greater accessibility to teaching and learning: extracting text from pdf's with Optical Character Recognition in Screen Reader on ChromeOS. Other new features in the Chrome browser: highlighting and reading text aloud, natural text-to-speech voices, closed captions in 30 languages in Google Meet, and pinning multiple video tiles;
• Fifteen new Chromebook models and 10 years of automatic updates starting in 2024;
• Extension of Endpoint Education Upgrade for device management and security; and
• Admin console improved data protection.

"All of these new features were designed to help both teachers and students save time, get the support they need and adapt to today's learning environments," Google said in a blog post. "When it comes to AI specifically, we've been listening to and working with millions of educators to understand how to best bring this technology into the classroom."

Visit this page to learn more about becoming involved with the Google for Education Pilot Program to provide early access to new tools, products, and features to K–12, higher education, and organizations.

Also read more about Google's approach to "Advancing Education with AI" ethically and responsibly.

Follow this link to download a succinct guide to Google's education products and features announcements at Bett 2024.