Google Introduces Gemini for Students, Read Aloud Feature in Desktop Chrome, and More Updates

At the ISTE 2024 education conference, Google unveiled new features for Chrome and Gemini aimed at schools.

Gemini (accessible at gemini.google.com) will be available to teen students in over 100 countries using Workspace for Education accounts. Already available for personal users, Gemini includes extra data protection for education users at no extra cost. This rollout will occur over the next few months.

Google Classroom is piloting Gemini to aid educators in lesson and content planning. Additionally, it’s introducing Read Along to help younger students improve their reading skills with real-time AI support. Teachers can assign reading activities based on Lexile® measure, grade level, or phonics skills, choosing from over 800 books by Heggerty, ReadWorks, and others. They can also track students' reading accuracy, speed, and comprehension.

An upcoming feature will allow teachers to generate personalized stories tailored to student needs. Read Along will be available globally in English, with Spanish and other languages to follow.

A version of Google Vids without generative AI will be available for students and teachers with Google Workspace for Education Plus. Furthermore, Google will integrate Meet and Assignments into third-party learning management systems like Canvas and PowerSchool Schoology Learning.

Desktop Chrome’s Reading Mode side panel is gaining a Read Aloud feature, similar to the Android app’s TTS capability. Users can choose from multiple voices, adjust playback speeds from 0.5x to 4x, and toggle line-by-line highlighting. Playback controls include play/pause and next/previous sentence options.

On ChromeOS, the Files app now features augmented image labels to assist screen readers in reading unlabeled images. Additionally, Google Classroom assignments will appear in the shelf calendar, similar to Google Tasks integration. These updates will roll out in the coming weeks.

At the Chromebook Plus event in May, Google announced that teacher-oriented devices would include the ability to control ChromeOS with facial expressions and head movements, expected to be available later this year.