Google announces new AI-powered features for education

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Google announced a bunch of new features for classroom management, accessibility, and AI-powered features for creating questions and lesson plans as part of the Bett ed-tech event in the UK.

AI-powered features

Google already allows teachers to add questions to a YouTube video as part of its Classroom assignment. The company said that soon, AI will help with suggestions for questions at different timestamps. The company first announced this feature in June 2023. However, at that time, teachers had to apply to get this feature.

The company added that the Practice sets feature, which uses AI to create answers and general hints, is now available in over 50 languages. Plus, educators can turn a Google Form into a practice set.

Additionally, Google is introducing a new Resources tab to manage practice sets and interactive questions asked during a video.

Additionally, the company mentioned that its generative AI tool for Google Workspace, Duet AI, can assist teachers in coming up with a lesson plan.

Class management

Google said that teachers will now be able to form different groups in the Classroom later this year. They can also assign different assignments to different groups.

Plus, they can use the speaker spotlight feature in Slides to create a lesson with narration along with the slide deck.

Now, Educators can also easily collect signatures for approvals or contracts through eSigature facility available in the Google Workspace.

The company is also updating Classroom analytics so educators can look at stats like assignment completion and trends for grades.

Accessibility

Google is adding the ability to get text from PDFs for screen readers on ChromeOS. Plus, with the Chome browser users can highlight and read text aloud.

The company is also adding features to Google Meet such as closed captions in 30 languages and the ability to pin multiple hosts.

Chromebooks

The company said that it is exhibiting 15 new Chromebooks at Bett, which will launch this year. Plus, Google is soon updating Chromebooks so that students can look at their upcoming assignments directly from the home screen.