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EdTech Updates #2 2025 July 23

EdTech UpdateS #2 - 2025 July 30

Empowering Our Educators: Four Revolutionary AI Tools Now Available

Dear Beekmantown CSD Staff,

We are thrilled to announce that our educators now have access to four cutting-edge AI tools that will revolutionize your teaching practice, streamline your workflow, and enhance student learning experiences. Our district has made a significant investment in providing you with the most advanced educational technology available, positioning our staff among the most fortunate educators in the region.

These tools represent a substantial financial commitment from our district to ensure that Beekmantown CSD remains at the forefront of educational innovation. We are proud to offer you access to premium AI platforms that many districts cannot afford, demonstrating our unwavering commitment to supporting your professional growth and student success.

 

🚀 Google Gemini - Your AI Teaching Assistant

What It Is: Google Gemini in Classroom is now available to all educators with Google Workspace for Education accounts at no additional cost, featuring over 30 new AI tools to help teachers create content, brainstorm ideas, and differentiate content for students. Go to: Gemini.google.com 

Key Features for Educators:

  • Lesson Planning: Generate learning objectives and lesson plans with generative AI, providing creative inspiration to help you get started or make your lesson plans more engaging for students
  • Content Creation: Create vocabulary lists with definitions and example sentences, and generate content from a central destination in Google Classroom
  • Assessment Support: Generate questions to check students' understanding or create a quick quiz
  • Engagement Tools: Craft compelling hooks to spark ideas for fun and new ways to engage students through short lesson openers, class activities, and more
  • Analytics Insights: View centralized student performance and engagement data with insights that help educators understand when students may need additional support

Professional Development Resources:

  • Google for Education Learning Center: edu.google.com/learning-center/ - Access free courses, certifications, and guided training
  • Generative AI for Educators Course: A two-hour, self-paced course designed to help teachers save time on everyday tasks, personalize instruction to meet student needs, and enhance lessons and activities in creative ways - Available at grow.google/ai-for-educators/
  • Google Cloud Skills Boost: cloud.google.com/learn/training/ - Free AI and machine learning courses

 

📚 Google NotebookLM - Your Personalized Research Assistant

What It Is: NotebookLM is an experimental AI-first notebook that acts as a virtual research assistant that can summarize facts, explain complex ideas, and brainstorm new connections — all based on the sources you select. Go to: https://notebooklm.google.com/ 

 

Key Features for Educators:

  • Source-Grounded AI: Unlike other AI tools that pull information from huge, generalized datasets across the internet, NotebookLM focuses specifically on the documents you choose
  • Document Support: Upload PDFs, Google Docs, text files, web articles, YouTube transcripts, and more
  • Audio Summaries: The audio summary feature turns your source materials into a podcast-style interview you can listen to
  • Interactive Study Guides: Educators can select resources from their class and instantly create an interactive study guide and podcast-style Audio Overviews for students, grounded only in the materials educators upload
  • Lesson Planning Support: NotebookLM can be a fantastic lesson planning assistant for teachers and a great way for students to reinforce learning and study

Training and Support Resources:

 

✨ MagicSchool AI - The Ultimate Teaching Toolkit

What It Is: The go-to AI assistant for educators worldwide, designed to simplify teaching tasks, save time, and combat teacher burnout with over 80+ teacher tools. Go to: http://www.magicschoolai.com/ 

Key Features for Educators:

  • Comprehensive Tool Suite: 80+ teacher tools including Text Summarizer, Presentation Generator, Rubric Generator, and more
  • Time Savings: Educators self-report saving 7-10 hours each week using MagicSchool
  • Standards Alignment: Generate standards-aligned lesson plans, academic content, assessments, individualized IEPs, and professional communication
  • Student Tools: 50+ student tools to build AI literacy and provide personalized learning experiences
  • Multilingual Support: Text Translator instantly translates content into any language worldwide, supporting ELL students and families
  • Integration Ready: Easily integrate with Google Classroom, and export to Google Docs, Microsoft Word, and more

Training and Professional Development:

 

🎯 Wayground (Formerly Quizizz) - Interactive Learning Platform

What It Is: The world's most versatile supplemental learning platform that brings together flexible resources for instruction, practice, and assessment in a fun, easy-to-use platform trusted by teachers in 90% of U.S. schools. Go to: www.wayground.com 

Key Features for Educators:

  • Interactive Content Creation: Create Assessments/Quizzes, Lessons, Passages, Flashcards, and Interactive videos by choosing from 18+ different question types
  • AI-Powered Generation: Wayground AI can generate content aligned with standards, create assessments from YouTube videos, documents, and prompts
  • Differentiation Tools: Accommodations help students learn in ways that work best for them, with features like extra time, Read Aloud, or reduced answer choices
  • Curriculum Alignment: New curriculum alignment features to quickly find resources mapped to standards and curricula
  • Extensive Library: Access millions of publicly available resources created by teachers
  • LMS Integration: Sync with Google Classroom, MS Teams, Blackboard, Moodle, Brightspace, and more

Learning and Support Resources:

 

🌟 Getting Started: Your Action Plan

Immediate Steps:

  1. Create Your Accounts: Simply use your district email account and login with Google to any of these platforms.
  2. Start Small: Choose one tool that addresses your most pressing need and master it first
  3. Explore Training: Dedicate time this summer to complete at least one certification or training program
  4. Connect with Colleagues: Share your discoveries and learn from others' experiences

Best Practices for AI Integration:

  • Always Review Content: AI-generated materials should be reviewed for accuracy, bias, and appropriateness
  • Maintain Your Teaching Voice: Use AI as a starting point, then add your expertise and personal touch
  • Protect Student Privacy: Follow all district guidelines when using AI tools with student data
  • Stay Curious: Technology evolves rapidly—continue learning and adapting

 

💡 Why These Tools Matter

The integration of AI in education is not about replacing teachers—it's about empowering you to focus on what matters most: building relationships with students, fostering critical thinking, and creating meaningful learning experiences. These tools ensure teachers are not sidelined by AI but can instead use it to support their work.

Our district's investment in these premium AI tools demonstrates:

  • Commitment to keeping our educators at the forefront of educational technology
  • Recognition of the time pressures and workload challenges teachers face
  • Investment in tools that have proven impact on student outcomes
  • Support for personalized learning approaches that meet every student's needs

 

🤝 Support and Next Steps

Remember, these updates are here to inform and provide opportunities for professional growth. There's no pressure to implement everything at once at even at all.—choose what aligns with your teaching style and summer goals.

Need Help? Submit a Tech Help ticket at www.bcsdk12.org/techhelp or contact the Technology Department.

Looking Ahead: More EdTech Updatess will follow throughout the summer, available on the EdTech section of the District website.

As you explore these incredible AI tools, remember that you are among the most fortunate educators in the region to have access to such advanced technology. Our district's significant investment in these platforms reflects our commitment to your success and our students' achievement.

Enjoy your summer break, and thank you for your continued dedication to educational excellence!