Gemini for Education: A New Era of AI-Powered Learning in Schools

Recently at Google’s I/O Conference for developers, Google positioned Gemini as an AI-powered assistant.  Their recent promotional material has claimed that it is designed to transform the way businesses and schools work. By speeding up tasks, allowing you to focus on what’s most important while ensuring the privacy and security of your data, Gemini will save you time.  Over the last year, more than a million people and thousands of companies have used generative AI in Workspace. Gemini for Google Workspace will be seen as a powerful collaborative partner that can act as a coach, thought partner, source of inspiration, and productivity booster—all while ensuring every user and organisation has control over their data.  Now, after the I/O announcement, Gemini comes tailored to schools and educational organisations.

Gemini Education offers several key features to enhance the educational experience. It provides access to 1.0 Pro, a model for scaling across various tasks, free of charge with all Google Workspace for Education editions. Additionally, Gemini Education is committed to data protection, ensuring that your chats won’t be used for AI model training or shared with others. This added layer of security is available at no extra cost, helping to make Gemini a trustworthy tool for educational institutions. The catch is that Gemini is only accessible to users aged 18 and above.

As with so many of Google’s tools, Gemini integrates seamlessly with Google Workspace, allowing you to access its powerful capabilities across Gmail, Docs, Sheets, Slides, and Meet. This integration enhances your workflow, teaching, and learning experiences with generative AI. Gemini for Workspace represents a new era of productivity and innovation in education, empowering educators and students alike.

Available now in your Google Workspace for Education admin controls, you should be able to purchase monthly or yearly subscriptions for two slightly different versions of the Gemini Education add-on:

Gemini Education
This subscription gives education institutions Gemini in their Workspace apps and a new standalone experience that allows users to chat with Gemini (gemini.google.com) using our most capable AI models widely available today – and enterprise-grade data protection. The Gemini Education add-on comes with monthly usage limits that meet the needs of typical education institutions.

Gemini Education Premium
This subscription includes everything in Gemini Education, plus additional advanced features like AI-powered note taking and summaries in Meet, AI-enhanced data loss prevention, and more coming soon. This add-on is intended for heavy users of generative AI and provides full access and usage of these tools.

At the time of this blog posting, the only noticeable differences between the two subscriptions appear to impact Google Meet.  The Premium version allows for live translated captions in 100+ languages and asking Gemini to take notes about the call for you. 

While the Gemini subscriptions come at an additional cost per user, the cost isn’t dependant on which of the four Google Workspace Editions that you have (Education Fundamentals, Education Standard, Teaching and Learning Upgrade or Education Plus)

For users who decide to move forward without purchasing a Gemini Education add-on, gemini.google.com is still available as an additional Google service for Google Workspace for Education users that are 18 years and older. Gemini.google.com will soon offer additional data protection for all Google Workspace for Education customers, meaning your chats will not be reviewed by anyone, used to train generative machine-learning technologies, or shared with other users or organizations. Your chats will still be subject to the Google Terms of Service, Generative AI Additional Terms of Service, and Gemini Apps Privacy Notice.

To get purchase these amazing features available for a subscription, Google Workspace admins need to do the following: 

1. In your Google Admin console (at admin.google.com)
2. In the Admin console, go to Menu > Billing > Get more services  > Gemini for Google Workspace.
3. Choose the Add-On that works for you and your organisation and then click Get Started.
4. Once you complete the transaction, you will need to assign the licenses to your users. 

For some features to go into effect like having Gemini in the side panel of Google Workspace apps like Docs, Admins need to turn on Gemini Alpha features by doing the following:

1. In your Google Admin console (at admin.google.com)
2. In the Admin console, go to Menu > Account > Account Settings > Gemini for Google Workspace
3. Click the Alpha features panel.
4. At the left, choose one of the following:
   1. Users–check if a user currently has access to Gemini Alpha. 
   2. Groups–select groups that will get access to Gemini Alpha. Learn how groups work.
   3. Organisational units–select organisational units that will get access to Gemini Alpha. Learn how organisational units work.
5. Click On, and then follow the on-screen prompts to enable Gemini Alpha. 

Gemini for Education promises to be a game-changer, offering personalised learning, AI-guided support, and enhanced creativity for teachers. If you’re eager to harness the power of Gemini and AI in your educational institution but need guidance, Deploy Learning is here to help. Our team of experts can provide tailored professional development, support, and answers to your questions, ensuring a smooth and successful integration of Gemini into your teaching and learning practices. Embrace the future of education with confidence – contact us today.