Google Gems

In today’s episode, we'll explore Gems, custom chatbots created in Google Gemini. Visit AVID Open Access to learn more.

Transcript

Paul Beckermann 0:01 Welcome to Tech Talk for Teachers. I'm your host, Paul Beckermann.

Transition Music with Rena's Children 0:05 Check it out. Check it out. Check it out. What's in the toolkit? Check it out.

Paul Beckermann 0:16 The topic of today's episode is Google gems. It's probably not hard to imagine the following scenario. The bell rings and your students stream out of your classroom. It's your prep period, and you have 50 precious minutes to answer emails, grade assignments, and plan lessons for the next day. You've been paying attention during professional learning sessions, and you know that generative AI chatbots can help you save some time, so you open up your favorite tool—maybe ChatGPT, Claude, or Gemini—to help get some of this work done. You're still in control and doing the decision making, but AI helps jump-start your thinking and save you time. Still, it feels frustrating because you find yourself typing in a lengthy prompt that's almost exactly like the one you used yesterday. You're just adjusting the topic for the new lesson. What if you didn't have to retype that same detailed prompt every single time you wanted to complete those similar tasks? By using custom AI chatbots or assistants, you can do just that. Most of the AI chatbot tools have options for creating custom chatbots or assistants. But for today's episode, I'm going to focus on using Google's solution to this challenge, gems.

Transition Music with Rena's Children 1:32 Here's the here's the here's the tool for today.

Paul Beckermann 1:35 So what are gems? Gems are customizable and time-saving AI assistants that you can save and build within Google's generative AI chatbot, Gemini. Instead of typing a long prompt from scratch every time you want to complete a repeatable task like planning an exit ticket, a gem can be created once with specific instructions that are saved for use time after time. Think of them as customizable, reusable presets, prompts that you can reuse quickly simply by clicking on a title from your list of saved gems.

So how do you create and use a gem? To get started, go to gemini.google.com to access Google's Gemini chatbot tool. Then click the hamburger icon on the top left corner to open the left side navigation menu. Below the new chat option, you'll see a section titled "Gems". Select "Explore gems". Here you will see some pre-made options listed at the top for you to explore. Reviewing these can be a good way to get ideas, as well as to see what it's like to use a custom-built gem.

There are options for creating a storybook, playing chess, brainstorming ideas, getting help from a learning coach, and having your writing looked at by a writing editor. If you find one that you really like, you can click the three dots and pin it to your favorites on the left-hand navigation menu. Below those presets is a button titled "New Gem". When you click that, you'll see a screen with form fields to fill in. In order to create your gem, there are three basic steps to this: add a name for your gem, type in instructions, and upload any files that you want the chatbot to reference when providing you with answers. This is called the knowledge field. To the right is a preview area where you can see your finished gem and try it out.

To give you a little more context, let me break down each of the three fields that you'll need to complete. Number one: name. This is the title you give your gem and the one that you'll choose later on when reusing it from your list of saved options. So you want to make sure that it's descriptive enough for you to remember what it will do for you. Maybe you call it something like Exit Ticket Generator or Lesson Plan Creator.

Number two: instructions. Essentially, this is where you'll type your prompt, the one that you don't want to have to retype every time you want to complete the same task. There are lots of prompting models and acronyms out there to help you generate an effective prompt. The goal is to provide enough clarity and detail to guide the AI's output from generic to highly specific and useful.

Number three is the knowledge field. To help the chatbot align its answers more specifically to your context, you can upload up to 10 reference documents. The chatbot will draw upon these when answering your questions. For instance, you could upload a lesson plan model, academic standards, examples of exemplary content, or maybe some related research.

Once you've filled in these three fields, you can test your gem in the preview window to the right. It's on the same screen and very convenient. If something doesn't work as intended, tweak the instructions right there on the screen and try again until you're happy with the results. Once you save your gem, it appears in the left navigation pane for you to click on and use anytime you'd like.

So how might teachers use gems?

Transition Music with Rena's Children 6:09 How do I use them? Integration, inspiration, integration, ideas.

Paul Beckermann 6:14 Gems are most useful when created for tasks that are repeated frequently. They save you time retyping in that prompt. Here are a few examples:

A rubric generator: Have the gem act as an assessment expert and have it create detailed rubrics based on a format that you outline.

Differentiated learning gem: Have the gem act as an instructional coach who re-levels a piece of text to a new reading level.

Student Support Specialist: Create a patient, encouraging study buddy that students can use to help them understand a difficult concept by explaining it in a simple way and providing a few practice problems.

Real-world connector: Create a subject matter expert who connects classroom contents to everyday life by providing real-world examples for a topic of study.

Lesson Plan generator: Have the gem act as an expert teacher and lesson designer to create a lesson based on a specific lesson plan model, like the five Es.

Application Options: Have the gem act as a master teacher who generates a list of application activities that you can use to reinforce the main concept of a lesson that you're teaching.

The options here are nearly endless, but these can help you get started brainstorming what might work for you.

Here's a bonus tip : As a bonus tip, I'd like to call your attention to a very popular pre-made gem called storybook . With this option, you type in a summary of a picture book you'd like the gem to create for you . For example, you might type, "My seven-year-old doesn't want to sleep over at Grandma's house. Create a storybook to help them cope" .

For my practice, I typed in, "Using a claymation art style, create a storybook about a guitar player who uses music to inspire others" . It took just a minute or two to generate, and then I was presented with a 10-page picture book complete with text and pictures in claymation style . It included interactive, turnable pages and an option to have the book read aloud to me with a realistic-sounding voice . I could even share the book with a link .

Teachers could use this fun tool to generate books that are customized to class needs . For example, they could include a set of vocabulary words in the prompt so students could practice reading a book with those specific words used in context . You can even upload pictures or other resources that are used to inspire or inform the book being created .

At this time, you need to be 18 years old to generate a book, but if you create the book for or with the class, it can be shared with them . Students don't need to be a certain age to view the book, only to create it .

Like I mentioned earlier, different AI companies will have their own take on custom-built chatbots . This is Google's version, gems . When used thoughtfully and intentionally, they can be both fun and save you valuable time .

To learn more about today's topic and explore other free resources, visit avidopenaccess.org . Specifically, I encourage you to check out the article collection, "AI in the K-12 classroom" . And of course, be sure to join Rena, Winston, and me every Wednesday for our full-length podcast, Unpacking Education, where we're joined by exceptional guests and explore education topics that are important to you . Thanks for listening. Take care and thanks for all you do. You make a difference .