🗑 What's new in Google's NotebookLM

🎙️ Book me for keynotes and teacher workshops

I may be teaching part-time in the classroom, but doing keynote speeches and teacher workshops is still my main jam!

I’m fully booked for the rest of the 2025-2026 school year. But I have an opening or two in June — and we still have some slots available for back-to-school convocations in August!

There’s so much we could do …

• ❤️ My keynote, “The Art and Science of Memorable Teaching,” is fun (we sing!) and helps teachers remember what they love about teaching.

• ⚡ My keynote, “The Attention Switch,” is about student engagement and relevant learning. (We do a YouTube-style unboxing video together!)

• 👓 My keynote, “Tomorrow Glasses,” helps teachers understand AI, how it can help them, and how to prepare students for the future — today.

• 💻 My hands-on blended learning workshops are interactive and get teachers using tech tools in meaningful ways to spark learning.

Teachers love my presentations because they’re practical and relevant — and because of my perspective as a practicing teacher.

Interested? Want to learn more, get details, check availability or get a quote? Email Melanie ([email protected]) to learn more!

🔍 STUDENT PERSPECTIVE 🔍

🤖 The student balancing act in the AI age

Now that I’m back in class as a college students, I’ve been asking myself a really honest question. It’s the same question that lots of students — from middle school up, maybe even elementary — ask themselves when they understand what AI is capable of.

“How much of this do I really want to do?”

When a class hasn’t been updated for the AI age, this becomes a very relevant question.

• The instructions are very reading intensive.

• Assessment of understanding is heavily based on end products.

Here’s what you need to know about me. I’m a rule follower. I’m not a “short cutter.” I’m still very interested in learning about teaching (and Spanish teaching in particular).

So, because of all of that, I’ve been actually doing my assignments in this class. However, that doesn’t mean I’m not getting AI assistance.

• I’m reading the chapters that the professor assigns.

• I’ll create an audio overview in NotebookLM that creates a custom podcast to explain it in different terms. I listen to that after reading the chapter.

• Before I answer questions, I’ll ask NotebookLM for summaries from the chapter to make sure I understand it.

• I make infographics about important concepts — or to compare/contrast them — to make concepts more visual.

• I write answers to assignments in Microsoft Word in my own words in Spanish (because it’s a course for Spanish teachers). But before I submit, I ask ChatGPT to fix punctuation, spelling and accent marks for me — and suggest ways I could tighten my sloppy Spanish.

Because there’s no explicit guidance on what’s in bounds and out of bounds for AI usage, this is my own framework for what’s acceptable and right. I’m keeping my own human thinking. I’m constantly asking myself, “Am I doing the thinking?” I’m trying to use AI to augment my own abilities, improving learning instead of short-cutting it.

Here’s the issue: I know that I’m the anomaly.

I have studied AI and its implications on education for more than three years. I write and speak and share about it with educators all over the United States. Plus, I’m motivated to learn. Compared to most students, I’m not normal.

Even still, I wonder … if my professor knew that I was using AI in this way, would she object? (FYI, Professor C, if you are reading this, feel free to hit reply and we can discuss!)

Some students will always find the fastest way to get the work done with the least amount of thinking because they’re not motivated.

Some students will do the most complete and comprehensive work because they don’t want to cheat themselves (or the class).

But more common? The students who have tools at their disposal and have to make judgment calls about how far to take them … how much to use them.

As educators, if we will at least talk to students about the implications of those tools on their learning — and how we suggest that we use them? We won’t stop all tech overuse and abuse. But we will at least reach some students that are willing to think and do right.

It’s going to take lots of small steps to get academic integrity right in schools. (I wrote about this recently in my AI for Admins newsletter.) This is one of those steps.

💡 THE BIG IDEA 💡

📚 What’s new in Google’s NotebookLM

Have you met Google’s NotebookLM (notebooklm.google)?

You give it sources — PDF files, slides, documents, links, even copy/pasted text — and it gives you all sorts of helpful resources.

• You can ask it questions about your sources in the chat.

• It creates podcast-style audio overviews.

• It creates video overviews with slides and voiceovers.

• It makes gorgeous verbal/visual infographics to explain.

• It can make quizzes, flashcards, mind maps, and more.

Google is sinking lots of effort and resources into improving this increasingly-popular tool.

We’ve updated our post for teachers about NotebookLM: Google NotebookLM for teachers: 10 things to know for educators

Below, I’ll summarize my favorite updates.

Most of my example images below come from a notebook where I copy/pasted the text from an anatomy/physiology textbook chapter about tissues. The examples are what NotebookLM generated based on that textbook chapter.

1. Interactive audio summaries

My daughter is studying engineering at Purdue University. One of her professors has been hard to follow. But she has the notes he provides AND the transcripts from his lectures.

My suggestion? Throw it all in NotebookLM and turn it into a podcast-style audio overview. You might have heard these very natural, very real-sounding audio summaries. They’re not just voices that read the text like robots. They reimagine and remix the work to make it conversational and easier to understand.

Now, while my daughter walks to class, she can start an INTERACTIVE audio summary. Whenever the hosts cover something and she has a question, she can hit that “👋 Join” button and ask. The AI-generated hosts stop their conversations and answer the question.

If you teach K-12, you can generate these audio overviews and download them as an mp3 file. Share the audio with students in your learning management system as a new way for them to study and understand new material.

2. Video summaries

Not only will NotebookLM create audio overviews, it makes video overviews, too. It makes simple slides — often just text, emojis, some images — and creates voiceovers. Think of it like a screen recording where someone presents their slides. It does help content to be more visual.

You can download the video by clicking the three dots next to the video overview and choosing “Download.” Then, you can add it to Google Drive and give students the link — or add the video directly to your learning management system (LMS).

3. Infographics

Infographics are a newer feature in NotebookLM. Since Google Gemini improved its AI image generator, Nano Banana, it is able to create much better images with text — where it struggled before. It still makes small mistakes, but in general, they’re really great. You can download them as images to put in your slides, in documents, and even directly in your LMS.

☝️ TIP: Ask for specific styles of infographics. The one I shared above is in 8-bit retro video game style. Have fun with it!

☝️ TIP: Ask for follow-up infographics that dive deeper. In my example above, it shows the four different types of tissues — but only in the simplest terms. If you ask for another infographic just about epithelial tissue or connective tissue, it’ll go into more depth. Note: With some plans, there are limits to the number of infographics you can create in a day, so make your choices carefully!

4. Slides

The big question all teachers seem to ask in the AI age — “Can AI make slides for me?”

The answer is “yes” and there are several places to do it. NotebookLM does a really, really nice job.

The problem? They’re created as a PDF file (not a Google Slides file). You can play them (display them full-screen) directly from NotebookLM.

They’re not editable Google Slides (or PowerPoint), so if you want to change something about them, you’ll need to take some steps.

☝️ TIP: Use Canva to edit slides made by NotebookLM. If you don’t have a premium teacher Canva account, you can get one here. (Yes, really truly 100% free premium account.)

Even if you don’t, you can still upload the PDF file to Canva as a slide presentation. Then click a slide and choose “Edit” from the menu bar. Chose “Text Grab” and you’ll be able to pick text to make editable. From there, you can make any changes to the text that you want.

Other NotebookLM features and tips

• Make flashcards that you can flip through in NotebookLM — and download as a CSV to pull into Quizlet or Knowt.

• Make interactive quizzes that give you feedback whether your answer is right or wrong.

• Make data tables that turn your sources into Excel spreadsheet-style tables (that you can export to Google Sheets).

• Make mind maps (or word webs) that expand out to show the organization of your sources (and export as PDF).

• You can turn sources on and off so that you create resources based on specific ones. For example, if you have seven sources but you want an infographic from just one of them, uncheck the other six sources and create the infographic.

• Rename items that you create in Studio. For anything in the list, click the three dots next to it and choose “Rename.” I’ll use emojis and abbreviations (like W2 for week 2) to help me find what I need.

• Try uploading a quiz as a source. A teacher in one of my trainings recently was blown away at what he got just by using his upcoming quiz as a source.

👋 How we can help

There are even more ways I can support you in the important work you do in education:

1. Read one of my six books about meaningful teaching with tech.

2. Take one of our online courses about practical and popular topics in education.

3. Bring me to your school, district or event to speak. I love working with educators!