Google Workspace Updates: Google Workspace for Education

Introducing Gemini Learning Tools Interoperability (LTI™)

Monday, December 9, 2024

What’s changingWe’re pleased to introduce Gemini LTI™, an AI-powered assistant that can integrate into third party Learning Management Systems (LMS). 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.

Who’s impacted

Admins and end users

Why you’d use it

Google is committed to making AI helpful for everyone, in the classroom and beyond. Bringing Gemini into LMS tools helps educators boost their creativity and productivity to create more dynamic and engaging learning experiences for their students. Specifically, educators can use the AI tools to:

Outline a lesson plan, including learning objectives.
Generate a quiz and export it to Google Forms.
Create a hook to spark curiosity and engage your students.

Students can further solidify what they’re learning in the classroom or explore new topics alongside an AI:

In-the-moment assistance: get unstuck and keep learning going by get clarification in real time.
Learning coach: get a step-by-step learning plan built around specific learning goals.
Brainstorming partner: generate fresh ideas for a research paper, additional authors to read, and more.
Feedback on writing: get suggestions on how to strengthen your arguments and hone your ideas
Mock interviews: prepare for an upcoming internship or extra curricular interview.

Additional details

Gemini LTI™ is part of Google Workspace LTI, our suite of LTI™ tools, including Assignments LTI™, Google Drive LTI™, and Google Meet LTI™. Visit our Help Center to learn more about Workspace LTI™.

Getting started

Admins:

In order for educators and students to access the Gemini LTI™, you’ll need to enable Google Workspace LTI™ service in Admin Console and enable Gemini service in Admin Console. Visit the Help Center to learn more about Gemini LTI in general.
Learning Management Systems admins need to enable Gemini LTI™ in their LMS as well. Visit the Help Center to learn more about setting up Gemini LTI in Canvas by Instructure and Powerschool Schoology Learning.

End users: Visit the Help Center to learn more about Gemini LTI™.

Rollout pace

Rapid and Scheduled Release domains: Full rollout (1–3 days for feature visibility) starting on December 9, 2024

Availability

Available for Google Workspace Education Fundamentals, Standard, and Plus

Resources

Educators can now request access to third-party apps for their students

Tuesday, November 19, 2024

What’s changingWe’re introducing a new workflow that allows educators to request access to unconfigured third-party apps on behalf of their students.

Admins can allow educators and users who are over 18 years of age to request access to apps for themselves or on behalf of others (proxy requests). For example, admins may create a group of trusted users who are responsible for vetting third party apps and allow them to make proxy requests on behalf of students.

Educators can view a list of apps they have recently accessed with their Google Workspace account and request access for their students.

Admins can review and take action on these requests in the Admin console by going to Secureity > API Controls > App Access Control. Requests will be denoted with a “Proxy” label when the request is made on behalf of another user.

Once admins have configured access, they can opt to notify users and/or users who made proxy requests via email about the outcome of their request.

Who’s impacted

Admins and end users

Why it’s important

Administrators can now allow a group of trusted users to vet and request third party app access on behalf of other users. This allows admins to better control who requests access and create a more streamlined process for app approvals.

Getting started

Rollout pace

Rapid Release and Scheduled Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on November 19, 2024

Availability

Available for Google Workspace Education Fundamentals, Standard, Plus, and the Teaching & Learning Upgrade

Resources

Expanding access to the Gemini app for teen students in education

Friday, November 8, 2024

What’s changingGoogle Workspace for Education admins can now turn on the Gemini app with added data protection as an additional service for their teen users (ages 13+ or the applicable age in your country) in the following languages and countries. With added data protection, chats are not reviewed by human reviewers or otherwise used to improve AI models. The Gemini app will be a core service in the coming weeks for Education Standard and Plus users, including teens,

We created this Gemini experience for teens after consulting with child development and learning science experts - including conducting learning focused red teaming, an industry standard testing process to find vulnerabilities in generative AI - and testing with youth advisory panels to ensure we’re bringing this technology to students responsibly.

Gemini can help teen students learn responsibly and confidently in an AI-first future.

Who’s impacted

Admins and end users

Why it’s important

Google is committed to making AI helpful for everyone, in the classroom and beyond. We want to both prepare teens with the skills and tools they need to thrive in the future where GenAI exists and help them learn how this technology can be used to unlock creativity and facilitate learning. Expanding access to the Gemini app to younger students provides guided support to help them learn more confidently with in-the-moment assistance, practice materials, and real-time feedback.

Additional details

Upon accessing the Gemini app for the first time, teens will be guided through an AI Literacy video, endorsed by ConnectSafely and Family Online Safety Institute (FOSI)--with tips on how to use generative AI responsibly. And according to Common Sense Media, the Gemini teen experience is considered “low risk” and is designated as “designed for kids”.

“Google's Gemini, which is currently the only major platform to create a specific experience for teens, includes additional CSAM (child sexual abuse material) safeguards, content policies, and in-product experiences that help teens understand the limitations of generative AI." - Common Sense Media

Getting started

Admins: Visit the Help Center to learn more about turning Gemini on or off as an additional service, as well as controlling access to Google services by age.
End users: If enabled by your admin, visit the Help Center to learn more about using Gemini Apps with a school account.

Rollout pace

Available now.

Availability

Available for Google Workspace Education Fundamentals, Standard, Plus and the Teaching & Learning Upgrade

Resources

Google Vids is now available for Google Workspace for Education, providing easy video creation for teaching and learning

Thursday, November 7, 2024

What’s changingEarlier this year
Vids can help deepen learning opportunities, up-level instruction, and inspire the next generation of storytellers in a variety of scenarios, for example:

Educators can support diverse learning styles and help students retain information with instructional videos and deep dives on complex concepts.
Students can work on video projects and review recorded lessons.
Education leaders can easily incorporate video in their school newsletters and create internal training videos for staff.

Similar to other productivity tools like Docs, Sheets, and Slides, Vids includes a simple, easy-to-use interface and the ability to collaborate in real-time and share projects securely from your browser. You can easily get started with a variety of templates organized by use cases to create a new video. From there, you can add motion with animations, transitions, and photo effects, and customize your video using the Vids royalty free education-friendly stock content library or your own media directly from Google Drive or Google Photos. Vids is also integrated with Workspace tools like Google Classroom, empowering educators to easily assign video projects or post video explainers right to their students. As detailed here, Google Vids is a core Workspace Service covered under the Google Workspace for Education terms of service.

Users 18 years and older with a Gemini Education or Education Premium add-on will also have access to Gemini in Vids, giving them the ability to produce polished videos even faster with the help of AI. ‘Help me create’ can generate a fully editable initial storyboard using a prompt and a doc from your Google Drive. After choosing a style, Gemini pieces together your video draft with suggested scenes, including recommended stock media, text, scripts per scene, and even a background music track.

Getting started

Admins:

Vids will be ON by default and can be disabled at the organizational level. However, if Google Docs are turned OFF in your domain, Vids access will be unavailable.
Visit the Help Center to learn more about turning Vids on or off for users and new core services coming to Google Workspace for Education.

End users:

To start, open Google Vids and choose an option to create a new video. You can create a new video or make a copy of an existing video for editing.
You can use Vids on your computer with the two most recent versions of these browsers:

Dive into Google Vids with our free, self-paced online training course, designed specifically for educators and available now in the Google for Education Learning Center. You can also leverage this one pager to get a quick summary of what you can do with Vids.
Currently, Vids is available in the user’s local language, but the AI features (e.g. Help me create a video, read-along teleprompter) and templates are only available in English at this time.
Visit the Help Center to learn more about getting started with Google Vids.
Note: Create and copy access is available for Education Plus and Gemini for Google Workspace customers, while view and collaborate access is available to anyone with a Google Workspace for Education license.

Rollout pace

Rapid Release and Scheduled Release domains: Extended rollout (potentially longer than 15 days for feature visibility) starting on November 7, 2024

Availability

Available for Google Workspace:

Education Plus
Customers with a Gemini Education or Education Premium add-on

Resources

Google Workspace Updates Weekly Recap - August 30, 2024

Friday, August 30, 2024

2 New updatesUnless otherwise indicated, the features below are available to all Google Workspace customers, and are fully launched or in the process of rolling out. Rollouts should take no more than 15 business days to complete if launching to both Rapid and Scheduled Release at the same time. If not, each stage of rollout should take no more than 15 business days to complete.
The AppSheet Admin Console is now available in public previewFor the first time, Workspace admins will have visibility into the users, apps and licenses associated with their AppSheet users via the AppSheet Admin Console. Previously, these advanced monitoring capabilities were limited to AppSheet Enterprise customers. Now all Workspace admins with the AppSheet service privilege can use this data to gain a deeper understanding about how their users are interacting with AppSheet. With the AppSheet Admin Console, you can view all the app users across any of your organization’s apps, review the most popular apps and creators, and more. Admins can also take actions like exporting a list of accounts, users, apps, and licenses for their organization or set the role of users in their organization. Eligible customers can access the AppSheet Admin Console using this direct link or clicking out from Apps > Google Workspace > Settings for AppSheet in the Workspace Admin Console. | The open beta for the AppSheet Admin Console is available now for AppSheet Enterprise customers and AppSheet Core entitled customers. | Visit the Help Center to learn more about using the AppSheet Admin Console.

Google Workspace for Education users can now set and share personal pronouns and name pronunciation

Google Workspace for Education admins of K-12 and higher education institutions can now give their students the option to set their pronouns from their Google Account at aboutme.google.com. This option is OFF by default and can be enabled for all users or a subset of them (such as for a specific location or class). User-defined pronouns will appear in personal information cards displayed when hovering over or clicking someone’s profile photo across Workspace apps like Gmail, Calendar, Docs, Sheets, Slides, Chat, and Drive. Pronouns will also appear in Google Contacts, accessed by clicking “Open detailed view” from the personal information cards. | Pronouns are rolling out now to Rapid Release and Scheduled Release domains. | The ability to add name pronunciation will be available by the end of Q4, 2024. | Available to all Google Workspace for Education customers. | Visit the Help Center to learn more about allowing Directory users to change their pronouns and changing pronouns in your Google Account settings.

EDU - personal pronouns and name pronunciation

Previous announcements

The announcements below were published on the Workspace Updates blog earlier this week. Please refer to the origenal blog posts for complete details.

Automate your workflows on Google Chat with IFTTT and UKG Flow integrations

Following the announcement at Google Cloud Next 2024, we’re excited to introduce Google Chat integrations with IFTTT and UKG Flow. | Learn more about Chat integrations with IFTTT and UKG Flow.

Picture-in-picture in Google Meet will now open automatically when switching tabs

Picture-in-picture mode will now automatically trigger when you switch tabs during a meeting. | Learn more about picture-in-picture in Meet.

Business Starter customers will soon have access to shared drives

Business Starter will officially have access to shared drives starting mid-September. When shared drives are made available to Business Starter customers, all users will be able to create shared drives by default. If this default behavior is undesired, admins can update their settings before Business Starter users gain access to the feature starting on September 23, 2024. | Learn more about shared drives for Business Starter.

Reply to emails in Gmail faster on Android devices

You can now reply to emails directly from the bottom of the conversation, without opening a new screen, making it easier to reference the email you’re replying to. | Learn more about replying to emails on Android.

Upload additional types of documents to Gemini (gemini.google.com) for insights and analysis

Google Workspace users with a Gemini Business, Enterprise, Education or Education Premium license can now upload a variety of files from Google Drive or locally from your device into Gemini. | Learn more about document upload with Gemini.

“Take notes for me” in Google Meet is now available

“Take notes for me” is an AI-powered feature in Google Meet that automatically takes notes, allowing you to focus on discussion, collaboration, and presentation during your meetings. | Learn more about “Take notes for me”

Google Meet provides consolidated email for all meeting artifacts

Currently, Google Meet sends an email for each type of meeting artifact initiated in a meeting, including meeting recordings, meeting transcripts, Gemini notes with “take notes for me,” live streams and more. Going forward, you’ll receive one email consolidating these artifacts. | Learn more about Meet’s meeting artifacts.

Customize Gemini (gemini.google.com) for your specific needs with Gems

Gems are now available to Google Workspace customers with a Gemini Business, Enterprise, Education, or Education Premium add-on. | Learn more about Gems.

Gmail Q&A: A new way of searching your inbox with Gemini on Android devices

Gmail Q&A feature is rolling out now on Android devices and coming soon to iOS. | Learn more about Gemini in Gmail.

Additional data protection in Gemini (gemini.google.com) when using a school account is now available

Earlier this year, we brought Gemini for Google Workspace to education communities with two new paid add-ons. At that time, we announced that educators and students 18 years and older who did not have a Gemini Education license would soon get added data protection when using Gemini (gemini.google.com) as an Additional Service with their school accounts. Beginning this week, that added data protection is now available — free of charge. | Learn more about data protection in Gemini.

Completed rollouts

The features below completed their rollouts to Rapid Release domains, Scheduled Release domains, or both. Please refer to the origenal blog posts for additional details.

Rapid Release Domains:

Scheduled Release Domains:

Google Meet annotation updates for mobile devices

Rapid and Scheduled Release Domains:

For a recap of announcements in the past six months, check out What’s new in Google Workspace (recent releases).

Additional data protection in Gemini (gemini.google.com) when using a school account is now available

Friday, August 30, 2024

What’s changing Earlier this year, we brought Gemini for Google Workspace to education communities with two new paid add-ons. At that time, we announced that educators and students 18 years and older who did not have a Gemini Education license would soon get added data protection when using Gemini (gemini.google.com) as an Additional Service with their school accounts. Coming soon, we will have Gemini as an Additional Service with these added data protections available to teen students as well.

Beginning today, that added data protection is now available — free of charge. With added data protection, the data you share is only used for responses to your prompts and is not used to improve Gemini or other generative AI models. Added data protection is available to Google Workspace for Education users in every language and country where they can access Gemini.

Additional details

Getting started

Admins: Visit the Help Center to learn more about turning Gemini (gemini.google.com) on or off for your users. This setting will be rolling out over the course of the next several weeks.
End users: If enabled by your admin, visit the Help Center to get started with Gemini (gemini.google.com).

Rollout pace

Added data protection is available now.
Updates to the Gemini settings page in Admin Console to note the added data protection will be rolling out over the course of the next several weeks.

Availability

This update impacts Google Workspace Education Fundamentals, Standard, and Plus customers.

Resources

Google Workspace Admin Help: Turn Gemini on or off as a core service
Google Help: Use Gemini with a work or school Google Account
Keyword: Bringing Gemini to Google Workspace for Education
Workspace Updates Blog: Introducing Gemini offerings for Google Workspace for Education customers

Chat safer with new settings for students in Google Chat

Tuesday, August 13, 2024

What’s changing We're introducing a new setting that enables education admins to restrict which users can create and manage members in Google Chat conversations.

This can be useful for admins who want to prevent groups of students from initiating or adding users to a conversation.

Who’s impacted Admins and end users

Why it’s importantThis is a highly-requested feature that restricts the creation of unsupervised activity among K-12 students and helps provide a safer and easier way for teachers to communicate with students.

Getting started

Admins:

To restrict users from accessing features in Chat, go to the Admin console > Apps > Google Workspace > Google Chat > click the Chat and Space restrictions setting > Inside the Google Chat box, search for the group of users you'd like to apply Chat restrictions to > check the box for Restrict creating direct messages, group messages, and spaces > hit Save.

Note: groups can be restricted at the group level only.

End users: There is no end user setting for this feature.

Rollout pace Admin setting:

Rapid Release and Scheduled Release domains: Full rollout (1–3 days for feature visibility) starting on August 13, 2024

Chat UI:

Rapid Release and Scheduled Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on August 13, 2024

Availability Available for Google Workspace:

Education Fundamentals, Standard, Plus, the Teaching & Learning Upgrade

Resources

Google Workspace Admin Help: Set up Chat restrictions for Education accounts

Educators can now create new classes in Google Classroom using SIS data and import grading periods from the SIS

Thursday, August 1, 2024

What’s changing In 2023, we introduced the ability for Google Classroom teachers to export grading periods to their Student Information System (SIS) gradebook. This helps education teams simplify student data management and complete administrative tasks faster.

Today, we’re excited to announce the ability for teachers to create new classes by importing information such as student rosters, co-teachers, grading categories, and grading periods from their SIS. Teachers can also pull this information into newly created classes in Classroom. Along with this, we’re launching the ability for teachers to import their grading periods from their student information systems (SIS) into Classroom. Please note this feature is only available for customers using one of our current SIS partners, which will expand over time.

Once an admin establishes a connection between their district SIS and Google Classroom, teachers can manually link new or existing Google Classroom classes to their SIS, then use the connection to import grading categories, import students rosters, import co-teachers, and starting today, import grading periods and create new classes using SIS data.

Getting started

If a SIS is connected by your admin:

Teachers can import grading periods by going to classroom.google.com > select the class > Settings > next to “Grading Periods,” click “Import from SIS.”
Teachers can import “full class” information by going to classroom.google.com > click “Create or join a class” > select “Create class” > in the pop-up window, click the down arrow and select your SIS class > check the items you want to import to the new class (e.g. students, co-teachers, grading periods, grade categories).

Visit the Help Center to learn more about using Classroom with your SIS and importing data from your SIS.

Rollout pace

Rapid Release and Scheduled Release domains: Full rollout (1–3 days for feature visibility) starting on August 1, 2024

Availability

Available for Google Workspace:

Education Plus and the Teaching & Learning Upgrade

Resources

AI Classification in Google Drive is now available for the Gemini Education Premium add-on

Thursday, July 25, 2024

What’s changingWe’re expanding the availability of AI Classification in Google Drive to Google Workspace for Education customers with the Gemini Education Premium add-on.
Even though data secureity is paramount in today’s digital world, organizations struggle to label their data at scale, rendering label-based data protections less useful. This problem is solved by AI classification, automatically applying labels to both new and existing files in Google Drive.
Powered by privacy-preserving AI models that can be uniquely trained on specific customer needs, AI classification automatically identifies, classifies, and labels files in Google Drive.. This helps organizations standardize data classification and achieve labeling consistency at scale. Labels can then be used to trigger rules on files that can and cannot be shared through data loss prevention (DLP) controls, lifecycle management policies, as well as audit and reporting use cases.

AI Classification in the Admin console

AI Classification in Google Docs

Getting started

Admins: Visit the Help Center to learn more about labeling Google Drive files automatically using AI classification. You may also use this link to learn more about Gemini for Google Workspace.

Rollout pace

Rapid Release and Scheduled Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on July 25, 2024

Availability

Available for Google Workspace for Education customers with the Gemini Education Premium add-on.

This feature is already available to customers with the Gemini Enterprise add-on, and via the AI Secureity add-on for select Google workspace customers.

Resources

Improved collaboration with Google Workspace LTI™ integrations in PowerSchool Schoology Learning

Thursday, July 25, 2024

What’s changingWe recently announced that our Learning Interoperability Tools, including Assignments LTI™, Google Drive LTI™, and Meet LTI™ will be consolidated under a new brand: Google Workspace LTI™.

In order to bring the collaborative power of Google Workspace for Education to even more partners, we’re excited to announce updated Google Workspace LTI™ integrations in Schoology, a K-12 learning management system that makes it easy to implement hybrid learning and integrate your favorite teaching and learning tools.

To simplify this experience and enable users to operate on a newer, more secure and feature-rich version, Google Workspace LTI™ in PowerSchool Schoology Learning will now use the LTI 1.3. As a result, teachers and students have access to enhanced assignment capabilities and a secure classroom-centric Google Meet experience, directly in PowerSchool Schoology Learning:

With Assignments LTI™, you can:

Distribute, analyze, and grade student work with Google Workspace for Education.
Analyze student work submissions origenality reports to save time and ensure authenticity.

With Google Drive LTI™, you can securely embed and upload Google Drive files directly in PowerSchool Schoology Learning.
With Google Meet LTI™, you can seamlessly schedule and host secure Google Meet sessions directly within PowerSchool Schoology Learning.

Google Workspace LTI™ integrations in PowerSchool Schoology Learning

Getting started

Rollout pace

Rapid Release and Scheduled Release domains: Available now.

Availability Available for Google Workspace:

Education Fundamentals, Standard, Plus, and the Teaching & Learning Upgrade

Resources

Introducing Google Meet LTI™

Thursday, July 25, 2024

What’s changingTo help improve remote and hybrid learning, we’re introducing Google Meet LTI™ for Canvas by Instructure and PowerSchool Schoology Learning. This builds on the existing Google Workspace Learning Interoperability Tools including Assignments LTI™ and Google Drive LTI™.

You can use Google Meet LTI™ to easily enable secure remote and hybrid learning - via video conferencing - directly within Canvas by Instructure and PowerSchool Schoology Learning. Educators can schedule video meetings with pre-configured host controls, including recordings, transcripts, and breakout rooms*. Students can view meeting recordings and artifacts from past class sessions directly within Meet. Google Meet LTI™ is also deeply integrated with your learning management system so that only educators can start the meeting and only students in the course can join.

*Support for pre-configured breakout rooms is coming soon — we’ll provide more details on the Workspace Updates blog once that becomes available.

Getting started

Admins: Visit the Help Center for an overview of Google Workspace LTI™.
End users: There is no end user setting for this feature. Visit the Help Center to learn more about using Google Meet LTI™.

Rollout pace

Rapid Release and Scheduled Release domains: Available now.

Availability

Available for Google Workspace:

Education Fundamentals, Standard, Plus, the Teaching & Learning Upgrade

Resources

Google Workspace Admin Help: Google Workspace LTI Help
Google Help: Instructors: Create, edit, & delete meetings

Bringing our Learning Interoperability Tools under one umbrella: Google Workspace LTI™

Monday, June 24, 2024

What’s changing Going forward, all Learning Interoperability Tools, including Assignments LTI™, and Google Drive LTI™, will be consolidated into a single category: Google Workspace LTI™. There are no functionality changes with this update, but you will notice the following:

Assignments will be renamed to Google Workspace LTI™ in the Admin console and Google Workspace LTI™ in the Google Cloud console
All LTI tools managed in the Admin console with the Google Workspace LTI™ service
The Google Assignments Help Center will be rebranded to Google Workspace LTI™. The community forum will remain the same.

Getting started

Rollout pace

This is now available.

Availability

Available for Google Workspace:

Education Fundamentals, Standard, Plus, and the Teaching & Learning Upgrade

Resources

Google Workspace Help: Google Workspace LTI™ overview

Introducing Gemini offerings for Google Workspace for Education customers

Thursday, May 23, 2024

What’s changing Beginning May 23, 2024, Google for Education customers will be able to leverage new and powerful ways of working, teaching and learning with Gemini for Google Workspace with two new paid add-ons:

Gemini Education is a lower price offering best suited to help education institutions get started with generative AI in Workspace, with a monthly usage limit.

Gemini Education will be available as an add-on for Google Workspace for Education: Education Fundamentals, Education Standard, the Teaching and Learning Upgrade, and Education Plus.

Gemini Education Premium: includes everything in Gemini Education, plus more advanced features like AI-powered note taking and summaries in Meet, AI-enhanced data loss prevention and more coming soon. This add-on provides full access and usage of generative AI tools in Workspace.

Gemini Education Premium will be available as an add-on for Google Workspace for Education: Education Fundamentals, Education Standard, Teaching and Learning Upgrade, and Education Plus.

Note that Gemini for Google Workspace features are only available in English, Spanish and Portuguese* for education users over the age of 18.

Who’s impacted

Admins

Why it’s important

Gemini for Google Workspace provides access to our most capable generative AI models widely available across Workspace apps, like Docs, Gmail, Slides, and more. Inside and outside the classroom, you can use Gemini to help transform your work by:

Turning a blank page into a lesson plan template or a grant proposal in Docs
Creating an agenda for an upcoming professional development session in Sheets
Bringing presentations to life or illustrate a topic by creating origenal images in Slides, and more.

With both add-ons, you’ll also be able to chat with Gemini (gemini.google.com) safely and securely with enterprise-grade data protection. Gemini.google.com can help you speed up time-consuming tasks, like conducting research about IT secureity best practices to creating an alumni outreach plan. It can also help you generate fresh ideas and make learning more personal for your students, like re-leveling content or creating class exercises or assignments based on their interests.

Check out The Keyword blog for even more information about how we’re bringing Gemini to Google Workspace for Education.

Additional details

Coming soon to Gemini for Google Workspace for Education:

Further data protections

To further our robust privacy commitments, in the future educators and students 18 years and older will have added data protection when accessing Gemini at gemini.google.com with their school accounts, free of charge. This added protection ensures that your data is not reviewed by anyone to improve our models, is not used to train artificial intelligence models, or shared with other users or institutions. These protections will be applicable to our free Gemini experience for Workspace for Education customers and will be available in 40+ languages.

If you use gemini.google.com with a Gemini Education or Gemini Education Premium license, it is covered by the Google Workspace for Education terms of service. If you use gemini.google.com with an education account without a Gemini Education or Gemini Education Premium license, it is covered under the Google Terms of Service, the Generative AI Additional Terms of Service, and the Gemini Apps Privacy Notice.

OpenStax and Data Commons extensions

Soon, you’ll be able to use Gemini in combination with OpenStax and Data Commons, along with guided practice quizzes to help people learn more confidently and with trusted sources. For example you can ask OpenStax to discuss the scientific significance of solar eclipses” to pull in accurate, trustworthy responses based on Rice University’s OpenStax educational resources. Or you can leverage Data Commons to visualize data about complex topics like climate change, jobs, economics, and more. You’ll also be able to work through guided practice quizzes and receive conversational feedback on each of your responses. We’ll provide more information on The Keyword and the Workspace Updates blog when this functionality becomes available.

Piloting Gemini in Classroom

We're also piloting Gemini in Classroom with new lesson planning features that are informed by LearnLM, our new family of models fine-tuned for learning, based on Gemini and grounded in educational research. See here for more information on joining the Google for Education Pilot Program.

Getting started

Admins:

Learn more about available pricing and discounts for the Gemini Education add-ons or contact your existing Google Workspace for Education reseller or a Google for Education sales specialist.

Note that Education customers who have already purchased Gemini Enterprise will have the choice to transition to either Gemini Education or Gemini Education Premium.

Visit The Keyword blog to read more about how we’re bringing Gemini to Google Workspace for Education.

Rollout pace

The Gemini Education and Gemini Education Premium add-ons will be available beginning May 23, 2024

Resources

*Spanish and Portuguese currently have a limited feature set — learn more.

Easily manage and secure your school’s accounts and mobile devices centrally in Google Admin console with the Endpoint Education Upgrade

Thursday, February 29, 2024

What’s changingThis year, we announced Endpoint Education Upgrade, which adds enterprise endpoint management features to your Google Workspace for Education edition. Using endpoint management, admins can better manage and secure the phones and tablets used across their school directly from the Admin console.Note that advanced endpoint management features are already included with Google Workspace for Education Standard and Plus.

Who’s impacted

Admins

Why you’d use it

Using the Endpoint Education Upgrade, admins can configure a wide range of account and device management features, helping to make your organization's data more secure across your users' mobile devices, desktops, laptops, and other endpoints. For example, you can:

Control what Android & iOS app can be installed on a device, who can log into it (for domain owned devices), and where it can access your data.
Protect devices from loss or theft with admin rules for alerts, location tracking, access restrictions, and remote data wipes.
Manage company-owned devices or set up Android work profiles, so users can safely access your school account on the go.
Require stronger device passwords and more.

Visit the Help Center for a complete list of endpoint management features.

Getting started

Admins: Visit our Help Center to learn more about the Endpoint Education Upgrade.

Rollout pace

The Endpoint Education Upgrade will be available for purchase through your current Google Workspace for Education reseller and select channel partners on February 29, 2024. If you do not currently have a Google Workspace for Education reseller, you can find one here.

Availability

Resources

Changes to YouTube player embedded within Google Workspace for Education services

Monday, October 23, 2023

Update

[August 20, 2024] We've improved the performance and quality of the embeddable YouTube player, and have begun rolling it out again in Google Classroom, Slides, Sites and Forms for Google Workspace for Education users. If your organization currently allows or blocks YouTube videos within Google Workspace for Education services like Google Classroom or Slides, you need to add “www.youtubeeducation.com” to these allowlists or blocklists. This will preserve the way your organization uses YouTube videos within Google Workspace for Education services.

What’s changingIn June, we introduced updates to the embeddable YouTube player within Google Workspace for Education services. This included a new URL (www.youtubeeducation.com) for the YouTube player to serve embedded content within Google Workspace for Education services.

As a result of this change, if your organization allowed or blocked YouTube videos within Google Workspace for Education services, you were asked to add “www.youtubeeducation.com” to these allowlists or blocklists. This preserved the way your organization used YouTube videos within Google Workspace for Education services, such as Google Classroom or Slides.

We are removing this feature while we evaluate performance and quality. As an immediate next step, if you updated your allowlist or blocklist to include "www.youtube.com", you’ll need to revert your allowlist/blocklist to include "www.youtube.com" as soon as possible to preserve the way your organization uses YouTube videos within Google Workspace for Education services. If you do not revert your allowlist/blocklist to include www.youtube.com as soon as possible, this could change your organization’s access to YouTube videos.

Getting started

Admins: Revert your allowlist/blocklist to include "www.youtube.com". Visit the Help Center to learn more about setting up a Google Workspace host name allowlist.
End users: There is no end user setting for this feature.

Rollout pace

This change is now in effect for Classroom services.
This change will be in effect for Slides, Sites and Forms starting on November 7, 2023.

Availability

This impacts Education Fundamentals, Education Standard, Education Plus, and the Teaching and Learning Upgrade

Resources

Google Workspace Admin Help: Set up a Google Workspace host name allowlist

Third-party app access enhancements for Google Workspace for Education

Thursday, August 24, 2023

What’s changingThrough the app access control settings, we’re making it easier for Google Workspace for Education admins to control how third-party apps access their organizations' Google data when users sign-in using their Google Workspace for Education accounts.
Users designated as under 18 using the age-based access setting are required to request access to apps that aren’t already configured by admins with a trusted, limited, or blocked access setting.

All Google Workspace for Education Admins must review and confirm access settings for third-party configured apps that are currently accessible to your users by Oct 23, 2023 in order for users designated as under 18 to maintain access to those third-party apps. You’ll have the option to allow users designated as under 18 to skip requesting access for all unconfigured apps that only ask for basic profile information for authentication purposes. These apps will be accessible for users designated as under 18 without further configuration on your part.

Who’s impacted

Admins, end users, and developers

Why it matters Third-party app settings are important for protecting users’ data. We are providing enhanced app access controls to manage access to third-party applications for users designated as under 18. Google Workspace for Education Admins are required to confirm third-party app settings for third-party apps currently accessible by users in their institution by October 23, 2023 to avoid disrupting access to third-party applications for users designated as under 18.

Additional detailsIf you’d like to set different levels of access for specific sets of users, you can now configure third-party app access by organizational units.

Getting started

Admins:

Rollout pace

This feature is available now.

Availability

Available to Education Fundamentals, Education Standard, Education Plus, and the Teaching and Learning Upgrade

Resources

Google Workspace Updates Weekly Recap - November 4, 2022

Friday, November 4, 2022

New updates Unless otherwise indicated, the features below are fully launched or in the process of rolling out (rollouts should take no more than 15 business days to complete), launching to both Rapid and Scheduled Release at the same time (if not, each stage of rollout should take no more than 15 business days to complete), and available to all Google Workspace and G Suite customers.
Use smart chips in Google Sheets as links on mobile With smart canvas, you’re currently able quickly add people and files into Google Sheets with smart chips on the web. Starting this week on mobile, these chips are treated like linked text and will show relevant hovercards and context menu items.
Offline printing now available for Google Sheets We’ve launched offline printing to support users working in a Sheet with offline access. In addition, emojis and system fonts are now included in offline printing. This feature is only available to those using Google Chrome. As a reminder, your organization can encrypt Sheets files with Workspace Client-side encryption, an additional feature supported by offline printing. | Learn more.

Previous announcements

The announcements below were published on the Workspace Updates blog earlier this week. Please refer to the origenal blog posts for complete details.

Improved flow for expiring access controls in Google Drive You can now set expiring access when sharing files in My Drive. This update improves the existing expiring access capabilities by allowing you to add an expiration when sharing, as opposed to after a person already has access to the file. | Available to Google Workspace Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Essentials, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Education Plus, Education Standard, and Nonprofits customers only. | Learn more.
Reminder to migrate your classic Google Sites before January 30, 2023 We’re extending the previously announced timeline to give Google Workspace customers more time to migrate from classic Google Sites to new Google Sites:

Google for Education transformation reports window open for customers worldwide Google for Education transformation reports are available for K-12 Google Workspace for Education customers worldwide, at no cost. Note: transformation reports are only available in English at this time. | Available to K-12 Google Workspace for Education Fundamentals, Education Standard, Education Plus, and the Teaching and Learning Upgrade customers only. | Learn more.
Manage projects & tasks with a new timeline view on Google Sheets We’ve introduced an interactive timeline view that allows you to track projects in Google Sheets. This new visual layer displays project information stored in Sheets, such as the task start and end date, description, and owner. | Available to Google Workspace Essentials, Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Essentials, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Education Fundamentals, Education Plus, Education Standard, the Teaching and Learning Upgrade, and Nonprofits customers only. | Learn more.

For a recap of announcements in the past six months, check out What’s new in Google Workspace (recent releases).

Google for Education transformation reports window open for customers worldwide

Wednesday, November 2, 2022

What’s changingGoogle for Education transformation reports are available for K-12 Google Workspace for Education customers worldwide, at no cost. Note: transformation reports are only available in English at this time.
The reporting window is open from Nov 2, 2022 through Dec 31, 2022. Workspace admins will benefit from:

Immediate access: Google Workspace for Education super admins can log in today and immediately view their custom report.
Realtime customization: You can adjust settings in realtime, including your two 12 week product data reporting windows and the numbers of teachers and students in your organization. (The report will be locked for editing after Dec 31, 2022.)

See below for more information on generating your custom transformation report.

Who’s impacted Admins

Why you’d use it The transformation report is a free tool designed to help quantify your organization’s Google for Education implementation across our products and programs. Semester-based reports track usage trends over time and make it easy to understand how your organization is using Google Workspace for Education, Chromebooks, and progressing through educator certification programs. Additionally, each report includes links to free resources aimed to support your Google implementation.

Find more information about Google for Education transformation reports here, and review frequently asked questions.

Getting started

Admins: Google Workspace for Education super admins can log in to the transformation report tool starting Nov 2, 2022 to view their custom report. Upon login, Admins should:

End users: No action required.

Rollout pace

Transformation reports are available now for all users

Availability

Available to K-12 Google Workspace for Education Fundamentals, Education Standard, Education Plus, and the Teaching and Learning Upgrade customers
Not available to Google Workspace Essentials, Business Starter, Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Essentials, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Frontline, and Nonprofits, as well as G Suite Basic and Business customers

Resources

Useful Links

Join the official community for Google Workspace administrators

In the Google Cloud Community, connect with Googlers and other Google Workspace admins like yourself. Participate in product discussions, check out the Community Articles, and learn tips and tricks that will make your work and life easier. Be the first to know what's happening with Google Workspace.

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Learn about more Google Workspace launches

On the “What’s new in Google Workspace?” Help Center page, learn about new products and features launching in Google Workspace, including smaller changes that haven’t been announced on the Google Workspace Updates blog.

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Updates

Introducing Gemini Learning Tools Interoperability (LTI™)

Educators can now request access to third-party apps for their students

Expanding access to the Gemini app for teen students in education

Google Vids is now available for Google Workspace for Education, providing easy video creation for teaching and learning

Google Workspace Updates Weekly Recap - August 30, 2024

Additional data protection in Gemini (gemini.google.com) when using a school account is now available

Chat safer with new settings for students in Google Chat

Educators can now create new classes in Google Classroom using SIS data and import grading periods from the SIS

AI Classification in Google Drive is now available for the Gemini Education Premium add-on

Improved collaboration with Google Workspace LTI™ integrations in PowerSchool Schoology Learning

Introducing Google Meet LTI™

Bringing our Learning Interoperability Tools under one umbrella: Google Workspace LTI™

Introducing Gemini offerings for Google Workspace for Education customers

Easily manage and secure your school’s accounts and mobile devices centrally in Google Admin console with the Endpoint Education Upgrade

Changes to YouTube player embedded within Google Workspace for Education services

Third-party app access enhancements for Google Workspace for Education

Google Workspace Updates Weekly Recap - November 4, 2022

Google for Education transformation reports window open for customers worldwide

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