Generate Presentations in the Gemini App

Educators can now generate slide presentations directly within the Gemini app through Canvas. This feature is designed to rapidly create a first draft of a presentation, complete with visual aids, allowing educators to save valuable prep time.

Key Capabilities

• Quick Generation: Create a set of slides by providing a simple text prompt detailing the desired topic.
• Source Integration: Upload a source document, and Gemini will use that content to generate the presentation.
• Automatic Formatting: The generated slides include a theme and relevant images to serve as a comprehensive starting point.
• Export and Refine: Presentations created in the Gemini app can be exported directly to Google Slides for further refinement, customization, and/or collaboration.

Getting Started

• Open the Gemini App
• Select "Canvas" in the toolbar at the bottom of the screen.
  
  
  
  
  
• Ask Gemini to create a presentation using one of the following methods:
• Type a request such as, "create a presentation on [specific topic]."
• Request a presentation and upload the document you wish to use as the source material.

Create Landscape, Vertical and Square Videos in Google Vids

You can create and edit videos in widescreen/horizontal format (16:9), vertical (9:16), and square (1:1) sizes in Google Vids. Not only do these three sizes give you more flexibility to create content that fits the viewing device, it also makes it easy to upload, edit and share through Google Drive vertical videos captured on a cell phone!

To adjust the size of your video:

• On your computer, open a video in Google Vids.
• In the menu bar, click Video size .
• Or, at the top, click File and then Video size.
• From the dropdown menu, select your preferred video size:
• Widescreen (16:9)
• Vertical (9:16)
• Square (1:1)
• Click Apply.

Tips: 

• When you apply the new size, your content automatically adjusts to the new size. But, you might need to manually fine-tune elements.
• When you upload a vertical video from a cell phone, change the size of the Vids video first, then do the upload.

Create and Share Gemini Generative AI Prompts (Gems)

What is a Gem

A Gem is a customizable AI expert that you personalize to be an expert on any topic, reducing the need for repetitive, detailed prompting. By allowing you to complete specific goals, tasks, and workflows based on your inputs, Gems accelerate productivity. 

Benefits of Sharing

Teachers and staff can develop and refine Gems tailored to specific departmental needs and share them broadly reducing the workload for each teacher. For example, a high school english department could create an "ELA Differentiated Prompt Generator" together and share it with all teachers to make it easier to create differentiated literary analysis essay prompts for their students.

Gem sharing is powered by the same technology as Google Drive. The interface is the same, allowing other users to edit, use, or make a copy of a shared Gem just like a shared Google Doc.

Getting Started

To Create Your Gem

• Access the Gem Manager: Go to gemini.google.com. In the left-hand panel, click Explore Gems.
• Create a New Gem: Click the + New Gem button.
• Write the Instructions: This is the core of your Gem. Provide clear, durable instructions for its: 
• Persona (e.g., "Act as an experienced middle school science teacher")
• Task (e.g., "Generate a 5-day lesson plan")
• Context
• Format (e.g., "Respond using a table format with clear headings").
• Add Knowledge (optional but recommended): Under the Knowledge section, click Add files. You can upload files from your device or select documents directly from Google Drive to give your Gem specific content to reference (e.g., your school's official grading policy or a specific curriculum document).
• Name and Save: Give your Gem a clear, descriptive name (e.g., "Formative Assessment Designer"). Click Save.

Tip: Gemini itself can help you draft comprehensive instructions!

Share Your Gem

• Locate Your Gem: In the Gem manager, find the Gem you wish to share.
• Click the Share button next to the Gem's name.
• Set Permissions: A familiar sharing dialogue will appear, just like sharing a Google Doc.
• Enter the email addresses of specific colleagues or groups.
• Select the access level: Viewer (can use the Gem) or Editor (can modify the Gem).
• If the Gem contains Drive files, you will be prompted to share those files as well.
• Send: Click Send or Share. Recipients will receive a notification and can immediately begin using your custom AI expert.

Note:

Once shared, Gems are stored in Google Drive.

Gems cannot be shared with students at this time.

 

**IMPORTANT! When using a Gem, always remember that AI does not have your expertise. Always be sure to carefully review any output before using or sharing it.** 

New in Google Sheets: A Simplified Version History

An update to Google Sheets makes version history even more efficient with a new condensed view.

How the New Condensed View Works

Instead of showing the entire spreadsheet, the new default view for version history will only display the rows that have a change in the selected version. This makes it much faster to pinpoint the exact edits you're looking for. 

Switching Back to the Original View

While the condensed view is a great new default, sometimes you might want to see the full context of the entire sheet. If you prefer the original version history experience, where the whole sheet is displayed with changes highlighted, simply select the checkbox for "Show unmodified rows". This will bring back the familiar full-sheet view.