STUDENT CHOICE · PERSONAL GOOGLE ACCOUNT · NO SCHOOL LICENSE

Gemini Notebook (formerly NotebookLM) — a study partner that stays inside the reading

Google renamed NotebookLM to Gemini Notebook on July 16, 2026. It is the same tool at the same address. A student adds a class reading, and it answers only from that reading, with citations. It can also turn the reading into an audio discussion, flashcards or a practice quiz. For a student who finds long readings hard, including many Learning Services students, listening first or quizzing themselves can be the way in.

A tool students may choose, and one you can use to make audio for them. None of this is an expectation. What you post is your call. I support how it fits with Canvas.

Start with what you are trying to do

Know what it does

Answers from the student's own sources, and turns a reading into audio, cards or a quiz.

TAKES two minutes

GETS YOU an answer when a student asks

Help a student get started

A personal Google account, one notebook per class, one reading at a time.

TAKES five minutes with the student

GETS YOU a reading they can get into

Post readings it can use

Text PDFs posted in Canvas ahead of class work best.

TAKES nothing new

GETS YOU readings that work in any tool

Keep it private and honest

Class readings in, nothing about other people, no thumbs buttons.

TAKES one conversation

GETS YOU a student who knows the lines

01 What it does

A student makes a notebook and adds sources: PDFs, pasted text, websites, YouTube videos, Google Docs or Slides. Chat answers come from those sources, with in-line citations back to the passage. From the same sources it can make audio and video overviews, study guides, flashcards, quizzes and mind maps. Google on what Gemini Notebook does →

It is free with a personal Google account, for ages 13 and up. Google applies stricter content rules for users under 18, and some features are for adults only.

Listen before reading

An Audio Overview is a short, podcast-style conversation between two AI voices about the source. A student can hear the shape of the argument, then read with that in mind.

Check understanding

Flashcards and quizzes are made only from the sources the student added. The student can see what they missed before class does.

Find the passage

A student can ask where the author says something and click the citation to land on the line. The reading stays the authority.

You can use it too. Several RJ teachers make an Audio Overview or a video of a reading or unit and post it in Canvas. Download the audio file and upload it to your course, so students don't need a Google account to listen. Listen to it all the way through before you post it.

This is a study tool, not an accommodation. Learning Services' six classroom accommodations don't include it, and it doesn't stand in for any of them. A student who needs more than their plan gives should talk to their Learning Specialist.

02 Help a student get started

RJ has no school Google accounts, so a student uses a personal Google account. Suggest it; don't require it. Requiring students to create an account with a service that isn't on RJ's approved list means sending families a notice first. If you want to make it part of a course, email Educational Technology.

Go to notebooklm.google and sign in with a personal Google account.
Create a new notebook. One notebook per class keeps sources from mixing.
Add the reading. Download it from Canvas and upload the file, or paste the text.
Ask a question in the chat, or open the Studio panel for an Audio Overview, flashcards or a quiz.
Read the passage the citation points to before trusting the summary.

Gemini Notebook help →

Use the Gemini Notebook site, not the Gemini chat app. Notebooks now sync into the Gemini app, and I steer people away from Gemini chat because of how Google uses what's typed there. Gemini Notebook runs under its own terms (see 04).

03 Post readings it can use

Nothing new here. Posting readings in Canvas before class already helps students who annotate ahead. A few habits make those files work in Gemini Notebook, and in a screen reader too.

Text, not a photo of text

If you can select the words in the PDF, the tool can read them reliably. A crooked photocopy scan is hard for any tool. Rescan it or post a clean copy.

One reading per file

A 40-page packet becomes one source. Separate files let a student add just tonight's reading.

Name it what it is

Author, title, pages. Citations show the file name, so a clear name tells the student where they are.

04 Keep it private and honest

What goes in

Class readings and the student's own notes. Not other students' names or work, and nothing personal. Notebooks stay private unless the student shares them. Assigned readings are for the student's own study, not for sharing.

What Google does with it

With a personal account, Google says notebook content isn't used to train its models unless the user sends feedback. Feedback (the thumbs buttons) can be read by human reviewers. Tell students to skip the thumbs buttons. Google's privacy terms →

Whose thinking it is

Your AI position for the assignment still applies. Gemini Notebook can find what the reading says. Only the student can judge whether the argument holds. Human judgment finds what is true; AI finds what is known.

05 Grow down the pathway

Same tool, four altitudes. Nobody is expected to be anywhere on this.

LEVEL I

Foundations — readings it can use

Readings posted in Canvas ahead of class, as clean text PDFs with clear names.

LEVEL II

Enhance — tell students it exists

One line in the course or the reading assignment: a study tool they may choose, and the privacy lines above.

LEVEL III

Deepen — check it against the text

Students bring one claim from the Audio Overview and the line that proves or disproves it.

LEVEL IV

Innovate — students question the summary

Students list what the AI summary left out or flattened, then say why it matters. The reading stays the authority.

06 Ask a colleague

The fastest help is a colleague who already does this. These teachers use Gemini Notebook (NotebookLM) in their Canvas courses, mostly to make Audio Overviews and videos for students, based on Canvas data from September 2026.

Ask	Why they’re the one to ask	Reach them
Alena Kane	Posts Audio Overviews of course material for her AP World History students.	TEAMS ALENA KANE
David Houts	Built NotebookLM videos and podcasts into his Spanish 2 lessons last year.	TEAMS DAVID HOUTS
Spencer Wagner	Gave his AP CS Principles students a NotebookLM audio guide to the project directions.	TEAMS SPENCER WAGNER

Use Gemini Notebook well? Message Jason Beyer and you’ll be listed here.

07 Their resources, and ours

From Google

Gemini Notebook help →
NotebookLM is now Gemini Notebook (Google, July 2026) →
Privacy and terms in Gemini Notebook →
Gemini Notebook for education →

From here

Flint — AI activities you design →
The six accommodations, and how to set them once →
Tool Reference →
Data Privacy Agreement & Approved Student Services (MyRJ) →
Student privacy at a private school →
Who to ask →

Their own account, the class reading in, nothing about anyone else, and the reading stays the authority.

Jason Beyer · Educational Technology · Regis Jesuit High School · A.M.D.G.

HelpDesk@regisjesuit.com · 303.269.8080 · LAST VERIFIED — 17 SEP 2026