I haven’t been looking at my school things for a few weeks as I continue to decompress from a pretty good school year (I will miss those kids!) but a blog post in my RSS about Google’s introduction of it Gemini AI Tools into Google Classroom caught my attention.
It’s there in my Classroom administrative tools, all right, and I guess the suite of AI applications is there by default. While I can see how Google is trying to bring in AI tools that look a lot like what other sites (including paid sites) have in the market, making it a default addition makes me worry about how quickly some teachers might turn to AI instead of their own best practices.
I hope I am wrong.
If you want to know more, from a critical perspective, I suggest taking a read of Default On; Quality Off; Google Classroom’s New AI Tools at Beta Classroom.
I appreciate this final message in the post for teachers:
“I see you. I know you’re tired. I know you’re looking for anything that might make this impossible job a little bit easier. But I need you to hear this: Easy is not always better. Fast is not always good. And AI-generated is definitely not always appropriate for your students. Before you use any of these tools, ask yourself: Is this better than what I already have? Does this serve my students’ learning better than the research-based resources I know work? Am I using this because it’s genuinely helpful, or because it’s convenient? Do I know someone who can help me determine their quality?”
And I liked this: “Your professional judgment matters more than Google’s algorithms. Trust it.”
Peace (in noticing),
Kevin