Google Gemini in Google Classroom

[istone]

Hi everyone,

Well, while all schools are on their holidays, I noticed yesterday that Gemini is now part of Google Classroom. Just added in there.. without letting us know.. 

I would appreciate it if any Google school administrators could check the following for me, please. I am not the admin in my school, so it appears the Gemini chatbot is "off"; however, I can still outline a lesson plan and generate some other resources.

My questions are:

-Can a Google admin turn these on at present?

-Are these tools available for students?

I think the answers to the above are NO... as of today.. but would appreciate some other digging/investigating from admins.

According to Mairéad Pratschke, in reply to a post I put up on LinkedIn earlier, access to Gemini will be available from August but we are a little confused ... It is hard to get answers.. so it appears that unless a school's admin actively chooses to disable it, Gemini will be accessible. In summary, the default, we think, is that Gemini will be "on" in August.

I have huge concerns around all of this, introducing tools before any schools/teachers have opportunities to learn about them. I believe strongly in learning about AI before going anywhere near using it. And never mind ethics, from an EU AI Act perspective... let's no go there!

My linkedIn post about this has grown legs if you want to have a read (and all the comments too ) but I've included the text below about it.

Interested to know your thoughts but also feel free to join the conversation on LinkedIn, need more teachers to talk about this!

Irene

LinkedIn post (read the comments also!):

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/irenestonecs_gemini-googleclassroom-unesco-activity-7350784292140081153-xuTq?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop&rcm=ACoAAD2-mRkBYVPWJgBjxfsvbXYPDrTi3elytbM

Test from post:

As schools are closed during the summer, Google quietly embedded hashtag#Gemini into hashtag#GoogleClassroom

Back in February, the AI Advisory Council offered sensible advice about AI in education: "...we should try to ensure that it is used properly, ethically and only when its benefits outweigh its costs for instructors and students in an education setting".
The Council also stated, regarding AI technologies, "...the ability to manage them appropriately in our educational institutions is within our control "
https://lnkd.in/eZ8NdmtB

What Google has done is hardly within our control? How was this allowed to happen….without schools, teachers, students or parents involved?

This feels like it was imposed from the top down, something hashtag#UNESCO warned about in 2023: "The use of GenAI in education and research should be neither imposed in a top-down approach nor driven by commercial hyperbole". (p29) https://lnkd.in/ebg-EJYB

I'm not against AI in education, but I'm against it being done to us rather than with us.

Surely we need time in schools to develop our AI literacy, which is not about the tools. Give us time to learn about these technologies before imposing them on us. This is too rushed, and it is highly concerning.

Department of Education and Youth Department of Enterprise, Tourism and Employment hashtag#AIAdvisoryCouncil UNESCO

[Ciarán Ó Muirgheasa]

Can't see anything under Classroom App, but there is now a Generative AI section which I haven't seen before:

Here is the FAQ:

https://support.google.com/a/answer/14130944?co=DASHER._Family%3DEducation&src=supportwidget0&hl=en&authuser=0&oco=0#gemini_app&zippy=%2Cwhat-is-the-gemini-app

Ar Máirt 15 Iúil 2025 ag 14:13, scríobh istone <ist...@stmarkscs.ie>:

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[Ciarán Ó Muirgheasa]

Some settings for Classroom:

Ar Máirt 15 Iúil 2025 ag 14:22, scríobh Ciarán Ó Muirgheasa <cpomui...@gmail.com>:

[Ciarán Ó Muirgheasa]

Sorry for the separate mails.  Here is some info on Gemini in Classroom:

https://support.google.com/a/answer/16291887?visit_id=638881824880267383-65343055&src=supportwidget0&hl=en&authuser=0

Ar Máirt 15 Iúil 2025 ag 14:24, scríobh Ciarán Ó Muirgheasa <cpomui...@gmail.com>:

[Irene Stone]

Hi Ciarán,

Thanks for sending me that link, which is really helpful.

While I am relieved to see that users must be over 18, I still worry about whether the responsibility of allowing access to others in the school community should be left to the school admin. Without guidelines, what does this mean...Some schools will have it..? some won't...?

It just leads to too many questions and uncertainty... There should be opt-in, not opt-out. From August, it looks like it could be opt-out.

And will we eventually reach a point where the tools will be available to our students? 

I appreciate AI is everywhere embedded into the technology they have in their pockets, but surely now is the time to put the foot down and say enough - can we have a safe space in our schools where there is no AI. Let us learn about it, teach about it.. we don't need to have it. And if we want to use it, then let us be in control.

Irene

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[David Dempsey]

I don’t see the problem. 

The organisational units setup has students as U18 and teachers as adults with the Gemini access applied to the over 18 group/teachers

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