From Teacher to Tech Leader: Jennie Magiera on Google's AI Vision
Presented by:
Jennie Magiera, Global Head of Education Impact at Google, joins the podcast to discuss her journey from classroom teacher to tech leader. She shares practical ways educators can use Google Gemini to support diverse student needs and save time, while also addressing critical data privacy considerations and introducing a brand-new hub of AI resources for teachers.
- Jennie on LinkedIn
- Courageous Edventures, discover your own version of innovation, using the limitless possibilities of educational technology
- Phillips Exeter Academy
- Google for Education Learning Center
- Get Started with Google for Education products
- Google for Education training, catalog of quick lessons and comprehensive courses to build curriculum
- https://ai.google/literacy, AI literacy resources and trainings that empower students, educators, and families to use AI effectively, safely, and responsibly
- Google NotebookLM
- KPop Demon Hunters
- Carnac the Magnificent, character from The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson
- Voltaire, French Enlightenment writer, philosopher (philosophe), satirist, and historian
Transcript
Narrator:
NAIS, welcome to Talking technology with ATLIS,
Narrator:
the show that plugs you into the important topics and trends for
Narrator:
technology leaders all through a unique Independent School lens.
Narrator:
We'll hear stories from technology directors and other
Narrator:
special guests from the Independent School community,
Narrator:
and provide you with focused learning and deep dive topics.
Narrator:
And now please welcome your host. Christina Lewellen,
Christina Lewellen:
hello and welcome back to talking
Christina Lewellen:
technology with ATLIS. I'm Christina Lewellen, the
Christina Lewellen:
President and CEO of the Association of technology
Christina Lewellen:
leaders in independent schools.
Bill Stites:
And I am Bill Stites, the Director of
Bill Stites:
Technology at Montclair Kimberly Academy in Montclair, New
Bill Stites:
Jersey, and
Hiram Cuevas:
I'm Hiram Cuevas, the Director of Information
Hiram Cuevas:
Systems and Academic Technology at St Christopher school in
Hiram Cuevas:
Richmond,
Christina Lewellen:
Virginia. Hello, gentlemen, how is your
Christina Lewellen:
day going so far?
Bill Stites:
It's the 1000 days of September. It's a lot. It's
Bill Stites:
definitely a lot.
Hiram Cuevas:
Back to School with Whack a Mole season. Oh
Bill Stites:
my god, I now know what it feels like when they use
Bill Stites:
the term, you feel like things are going nuts because your
Bill Stites:
inbox continually fills up. You clear out 100 emails and 150
Bill Stites:
come right back in. It's absolute sanity.
Christina Lewellen:
So it's like that meme of the guy that's
Christina Lewellen:
trying to mop the ocean. Is that sort of what you got going on
Christina Lewellen:
right now? Bill, it's what it feels like, Yep, yeah, pretty
Christina Lewellen:
much. Well, Hiram, I see that you're showing up today's
Christina Lewellen:
podcast, wearing your lucky Atlas hoodie, your shirt that
Christina Lewellen:
had to be replaced. So somewhere, somehow, you
Christina Lewellen:
misplaced your favorite Atlas quarter. Zip up, and I sent one
Christina Lewellen:
to you. So thanks for wearing that today. I appreciate that
Christina Lewellen:
you have that on.
Hiram Cuevas:
Yeah, thank you again for sending it out my way.
Hiram Cuevas:
I was really saddened when it disappeared.
Christina Lewellen:
It happens sometimes.
Bill Stites:
I just always want to thank Peter Frank for all the
Bill Stites:
T list merch that he makes sure everyone has Thanks, Peter.
Bill Stites:
Always appreciate that. Just big shout out to Peter. Right now on
Bill Stites:
that part,
Christina Lewellen:
yeah, we're gonna go ahead and cut all that
Christina Lewellen:
out. You get plenty of merch bill. You don't need more merch.
Christina Lewellen:
I can find you where you can go buy that merch. Tech people love
Christina Lewellen:
some good merch. I'll tell you what. So stickers. Good
Christina Lewellen:
stickers, nothing like a good sticker for your computer,
Christina Lewellen:
right? Indeed. Well, hey guys, let's jump into it, because I'm
Christina Lewellen:
really excited. I think that a lot of folks in the ATLIS
Christina Lewellen:
community know dr Ashley cross on my team, and she spends a lot
Christina Lewellen:
of her time focusing on the big issues that our independent
Christina Lewellen:
school tech teams are wrestling. Obviously, she spends a lot of
Christina Lewellen:
time on calls and on virtual meetings with you guys as she's
Christina Lewellen:
working through our crowd source resources, but she also has a
Christina Lewellen:
pretty extensive network of really impressive people that we
Christina Lewellen:
have no earthly right to be chatting with, and we have one
Christina Lewellen:
on the podcast today. So gentlemen, I need you to be on
Christina Lewellen:
your best behavior, because we are welcoming to the podcast.
Christina Lewellen:
Someone from Google. Can you be
Bill Stites:
good? We can try. That's all I can promise
Bill Stites:
everyone.
Christina Lewellen:
Please welcome to our podcast. Jenny
Christina Lewellen:
magera, Jenny, how are you today? Hi.
Jennifer Magiera:
Good to meet you and good to see everyone.
Jennifer Magiera:
I'm doing all
Christina Lewellen:
so you are the Global Head of Education
Christina Lewellen:
impact at Google. I want to give you an opportunity to introduce
Christina Lewellen:
yourself to everyone, but I would love to start with that
Christina Lewellen:
title. What does that mean in the Google family? What do you
Christina Lewellen:
do as the Global Head of Education impact?
Jennifer Magiera:
So first of all, my background is I'm an
Jennifer Magiera:
educator. That's how I know Ashley. So I taught in New York
Jennifer Magiera:
City, in Chicago Public Schools building district leader, taught
Jennifer Magiera:
pre service teachers in higher ed. So my existential identity
Jennifer Magiera:
is educator, and they brought me on almost six years ago now to
Jennifer Magiera:
Google to really help understand like, how are we Best Supporting
Jennifer Magiera:
educators and students to use technology impactfully? That was
Jennifer Magiera:
many like you my role in making sure when we were bringing in
Jennifer Magiera:
tech into schools, ensuring it wasn't for the sake of tech, but
Jennifer Magiera:
it's actually improving teaching and learning. It's actually
Jennifer Magiera:
creating more opportunity that we're not just exacerbating. Not
Jennifer Magiera:
so great things that were happening. Now my job is to do
Jennifer Magiera:
that at scale. So we work all around the world with
Jennifer Magiera:
communities of educators and education leaders. We create
Jennifer Magiera:
programs to certify, support, celebrate, unite communities of
Jennifer Magiera:
practice, everyone from a pre service teacher to a ministry
Jennifer Magiera:
level education official, and then we also have started doing
Jennifer Magiera:
that for students, as well creating some communities of
Jennifer Magiera:
practice and training and enablement for them. So we're
Jennifer Magiera:
online learning center with free courses in dozens of languages
Jennifer Magiera:
for all things Google, from Gemini to Google Classroom to
Jennifer Magiera:
Chromebooks. We have an entire network of education trainers,
Jennifer Magiera:
of professional development partners, and then
Jennifer Magiera:
certifications and recognitions to just celebrate educators. We
Jennifer Magiera:
could never celebrate educators enough. So we have a ton of
Jennifer Magiera:
amazing events and programs to celebrate folks. So I think I
Jennifer Magiera:
have the best job. At Google, because I get to support and
Jennifer Magiera:
celebrate teachers and students.
Christina Lewellen:
That's really awesome. And you are
Christina Lewellen:
speaking with three folks who are Google shops, so we have
Christina Lewellen:
tons of questions that we would just love to get into. But
Christina Lewellen:
before we do that, if we could go back to your background a
Christina Lewellen:
little bit, because I'm curious. You say you're sort of an
Christina Lewellen:
educator at heart. What did you teach? And I know that you've
Christina Lewellen:
sort of moved away from that. Do you have any opportunity in your
Christina Lewellen:
current role to be in a classroom once in a while?
Jennifer Magiera:
So I started off like many of you, probably I
Jennifer Magiera:
taught like, when you say, what did you teach? I'm like, what
Jennifer Magiera:
year? So, you know, I started off kindergarten, then I taught
Jennifer Magiera:
a self contained fourth grade. I taught intermediate math and
Jennifer Magiera:
science. Middle School, literacy, again, I taught higher
Jennifer Magiera:
ed. I taught pre service teachers, both graduate and
Jennifer Magiera:
undergraduate. So I taught a lot. I think my sweet spot, they
Jennifer Magiera:
used to call me math Jenny, because my graduate teaching
Jennifer Magiera:
degree isn't mathematics education. And I got into math
Jennifer Magiera:
teaching because I hated math as a kid. It was my worst subject.
Jennifer Magiera:
I was terrible at it. I think I was stereotyped as a kid in
Jennifer Magiera:
Central Florida that like you're Asian, you must be good at math.
Jennifer Magiera:
So they gave me all these challenging math prompts. I was
Jennifer Magiera:
like voluntold to join the math leads, and I hated it. I was
Jennifer Magiera:
awful. It just did not compute for me. Pun intended. So when I
Jennifer Magiera:
was a practicing educator and I had to go back and get my
Jennifer Magiera:
master's degree, I was like, I should probably get a master's
Jennifer Magiera:
in math education, because that's what I feel least
Jennifer Magiera:
confident around. And so I did that. And then I realized, like,
Jennifer Magiera:
actually, math is beautiful. Math is a creative art. I love
Jennifer Magiera:
teaching math. And then I really got into math. And if you had
Jennifer Magiera:
asked me two decades ago what my kind of area of expertise in
Jennifer Magiera:
education, I would have been like, math, not tech. And then
Jennifer Magiera:
similarly, I got volunteered to apply for a one to one grant in
Jennifer Magiera:
Chicago public schools, because I was one of the younger staff
Jennifer Magiera:
members, and they're like, you're young, you probably get
Jennifer Magiera:
technology. So I applied for this grant at Chicago Public
Jennifer Magiera:
Schools, got it, had no idea what I was doing. And then I
Jennifer Magiera:
started a blog where I was just blogging like my failures at one
Jennifer Magiera:
to one technology implementation, and being like,
Jennifer Magiera:
I secretly want to, like, bury all my devices in the backyard
Jennifer Magiera:
of my school and pretend they weren't missing. I hate them.
Jennifer Magiera:
But, like, I think people appreciated the transparency and
Jennifer Magiera:
the fact that I was just like, I have no idea what I'm doing.
Jennifer Magiera:
Like, this app stunk. It was a waste of 99 cents. This app was
Jennifer Magiera:
great. Hey guys, I found out you can't buy one app and sync it to
Jennifer Magiera:
like, 30 devices. You're supposed to buy at times 30 what
Jennifer Magiera:
is that? So, like, I wrote about all that, and then that started
Jennifer Magiera:
my journey into, like, a Tech coordinator, a digital learning
Jennifer Magiera:
coordinator, and all of that. And so in terms of your question
Jennifer Magiera:
of, like, do I get to go back into the classroom? I do so I
Jennifer Magiera:
still hold my teaching certificate. I am still licensed
Jennifer Magiera:
in the state of Illinois to teach k8 I recertify every three
Jennifer Magiera:
years. I turn in my PD credits, my clock hours, and I still have
Jennifer Magiera:
my endorsement for middle school math. I will not let it go. I
Jennifer Magiera:
refuse to, but I don't use that. But what I do in our communities
Jennifer Magiera:
of practice is, you know, if I ever have a chance to go in and,
Jennifer Magiera:
like, guest teach with one of our community members, I also do
Jennifer Magiera:
it at my daughter's schools. I volunteer My home is like a
Jennifer Magiera:
micro classroom, because I have a second grader in Chicago
Jennifer Magiera:
Public Schools and a third grade Montclair student. And so I'm
Jennifer Magiera:
always like testing Gemini props. And then I still coach
Jennifer Magiera:
teachers informally when I can, so not as much as I'd like to.
Jennifer Magiera:
It fills my bucket, but that's how I got here, and that's how
Jennifer Magiera:
I'm staying fresh, but not as fresh as I'd like to be. I
Jennifer Magiera:
really miss full time in the classroom. That was my happiest
Jennifer Magiera:
place.
Christina Lewellen:
Oh, I love that. And you know, it's really
Christina Lewellen:
interesting how you talk about making math accessible, like you
Christina Lewellen:
tackled it as a challenge, right? Because it was not your
Christina Lewellen:
happy place. And I would be willing to bet that you've made
Christina Lewellen:
it a happy place for a lot of students. Similarly, with
Christina Lewellen:
technology, not necessarily, you know, being voluntold that
Christina Lewellen:
you're the tech person that happens to a lot of the people
Christina Lewellen:
in our ATLIS community who were the techie teachers who sort of
Christina Lewellen:
got pushed into these tech leadership roles and then
Christina Lewellen:
suddenly have to figure out how to make a network secure. And so
Christina Lewellen:
it's a big reason why we exist in the types of issues that we
Christina Lewellen:
talk about, but you tackling your own challenges probably is
Christina Lewellen:
pretty reflective in the work that you do now, right? Because
Christina Lewellen:
you're very aware, I would assume, of other folks who are
Christina Lewellen:
kind of wrestling their own challenges, just like the math
Christina Lewellen:
thing probably affected your teaching, I would assume the
Christina Lewellen:
technology experimentation probably affects the work that
Christina Lewellen:
you do today. Do you think that's accurate?
Jennifer Magiera:
Oh, my God, 1,000% so my blog turned into a
Jennifer Magiera:
TEDx talk, then that turned into a book, and it was really about,
Jennifer Magiera:
like, when you're out supporting your colleagues, the worst thing
Jennifer Magiera:
you can do is paint the rosy picture of the end of the
Jennifer Magiera:
journey and be like, yeah, let me give you a 45 minute Keynote
Jennifer Magiera:
or presentation about, like, all the best ways to use Google
Jennifer Magiera:
Classroom, because then people are looking at that and they're
Jennifer Magiera:
like, I have no idea how to get there, and you're making it.
Jennifer Magiera:
Seems so easy, and it's just not easy for me, so unsubscribe
Jennifer Magiera:
instead. Let's start with the challenges. Like, how is it
Jennifer Magiera:
hard? Where do you find time to learn about it? How do you
Jennifer Magiera:
integrate with 35/5 graders and 24th graders? Like, I taught a
Jennifer Magiera:
split grade math class for like, four years where I had 23/4
Jennifer Magiera:
graders and 15/5 graders had to teach two entire curriculums at
Jennifer Magiera:
Illinois State math in 45 minutes to like, almost 40 kids.
Jennifer Magiera:
When do you want me to learn about Google classroom and how
Jennifer Magiera:
to use a Chromebook to do that? And like, do they have a
Jennifer Magiera:
protractor on a Chromebook? Because I think the plastic ones
Jennifer Magiera:
pretty gosh darn good. So like, I don't have time for you tech
Jennifer Magiera:
lady and your tech stuff. So instead of going forward, like,
Jennifer Magiera:
use Google Classroom, my book, my blog, all of that was like,
Jennifer Magiera:
what are you actually trying to do as an educator? I'm not
Jennifer Magiera:
trying to use Google Classroom as an educator. I'm trying to
Jennifer Magiera:
meet each student where they are. I'm trying to figure out
Jennifer Magiera:
why this one student who I've had for two straight years and
Jennifer Magiera:
have looped with still is like really struggling with basic
Jennifer Magiera:
arithmetic or computation. How do I get into his brain? How can
Jennifer Magiera:
I unlock that metacognition? And it's like, oh, wow,
Jennifer Magiera:
screencasting can help with that. So it's not screencasting
Jennifer Magiera:
for the sake of screencasting. It's screencasting so I can
Jennifer Magiera:
finally get into that young man's brain of what is the
Jennifer Magiera:
misconception or the cognitive dissonance, and then all of a
Jennifer Magiera:
sudden the teacher is like, Oh, so it's not about the
Jennifer Magiera:
screencast, it's about this thing that I've been like,
Jennifer Magiera:
banging my head against the wall for the past 10 years. Yes, that
Jennifer Magiera:
is cool. I'll sit down and listen to you. So this is how we
Jennifer Magiera:
really approach it, of like, really empathizing with the core
Jennifer Magiera:
mission and need from our educational community, and then
Jennifer Magiera:
following with educational technology tools as a vehicle to
Jennifer Magiera:
meet that need.
Christina Lewellen:
That's really great. And I'm very
Christina Lewellen:
pleased to introduce you to two such former educators, Hiram and
Christina Lewellen:
bill on the pod here. They are former educators who now serve
Christina Lewellen:
in technology leadership positions at their school, and
Christina Lewellen:
so I think that they also bring that similar perspective of not
Christina Lewellen:
tech for the sake of tech, but tech in a very teacher and
Christina Lewellen:
student friendly way. So I'm going to definitely unleash
Christina Lewellen:
their questions on you, but my last question for the moment,
Christina Lewellen:
and then I'll let them pop in, is for folks who are not super
Christina Lewellen:
familiar with Google's approach to education, can you zoom way
Christina Lewellen:
out and just give me maybe the party line? Because, you know, I
Christina Lewellen:
think that a lot of educators, especially in the States, are
Christina Lewellen:
Google shops just like us. And you know, we love it, and we're
Christina Lewellen:
raving fans of it. What are you guys talking about on the inside
Christina Lewellen:
to make us such big fans on the outside, what's the game plan or
Christina Lewellen:
the
Jennifer Magiera:
goal in education, the internal mission
Jennifer Magiera:
statement of Google for Education is like, transform
Jennifer Magiera:
teaching and learning at scale. I love my job. I know that some
Jennifer Magiera:
folks would have a dream job to work at Google, but for me, I
Jennifer Magiera:
never wanted to work at Google. I love Google tools, but I was
Jennifer Magiera:
really happy in the classroom, and then I was really happy
Jennifer Magiera:
serving educators at scale in another role, where I was
Jennifer Magiera:
working for this professional learning organization. When I
Jennifer Magiera:
got the call from Google, the thing that really spoke to me
Jennifer Magiera:
was the at scale piece, the idea that I could be someone with an
Jennifer Magiera:
educator brain, with an educator heart, working inside Google to
Jennifer Magiera:
like scale what educators need. And when I got there, I found
Jennifer Magiera:
that they're really, really serious about that. I've never
Jennifer Magiera:
been somewhere where they care so deeply about the end user, as
Jennifer Magiera:
much as at Google, and that's like one of the core tenets of
Jennifer Magiera:
the company, respect the user. And so everything we build and
Jennifer Magiera:
everything we do is built on tons of data, of feedback. So
Jennifer Magiera:
every single Google tool you have has a little question mark
Jennifer Magiera:
on the bottom right hand corner. That's a little feedback button,
Jennifer Magiera:
and you type in, like, I don't like the Google Classroom thingy
Jennifer Magiera:
here, or like, I wish this could happen. There are human beings
Jennifer Magiera:
who read every single line of feedback, hundreds of 1000s of
Jennifer Magiera:
lines of feedback, and that all goes into how we build and
Jennifer Magiera:
iterate on our products. Because at Google, they don't believe
Jennifer Magiera:
that you can transform teaching and learning at scale for each
Jennifer Magiera:
student, for each educator, unless every single decision we
Jennifer Magiera:
make is based on the actual request from students and
Jennifer Magiera:
educators and so I think with understanding the mission and
Jennifer Magiera:
how the mission is executed, truly based on the voice of
Jennifer Magiera:
educators and students, that was, for me, the reason that I
Jennifer Magiera:
chose to come and the reason why I stay.
Bill Stites:
You said a lot of the work that you were doing, a
Bill Stites:
lot of the writing that you were doing was about process and
Bill Stites:
where things went wrong. I just want to applaud you for that,
Bill Stites:
because I think that is one of the best things that you can do,
Bill Stites:
because all too often, when you're looking for answers, all
Bill Stites:
you see are the positives. As you said, All you see is where
Bill Stites:
you ended up, and it's often hearing from people about where
Bill Stites:
they've misstepped, where they were struggling. In the things
Bill Stites:
that didn't work that can allow you the time to say, All right,
Bill Stites:
I'm not even going to go down this path, because it would have
Bill Stites:
taken me X amount of time to get to the point where I would have
Bill Stites:
uncovered what you shared, and then have to move on from that.
Bill Stites:
So I just want to applaud you and those that do that, because
Bill Stites:
it's almost as helpful as sharing the success stories
Bill Stites:
around all of that. You mentioned something that has
Bill Stites:
actually come up amongst a number of people here at school
Bill Stites:
recently, and that was testing out Gemini prompts at home and
Bill Stites:
what you were doing at home. I think it's been very
Bill Stites:
interesting, but also to some degree, I'll say, somewhat
Bill Stites:
confusing, as to what Google is now doing with Gemini for
Bill Stites:
schools, and what is now just part of the suite of tools. What
Bill Stites:
are the add ons, and what pieces may or may not be included in
Bill Stites:
that. And one of the questions I got asked, literally this
Bill Stites:
morning hours ago, was, Can I use Gemini now, if we are a
Bill Stites:
Google for Education shop, which we are to drop in information
Bill Stites:
that contains personally identifiable information,
Bill Stites:
knowing that it's not going to be used to train or to share, to
Bill Stites:
go out. Like, how best can you explain to all of us where we
Bill Stites:
now live with Gemini as educators and our ability to use
Bill Stites:
it at scale in our schools in a pre K through 12 environment?
Jennifer Magiera:
Yeah, so first of all, these are all really
Jennifer Magiera:
good questions. And for us, safety is paramount, and
Jennifer Magiera:
understanding, like, how our tools are used intentionally,
Jennifer Magiera:
and making sure we're doing it in a way that is causing no harm
Jennifer Magiera:
is critical. It's really helpful, as you're thinking
Jennifer Magiera:
about this, to understand that, like, if you're in the workspace
Jennifer Magiera:
environment, you're signed in environment that your school is
Jennifer Magiera:
providing, Gemini is part of what we call a core service. And
Jennifer Magiera:
what core services are at Google is it has like, all the data
Jennifer Magiera:
protection and security that adheres to, like, the highest
Jennifer Magiera:
level of data security and data protections. So in terms of PII,
Jennifer Magiera:
in terms of not sharing, in terms of like models that are
Jennifer Magiera:
built on our Learn LM, which was built with learning pedagogy and
Jennifer Magiera:
learning sciences in mind, that's what you're getting, and
Jennifer Magiera:
it's free. So if you're at I know this is an independent
Jennifer Magiera:
school podcast. I went to an independent school, actually,
Jennifer Magiera:
for my last two years of high school. I went to Phillips,
Jennifer Magiera:
Exeter, awesome. Shout out. Exeter.edu accounts and there
Jennifer Magiera:
are workspace. I should know this actually, I don't know, but
Jennifer Magiera:
let's just assume, Hey, Pete, if you're not sign up
Christina Lewellen:
for Google, call Jenny. We'll be sure to tag
Christina Lewellen:
them in the podcast notes.
Jennifer Magiera:
Yeah, but even like it's Exeter, doesn't pay a
Jennifer Magiera:
dime to Google. You can get what's called workspace
Jennifer Magiera:
fundamentals, Google for Education fundamentals. And in
Jennifer Magiera:
that you have Gemini. So I'm J McGarrett exeter.edu I log into
Jennifer Magiera:
the free Gemini app on the free workspace that has all the data
Jennifer Magiera:
protection in it. Obviously, if you pay, you just get more. You
Jennifer Magiera:
get, like the supercharged Gemini and like more prompts and
Jennifer Magiera:
all the things. But even at the free version, as long as you're
Jennifer Magiera:
logged into your workspace account, it's fully protected.
Hiram Cuevas:
And Jenny, it's interesting. You mentioned that
Hiram Cuevas:
because we've had that conversation, we are opening up
Hiram Cuevas:
Gemini to our students momentarily. In the next couple
Hiram Cuevas:
of weeks, it's been opened up for our faculty. We've been
Hiram Cuevas:
taking the line of regardless of what system you use, you should
Hiram Cuevas:
really avoid using PII, because I think when our worlds end up
Hiram Cuevas:
crossing over many times, it's, oh, I'm here, and only your most
Hiram Cuevas:
I would say technically savvy users are going to understand
Hiram Cuevas:
profiles really, really well, so that they know that they're in
Hiram Cuevas:
their personal versus their school account. We feel like we
Hiram Cuevas:
need to exercise that extra caution, just with AI in
Hiram Cuevas:
general, because of that, we're so excited to be using not only
Hiram Cuevas:
Gemini, but notebook LM with our students this year. I can't
Hiram Cuevas:
express our gratitude that it's now part of the core services
Hiram Cuevas:
and that it does have that walled garden in the event that
Hiram Cuevas:
someone does make the error of introducing PII into this
Hiram Cuevas:
environment, we do know that it is safe, yeah.
Jennifer Magiera:
And I think the interesting thing about when
Jennifer Magiera:
you're working in this space and you're trying to think about,
Jennifer Magiera:
what are the differences? And so again, there's like education
Jennifer Magiera:
fundamentals, which is the free version, and it still has
Jennifer Magiera:
everything safe, everything great there. But then you could
Jennifer Magiera:
also use Google AI Pro. Google AI Pro for education is that
Jennifer Magiera:
upgraded version that gives you workspace with Gemini. And then
Jennifer Magiera:
there's a side panel where, when you're in Google Sheets, you're
Jennifer Magiera:
in Google Docs, you're in Google Classroom, whatever you can
Jennifer Magiera:
like, pop it out and like, interact with the data in your
Jennifer Magiera:
drive. I want to name two things that I hear you saying, Hiram
Jennifer Magiera:
and I agree. Data literacy is really. Important for educators
Jennifer Magiera:
and parents, actually, and I very much champion that as a
Jennifer Magiera:
Googler, as a parent, as an educator, and our Learning
Jennifer Magiera:
Center has trainings around that to understand, like, how should
Jennifer Magiera:
we do this? I'm also my daughter's Girl Scout troop
Jennifer Magiera:
leader, and so, like I did like a data literacy and digital
Jennifer Magiera:
literacy badge with the first graders to be like, we have
Jennifer Magiera:
little cards, like, should I give out my name? Should I give
Jennifer Magiera:
out my home address? Because keeping your data safe and
Jennifer Magiera:
secure is something we should always understand. We should
Jennifer Magiera:
always be ensuring we're making the choice about whether or not
Jennifer Magiera:
to share that information with that being said, understanding
Jennifer Magiera:
what is the value of sharing any information. So I don't want to
Jennifer Magiera:
get to a point where it's like we can never share the
Jennifer Magiera:
information. There are safe ways to share it that can up level
Jennifer Magiera:
our practice. So again, when you have Google AI Pro for
Jennifer Magiera:
education, you have workspace with Gemini. So as for example,
Jennifer Magiera:
a classroom teacher, I might want to go into a Google sheet
Jennifer Magiera:
that had form responses for an assessment that I gave in my
Jennifer Magiera:
grade five math class. And I might want to go through and map
Jennifer Magiera:
that response with our NBOA MAP test to understand how like the
Jennifer Magiera:
RIP scores with like that daily check in correspond to create
Jennifer Magiera:
differentiated math groups and then decide, like, how I'm going
Jennifer Magiera:
to use Google Classroom to put them into groups. I can pull all
Jennifer Magiera:
of that from Drive and then have Gemini analyze it and give me
Jennifer Magiera:
suggestions for the Google Classroom groups. And there's a
Jennifer Magiera:
ton of PII in there. There's student names, there's their
Jennifer Magiera:
scores, etc. And so I think that like, the informed decision. Of
Jennifer Magiera:
like, is this benefiting me and my students, etc, and is it in a
Jennifer Magiera:
safe environment where I control the data, I can delete the data
Jennifer Magiera:
whenever I want to. It's not going beyond these garden walls,
Jennifer Magiera:
it's not being sold, it's not being trained. So I think
Jennifer Magiera:
something that is to be said about training faculty at the
Jennifer Magiera:
start of the year, of like, what is PII? How do I control it? And
Jennifer Magiera:
then when are the right and wrong types to utilize it.
Christina Lewellen:
I really love that, because I think that
Christina Lewellen:
where new technology emerges, our gut reaction, our knee jerk,
Christina Lewellen:
is don't do it right for some especially with the headlines
Christina Lewellen:
that are being made. And so I love that you just gave us this
Christina Lewellen:
example of how you could do it in a safe and considered
Christina Lewellen:
environment. Jenny, do you have any other examples that you
Christina Lewellen:
point to as, oh, that's cool, like, in terms of, like, seeing
Christina Lewellen:
or hearing educators use in particular, I think we're
Christina Lewellen:
talking about Gemini. But are there examples where you're
Christina Lewellen:
like, oh, that's kind of a cool use beyond the one that you just
Christina Lewellen:
mentioned.
Jennifer Magiera:
So another example is, I told you, I taught
Jennifer Magiera:
a split grade. I also had a lot of students with IEPs in my
Jennifer Magiera:
classroom in 504 plans. So I had a lot of students who had
Jennifer Magiera:
diverse needs. And, you know, their IEP said, like, they get
Jennifer Magiera:
one clock, stop the clock break for every assessment. And one
Jennifer Magiera:
was, like, really intense. It was like, you get a stop the
Jennifer Magiera:
clock, scratch paper, a snack, a sip of water. I mean, it was
Jennifer Magiera:
wild. And I had at one point in one class of 32 students, seven
Jennifer Magiera:
students with individualized education program plans. And I
Jennifer Magiera:
was like, Oh my gosh, I'm one human. How am I supposed to do
Jennifer Magiera:
all this in 45 minutes? And so I was talking to one of my
Jennifer Magiera:
colleagues who was still teaching at that building, and
Jennifer Magiera:
she input all her students IEPs into Gemini, and she said, This
Jennifer Magiera:
is what I'm trying to teach. This what I'm doing. How do I
Jennifer Magiera:
meet all these accommodations and modifications in this time
Jennifer Magiera:
in a respectful way? And it gave her all of these different
Jennifer Magiera:
schedules for her 45 minute math class. And like groups of like,
Jennifer Magiera:
make sure you get these three students at this time. And made
Jennifer Magiera:
it really reasonable for her again, a lot of PII there. She
Jennifer Magiera:
had to be really intentional with what she was uploading. She
Jennifer Magiera:
asked to, like, think about when she's going to do data deletion,
Jennifer Magiera:
etc. But it saved her, not only a lot of time, I think that's a
Jennifer Magiera:
pretty low level win. It allowed her to meet those students in a
Jennifer Magiera:
way. After 22 years of teaching, she's never been able to before
Jennifer Magiera:
she said it was the first time in her career, she has 100% met
Jennifer Magiera:
all the expectations of every IEP in our classroom. She is an
Jennifer Magiera:
expert master teacher as someone who had to do it myself. There
Jennifer Magiera:
was just no way, and now it's allowing us to see the ways and
Jennifer Magiera:
like create that beautiful
Jennifer Magiera:
picture.
Bill Stites:
So Jen, I have a somewhat of a practical
Bill Stites:
question. May seem very obvious when I ask it. I'm assuming that
Bill Stites:
if I'm signed into my Chrome browser under my school account,
Bill Stites:
when I go to the little checker board, when I see all of my
Bill Stites:
tools and I hit Gemini there, I'm going in and I'm going in
Bill Stites:
under my school account at that point, because I still see that
Bill Stites:
my name or my photo that is associated with my school
Bill Stites:
account means I'm in there. But if I'm in Safari, if I'm in some
Bill Stites:
other piece, the only way I know that I am definitively in there
Bill Stites:
is by signing in. Because I think what happens is is a. Lot
Bill Stites:
of people will just launch a browser and they'll go and
Bill Stites:
they'll be like, Oh, we're a Google shop. We have Gemini, but
Bill Stites:
I'm accessing it either on my phone from a Safari browser or
Bill Stites:
from the Safari on a Mac, because I'm a Mac shop here,
Bill Stites:
yeah, you know, or you might be in Firefox, or you might be in
Bill Stites:
some other thing, you explicitly need to be logged in and use the
Bill Stites:
check board to go into it that way, or click the Sign In. And
Bill Stites:
if I sign in for my Safari browser using my credentials
Bill Stites:
that are tied to my domain, then I'm in and have all those
Bill Stites:
protections, correct,
Jennifer Magiera:
correct. And a couple of tricks I give folks
Jennifer Magiera:
because to your point, it's sometimes as hard is use a
Jennifer Magiera:
different avatar profile picture for your Gmail account and your
Jennifer Magiera:
work account. So if I work@exeter.edu I might have,
Jennifer Magiera:
like, a very professional headshot with a different color
Jennifer Magiera:
background, like, make it super obvious. So like Exeter, we're
Jennifer Magiera:
like maroon red, right? So maybe I'll like change my background
Jennifer Magiera:
to be like, it's a picture of me in front of a maroon red with my
Jennifer Magiera:
hair down. And then, like, my personal Gmail account might be
Jennifer Magiera:
like me with my hair out in a beach background, and that
Jennifer Magiera:
literally is at Google. My work account has, like, a very
Jennifer Magiera:
different profile background than my personal Gmail account,
Jennifer Magiera:
and I do that intentionally, so even by color, by quick shape,
Jennifer Magiera:
but like, I can see I'm not in my work account right now. So
Jennifer Magiera:
I'm always like, check your avatar. And then in terms of,
Jennifer Magiera:
like, a muscle memory, I tell my friends, my colleagues, folks
Jennifer Magiera:
that I'm training, think of whenever you're interacting in
Jennifer Magiera:
AI, like you're standing at the ATM. I think people like, know
Jennifer Magiera:
when you're at the ATM to be kind of like, look left, look
Jennifer Magiera:
right, like, Who's behind me? Like you kind of hide your pen.
Jennifer Magiera:
Maybe no one goes to ATM anymore, because no one uses
Jennifer Magiera:
cash but me, I do. Well, okay, thank you. So me and bill go to
Jennifer Magiera:
the ATM still. But when I do like, I'm not just like, here's
Jennifer Magiera:
my pit everybody, or, like, just like, pulling the cash out and
Jennifer Magiera:
weaving it around. I'm very aware of my surroundings, and
Jennifer Magiera:
that's how I am when I'm in Gemini. I'm really thoughtful
Jennifer Magiera:
about, like, which browser Am I in? Which avatar Am I signed
Jennifer Magiera:
into? How is this being saved? Sometimes I delete my searches
Jennifer Magiera:
because I'm like, I don't even want the next time I go into
Jennifer Magiera:
Gemini, when I'm training for someone to see like I was
Jennifer Magiera:
looking that up. Maybe that was my personal business that I'm
Jennifer Magiera:
super obsessed with. K Pop, demon hunters. I don't need the
Jennifer Magiera:
world to know that.
Christina Lewellen:
That's a great example, though, you're
Christina Lewellen:
right. We just need to take that physical awareness that we've
Christina Lewellen:
been raised with now into our digital presence.
Bill Stites:
Yeah, for us, I think it's important because,
Bill Stites:
like for instance, we've done a lot of work this year around
Bill Stites:
calendaring, and it's neither here nor there in terms of
Bill Stites:
germane to this conversation. But what happens is, as people
Bill Stites:
are like, signing into their calendars or trying to add
Bill Stites:
calendars to their profiles. I notice I'm looking at people,
Bill Stites:
and they may be signed in under themselves, but when they're in
Bill Stites:
different tabs, they've got different Google user accounts,
Bill Stites:
their personal one, maybe one that's like the departmental
Bill Stites:
one, and then their work one, and they don't know which one
Bill Stites:
they're in. So that's why I want to thank you for clarifying that
Bill Stites:
and giving that example, because as soon as we start talking
Bill Stites:
about how we're going to be using AI and where we're going
Bill Stites:
to be putting school data, having that ATM approach, I
Bill Stites:
think is a fabulous example.
Hiram Cuevas:
And Jenny, what we've done here, we're a bring
Hiram Cuevas:
your own laptop model, and so we have a mixture of Windows
Hiram Cuevas:
devices and also apples. I tend to advise folks to use different
Hiram Cuevas:
browsers as well for schoolwork, stick to Chrome, because that's
Hiram Cuevas:
what we do, and then you could switch to Safari or to Firefox
Hiram Cuevas:
for your others. This way, there's no doubt what
Hiram Cuevas:
environment that you're in based on the browser that you're
Hiram Cuevas:
using. I would love to take a step back. You mentioned
Hiram Cuevas:
something when you were discussing that master teacher
Hiram Cuevas:
with the litany of different IEPs that they were trying to
Hiram Cuevas:
organize and work through. You had made a comment, and it was
Hiram Cuevas:
when she was going to do data deletion. And I was kind of
Hiram Cuevas:
curious what you meant by that when you were talking about data
Hiram Cuevas:
deletion, especially if we're talking about the Gemini. Is
Hiram Cuevas:
that walled garden component,
Jennifer Magiera:
yeah, so it exists in the space, but at
Jennifer Magiera:
least at Google, we're very much about like, don't keep data that
Jennifer Magiera:
you don't need. So it's like, this very more like Marie Kondo
Jennifer Magiera:
methodology of data, like, if it's not bringing you joy in the
Jennifer Magiera:
meaning of like, it's not bringing you some kind of need,
Jennifer Magiera:
we shouldn't just keep it around for the sake of keeping the
Jennifer Magiera:
data, because that data doesn't actually, like, even if I'm the
Jennifer Magiera:
classroom teacher, that data doesn't belong to me. It belongs
Jennifer Magiera:
to like, the 35 students that I'm serving. So sometimes I work
Jennifer Magiera:
with IT administrators at schools, and it's like, do we
Jennifer Magiera:
need to be saving this data for years and years now? There's
Jennifer Magiera:
sometimes you need to for trend, for student records, etc. But I
Jennifer Magiera:
think it's getting into this, like, data hygiene methodology
Jennifer Magiera:
of like, do we really need to keep this around at Google? It's
Jennifer Magiera:
required. So I have to delete data every like, X time, and
Jennifer Magiera:
when I even, like, collect PII, there's rules internally about
Jennifer Magiera:
like, I have to submit a whole thing a form that's like. I'm
Jennifer Magiera:
going to send a form to Christina, Bill and Hiram to ask
Jennifer Magiera:
them, like, what their favorite candy is, and if your email
Jennifer Magiera:
address is in it, I have to fill out a form before I can send the
Jennifer Magiera:
form to you. And then I get a message. And if I say I'm going
Jennifer Magiera:
to save it for 17 days, I get a message in 17 days, being like,
Jennifer Magiera:
do you really need this data anymore? Lead it, if not. And so
Jennifer Magiera:
it's not about, like Google having the data, but it's just
Jennifer Magiera:
about again, data literacy for educators. Because historically,
Jennifer Magiera:
we've always been stewards of student smallness, safety and
Jennifer Magiera:
learning, but in this digital and AI era, as emerging
Jennifer Magiera:
technologies are coming faster and faster, we're also digital
Jennifer Magiera:
stewards for our kids. So I think it's just a muscle memory
Jennifer Magiera:
that I like to talk to educators about as well.
Hiram Cuevas:
So Jenny, what's interesting about that? When
Hiram Cuevas:
many schools moved over to Google, as opposed to using on
Hiram Cuevas:
prem outlook, for example, as their email system, we ended up
Hiram Cuevas:
with a massive attic to store things. And I think schools have
Hiram Cuevas:
gotten accustomed to just keeping everything in Google,
Hiram Cuevas:
and since then, Google has put some more restrictions on the
Hiram Cuevas:
quantities. But do you anticipate that Google may
Hiram Cuevas:
actually insist on additional data deletions for data hygiene
Hiram Cuevas:
purposes within domains
Jennifer Magiera:
I can't speak to that I don't work on, like
Jennifer Magiera:
the engineering and the side of the house that creates those
Jennifer Magiera:
agreements with schools when they get into signing up for
Jennifer Magiera:
workspace. From my perspective, it's more about again, like for
Jennifer Magiera:
my role training educators in best practices. I will say that,
Jennifer Magiera:
like just storing things, you look at a number and you're
Jennifer Magiera:
like, I have five terabytes of data that's infinite, and then
Jennifer Magiera:
you quickly get to it. I'm like that about Google Photos. Like,
Jennifer Magiera:
my family stores all our photos on Google Photos, I take 8000
Jennifer Magiera:
pictures, 8 billion videos of my seven and three year olds, and I
Jennifer Magiera:
didn't delete anything. And, like, I quickly hit the storage
Jennifer Magiera:
limit, and then I went through and I was like, half of them
Jennifer Magiera:
were, like, blurry pictures that my four year old took when she
Jennifer Magiera:
got hold of my phone, of like, the back of my head, like I
Jennifer Magiera:
didn't need all those photos taking up storage. So I think
Jennifer Magiera:
part of it is the storage piece for sure, but part of it is just
Jennifer Magiera:
like, do I need to have this data out in the world? Is this
Jennifer Magiera:
important?
Christina Lewellen:
So if we're talking to primarily a bunch of
Christina Lewellen:
tech teams across the country at independent schools, they're
Christina Lewellen:
definitely wrestling all of these issues with their
Christina Lewellen:
teachers, and here we are back to school. A lot of teachers are
Christina Lewellen:
feeling fresh, energized, ready to tackle another school year.
Christina Lewellen:
So where would you recommend we start again? You know, primarily
Christina Lewellen:
the tech team supporting educators. Some educators are
Christina Lewellen:
definitely going out there and finding this information on
Christina Lewellen:
their own, but let's say that we are trying to guide them down
Christina Lewellen:
the path of both experimenting and leveraging the Google suite
Christina Lewellen:
of tools and Gemini in particular, but also being
Christina Lewellen:
careful with it. Like, where do we start that conversation?
Jennifer Magiera:
Are you asking? Like, how to start
Jennifer Magiera:
having the conversation as IT leaders in the schools with your
Jennifer Magiera:
colleagues, or are you asking, Where do you go to learn?
Christina Lewellen:
I think that primarily what I'm looking for
Christina Lewellen:
is that there's just a lot out there right now, and there's
Christina Lewellen:
also a lot of what I consider sort of like the sex appeal
Christina Lewellen:
headlines, like there's a lot of trash in the media about AI sort
Christina Lewellen:
of taking over the world, and so it's overwhelming. So if the IT
Christina Lewellen:
leaders in our space are trying to help educators walk this path
Christina Lewellen:
and take advantage of these tools, but they're overwhelmed,
Christina Lewellen:
and they do have a million things going on, what's a good
Christina Lewellen:
place to start? Google has a lot of resources and education for
Christina Lewellen:
educators, but in a lot of cases, our tech teams like Bill
Christina Lewellen:
and Hiram try to sift through that first so that they can kind
Christina Lewellen:
of Cole it and take it to their faculty in a really disciplined
Christina Lewellen:
way that also kind of matches the needs of what the school is
Christina Lewellen:
working on
Jennifer Magiera:
Absolutely So again, going back to the
Jennifer Magiera:
conversation we had earlier, and in my book, I talk a lot about
Jennifer Magiera:
we want to talk about, like getting people to go on the
Jennifer Magiera:
journey with us. There's the old adage of, like, you can take a
Jennifer Magiera:
horse a watering hole or whatever, you can't force them
Jennifer Magiera:
to drink. And so I'm like, but even before that, you need to
Jennifer Magiera:
make the horse thirsty. We need to make them thirsty for this to
Jennifer Magiera:
want it. So I think before the conversation of like, where to
Jennifer Magiera:
start on the training, what articles to read, what courses
Jennifer Magiera:
to take, it's like creating the desire and the understanding for
Jennifer Magiera:
the why, and so if I were still a practicing it leader in a
Jennifer Magiera:
school, what I usually do with my staff every year is I had
Jennifer Magiera:
them either fill out a Google form or if we had staff
Jennifer Magiera:
development time, which was rare, but if we did, I'd have
Jennifer Magiera:
them all in like the Media Center at the Library with a
Jennifer Magiera:
stack of post it notes. And I'd be like, just tell me, what are
Jennifer Magiera:
the top three, top five goals or challenges that you have this
Jennifer Magiera:
year? Like when you go to sleep at night and you're thinking
Jennifer Magiera:
about the 2025, 2026, school year, what's top of mind for
Jennifer Magiera:
you? And I got a gamut of things. It was like everything
Jennifer Magiera:
from, like, very high level, like, I want to increase my math
Jennifer Magiera:
scores by X percent. Message, or I want to reach this one kid, or
Jennifer Magiera:
I need to refresh my science curriculum, or whatever, to
Jennifer Magiera:
like. I want to be able to Pete at least once a day. I never get
Jennifer Magiera:
a second like I literally had someone write that in a post
Christina Lewellen:
it notes. I mean, that's using technology
Christina Lewellen:
for a pretty creative purpose, right?
Jennifer Magiera:
And I loved the authenticity and honesty
Jennifer Magiera:
coming from my colleagues. When I was a one on one coach, I
Jennifer Magiera:
would meet one on one and I'd sit down with Christina. And bit
Jennifer Magiera:
Christina, I hear you want to Pete, what I'm unpacking from
Jennifer Magiera:
that is you want more time in your day. You're overwhelmed.
Jennifer Magiera:
There's too much on your plate. Here's how we can use Gemini to
Jennifer Magiera:
save time. Oh, hey, Bill, I see that you want to refresh your
Jennifer Magiera:
science curriculum. So great. That seems really daunting.
Jennifer Magiera:
Here's how we can use Gemini to, like, feed in all your old
Jennifer Magiera:
lessons and make them new. Now, if I'm not a one on one coach,
Jennifer Magiera:
and I'm a one to many, like, when I was in my district, role
Jennifer Magiera:
surveying many, many buildings, then I wrote a newsletter with
Jennifer Magiera:
like, ideas and tips. Like, here are some things that I'm hearing
Jennifer Magiera:
from you. Here are some ways to use Gemini, and then it's like
Jennifer Magiera:
opening people's eyes that, ah, this is not just death by
Jennifer Magiera:
initiative from my school again, of like, here's another tool
Jennifer Magiera:
that I need to learn, and another curriculum. This one
Jennifer Magiera:
actually will help me. So now we've developed the thirst, the
Jennifer Magiera:
hunger, the want, the why? Then the next step is I would send
Jennifer Magiera:
them to our Learning Center. So I put in the show notes our free
Jennifer Magiera:
Learning Center. We have three free courses around AI. One is
Jennifer Magiera:
Gen AI for educators, which is just like baseline, foundational
Jennifer Magiera:
AI literacy. Like, what do we mean when we say AI? What isn't
Jennifer Magiera:
it? What should you be scared about? What shouldn't you very
Jennifer Magiera:
high level. Then we have two more, like, how do you actually
Jennifer Magiera:
use Gemini? And one is getting started with Google, AI for K
Jennifer Magiera:
12, which I think most of your listeners will be using. But we
Jennifer Magiera:
also have getting started with AI for higher ed. So for anyone
Jennifer Magiera:
who is an adjunct or teaching in the higher ed space or maybe a
Jennifer Magiera:
full tenured professor, you can use that one. And then in the
Jennifer Magiera:
Learning Center, when you see those, we have an entire library
Jennifer Magiera:
of AI use cases from real educators like you, where it's
Jennifer Magiera:
like, this is how I use Gemini in this class. This is how I use
Jennifer Magiera:
Gemini for this and like their lesson plans, their slide decks,
Jennifer Magiera:
their Google Docs, are all there that you can go and make a copy
Jennifer Magiera:
of.
Christina Lewellen:
I love the AI use case approach, because it
Christina Lewellen:
can be overwhelming to consider all of AI as this big thing that
Christina Lewellen:
teachers now need to figure out, but then you actually just show
Christina Lewellen:
how other teachers or trainers are using it that can be really
Christina Lewellen:
helpful and eye opening and make it less intimidating
Bill Stites:
with all these resources. Like, where is the
Bill Stites:
one stop shop for all this stuff? Like, literally, as we're
Bill Stites:
talking, I'm like, Googling some of the things that you're
Bill Stites:
saying, the list of like responses. I'm not even sure
Bill Stites:
where to click to go. That's what I often find. Is work is
Bill Stites:
finding out where just to go to get my answers. So where should
Bill Stites:
people go
Jennifer Magiera:
for these Okay, so something was launching
Jennifer Magiera:
today, breaking news, breaking news. This launched live minutes
Jennifer Magiera:
ago. If you type in AI dot, Google slash literacy into your
Jennifer Magiera:
browser now your browser of choice. I hope it's chrome. Go
Jennifer Magiera:
to AI dot, Google slash literacy. It is our one stop
Jennifer Magiera:
shop for all. Ai literacy for educators. It's right now live
Jennifer Magiera:
in English only, but in the coming months it's going to be
Jennifer Magiera:
expanded to multiple languages. But if you scroll down, you'll
Jennifer Magiera:
see it there's for teachers. The three courses I just named are
Jennifer Magiera:
right there for higher education, for high school
Jennifer Magiera:
students, for families, for parents, and it's all right
Jennifer Magiera:
there for you. So we were responding exactly to that
Jennifer Magiera:
question, of like, we don't want to link farm you to death. We
Jennifer Magiera:
don't want to just send you a Google Doc with 800 little, tiny
Jennifer Magiera:
links. Hopefully it feels very clean and not overwhelming. We
Jennifer Magiera:
spend a lot of time building this with all of you in mind. So
Jennifer Magiera:
would love your reactions, but everything's there.
Christina Lewellen:
I love this. It's breaking news here on the
Christina Lewellen:
pod. We've done it a couple of times, but How funny is that
Christina Lewellen:
bill didn't even know that when he asked his question, so we fed
Christina Lewellen:
right into
Hiram Cuevas:
that. What a great resource, fantastic resource.
Christina Lewellen:
I love it. This is great. So Jenny, before
Christina Lewellen:
we let you go on with your day. One of the things I'd love to
Christina Lewellen:
know from you is, as school leaders are listening to this
Christina Lewellen:
podcast, what would you say are the opportunities that we should
Christina Lewellen:
be brave enough to take as we look at this school year, the
Christina Lewellen:
next couple school years, there's a lot to juggle. So
Christina Lewellen:
where would you love to see schools, independent schools,
Christina Lewellen:
but schools in general, being brave.
Jennifer Magiera:
Don't be afraid of AI. AI is here whether
Jennifer Magiera:
we like it or not, and it is something that the young people
Jennifer Magiera:
that we serve are going to be engaging with out of the
Jennifer Magiera:
classroom today, or if not definitely, out of the class.
Jennifer Magiera:
From tomorrow. And as educators, our job is to prepare them to be
Jennifer Magiera:
the most successful adults as successful humans in their
Jennifer Magiera:
communities as possible, so we can't ignore AI. And the best
Jennifer Magiera:
way that we can equip them to be thoughtful, intentional,
Jennifer Magiera:
informed users of this very powerful technology is to engage
Jennifer Magiera:
with them in the classroom. To do that, we first need to
Jennifer Magiera:
understand it, like Spider Man's uncle and Voltaire said, With
Jennifer Magiera:
great power comes great responsibility, and we need to
Jennifer Magiera:
find a way to grapple with it. But just like one to one
Jennifer Magiera:
computing decades ago and before that, like graphing calculators
Jennifer Magiera:
and overhead projectors and all the things, there's always these
Jennifer Magiera:
new waves of technology, and you don't have to jump in
Jennifer Magiera:
immediately into the deep end. Take a small bite. Try it
Jennifer Magiera:
yourself at home, try it in a place that you feel comfortable
Jennifer Magiera:
and secure, and bring it in piece by piece. But even taking
Jennifer Magiera:
the first step is critical. We owe it to our students to engage
Jennifer Magiera:
with them around AI in an environment where they know that
Jennifer Magiera:
they have safe, secure adult attachments so they can make
Jennifer Magiera:
mistakes, try new things. And that's not always going to be
Jennifer Magiera:
the case for every learner. Everywhere outside of the
Jennifer Magiera:
classroom, the classroom is the one place that we know there is
Jennifer Magiera:
an adult who cares about them, who's going to hold their hand
Jennifer Magiera:
and help them see when things maybe aren't the right choices,
Jennifer Magiera:
and because AI is such a powerful and new emerging
Jennifer Magiera:
technology for them, we really owe it to them to be helping
Jennifer Magiera:
them through this time. Take time yourself to learn. Be
Jennifer Magiera:
gentle with yourself, give yourself space to fail forward,
Jennifer Magiera:
and we're all doing it with you, even at Google. It's my job to
Jennifer Magiera:
train educators worldwide on AI. I'm figuring it out as I go to
Jennifer Magiera:
and just like I said at the beginning of this podcast,
Jennifer Magiera:
taking in tons of feedback on how to iterate.
Christina Lewellen:
I love that. I know Bill and Hiram are
Christina Lewellen:
experimenters. We at ATLIS are as well. And like you, I
Christina Lewellen:
probably don't want everyone knowing what my Gemini What do
Christina Lewellen:
you think, Bill, what's your last Gemini search?
Bill Stites:
Mine was like, how do I write this script to use in
Bill Stites:
a Google sheet to do some work for me? And that's where it was
Bill Stites:
great. So no, I'm not hiding anything.
Bill Stites:
Nothing nefarious, no, nothing.
Hiram Cuevas:
Mine was after reading Dan McGee's email about
Hiram Cuevas:
Google gems and how we know what's up with the rollout on
Hiram Cuevas:
Google gems and sharing the gems. And it's like, I'm pretty
Hiram Cuevas:
sure I read something about that. I could place my finger on
Hiram Cuevas:
the article for
Christina Lewellen:
it. We are huge gems fans here at ATLIS,
Christina Lewellen:
like, even with this podcast, we have custom gems created that
Christina Lewellen:
basically we just write, execute and everything we need from the
Christina Lewellen:
marketing end is all handled. It's really cool. We're big
Christina Lewellen:
fans, big experimenters of the gyms.
Jennifer Magiera:
Oh, I love that. I love hearing that. Are
Jennifer Magiera:
you using notebook LM as well?
Christina Lewellen:
You know, it's interesting, because
Christina Lewellen:
everyone's a raving fan of it. I think that we've experimented
Christina Lewellen:
and played with it a little bit, but it's funny, because we're
Christina Lewellen:
already sort of getting sort of getting locked into the things
Christina Lewellen:
that we do and the things we like, so I haven't played with
Christina Lewellen:
it too much, but it's on my list. I have a lot of travel
Christina Lewellen:
coming up in the fall months, and I definitely have, like, a
Christina Lewellen:
list of things I want to play with in my downtime, and that is
Christina Lewellen:
definitely one of them.
Jennifer Magiera:
For what it's worth, they just released
Jennifer Magiera:
reports in notebook alum, which is really great. So you can
Jennifer Magiera:
create full reports now from all of your resources. So for those
Jennifer Magiera:
of you who haven't seen notebook alum, you can upload hundreds of
Jennifer Magiera:
sources, PDFs, audio files, Google Docs, etc, website links,
Jennifer Magiera:
and you can first create an audio overview for podcasts. I
Jennifer Magiera:
was recently at the OECD, and I didn't have time to read the
Jennifer Magiera:
late dozens of reports that the OEC had come up with. So I can
Jennifer Magiera:
all in I listen to a 20 minute little podcast in the cab on the
Jennifer Magiera:
way to the event. They do video overviews. If you want to watch
Jennifer Magiera:
something, you can create mind mops, but now you can actually
Jennifer Magiera:
create a full report. So I could say, like, give me a financial
Jennifer Magiera:
report on all of these documents.
Hiram Cuevas:
Love that we're starting to use notebook LM for
Hiram Cuevas:
our auditory learners. They can take all of their notes and they
Hiram Cuevas:
can throw it in there and listen to their notes, essentially. As
Hiram Cuevas:
a podcast.
Christina Lewellen:
See, it's creative stuff. Well, Jenny,
Christina Lewellen:
we're going to have to have you back, because it seems to me
Christina Lewellen:
like you just being in our virtual room here with us today.
Christina Lewellen:
We've learned new stuff. We have new approaches. We're feeling
Christina Lewellen:
pretty optimistic about this. Some breaking news about new
Christina Lewellen:
stuff coming out from Google to help us get this done. So thank
Christina Lewellen:
you so very much for joining us and for sharing your perspective
Christina Lewellen:
on this. It's been really helpful for me, and I think that
Christina Lewellen:
we're just at the beginning of a really cool journey with our
Christina Lewellen:
relationship with Google. So thank you so much for sharing
Christina Lewellen:
all
Jennifer Magiera:
this. Yes, my pleasure. Thanks so much for
Jennifer Magiera:
having me on and as a graduate of an independent school, really
Jennifer Magiera:
happy to give
Hiram Cuevas:
back Go Team green bubble.
Bill Stites:
I was waiting for that one.
Hiram Cuevas:
I got my Pixel. I got my Pixel.
Narrator:
This has been talking technology with ATLIS, produced
Narrator:
by the Association of technology leaders in independent schools
Narrator:
for. More information about ATLIS and ATLIS membership,
Narrator:
please visit the atlis.org if you enjoyed this discussion,
Narrator:
please subscribe, leave a review and share this podcast with your
Narrator:
colleagues in the independent school community. Thank you for
Narrator:
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