Jan. 22, 2026 /Mpelembe Media/ — Google has announced a series of technological enhancements to its Gemini and Google Classroom platforms to improve the academic experience for both staff and pupils. Students can now access complimentary SAT practice examinations and use sophisticated AI models to generate visual study aids like infographics. For educators, the updates introduce streamlined administrative tools that assist with drafting lesson plans, tracking student engagement, and providing automated feedback. The Classroom interface has been redesigned into an interactive dashboard that highlights upcoming deadlines and essential learning metrics. Furthermore, new multimedia capabilities allow users to integrate audio and video recordings directly into their digital coursework. These innovations aim to personalise learning while reducing the time teachers spend on repetitive organisational tasks.
Gemini AI automates various administrative and preparatory tasks to significantly streamline an educator’s workflow and enhance productivity. According to the sources, these automations focus on content creation, student tracking, and lesson preparation.
Content Creation and Assignment Drafting
One of the primary ways Gemini improves productivity is by reducing the time spent on creating materials:
Drafting Assignments: Gemini can collaborate with the Google Classroom app to draft assignments using the specific context of an educator’s classes to inform its output.
Generating Rubrics: Educators can instantly convert a file into a Classroom-ready rubric, a task that is traditionally time-consuming.
Visual Aids: The AI can generate infographics and slide decks to recap lessons or illustrate complex topics, allowing teachers to create visual content quickly.
Audio Lessons: Teachers can now create audio lessons from a central destination within Classroom.
Student Progress and Data Management
Gemini and the updated Google Classroom provide automated insights that help educators manage student data more efficiently:
Summarising Progress: Gemini can summarise student progress, providing teachers with a quick overview of how learners are performing without the need for manual data collation.
Classroom Insights: A revamped homepage acts as an actionable dashboard, offering insights into student engagement and upcoming deadlines.
Learning Standards: Educators can tag assignments with learning standards (including those from the UK). The system then provides insights into student understanding against these specific benchmarks.
Writing Feedback: New tools are being introduced to provide suggested feedback for writing assignments, further automating the grading process.
Workflow Integration and Lesson Prep
Gemini is designed to integrate into existing platforms to minimise the need to switch between different tools:
Moodle Integration: Through Gemini LTI, AI tools like NotebookLM and the Gemini app will be supported directly within Moodle, helping educators save time on lesson preparation and personalised learning within their preferred Learning Management System.
NotebookLM as a Source: Educators can use NotebookLM as a source within Gemini, allowing them to create documents and web applications that are grounded in their own trusted content.
Seamless Feedback: The ability to record and attach audio, video, and screen recordings directly in Classroom for feedback and announcements simplifies communication with students.
By automating these “time-consuming tasks”, Gemini allows educators to focus more on instruction and personalising the learning experience for their students.
Educators can use learning standards within Google Classroom to monitor student development through a more structured, data-driven approach to instruction. According to the sources, this process involves the following key components:
Tagging Assignments: Teachers can now tag specific assignments with learning standards. This allows every piece of work to be mapped directly to curriculum requirements or benchmarks.
Progress Insights: By tagging these assignments, the system can generate insights into student understanding and progress against those specific standards. This gives educators a granular view of which concepts students have mastered and where they may need additional support.
Regional Standards Support: To ensure relevance across different education systems, Google has partnered with 1EdTech and Common Good Learning Tools to bring diverse standards into Classroom. This includes learning standards from the UK, Australia, Canada, Japan, Brazil, and Mexico, with Italy expected to be added soon.
Integrated Dashboards: These insights are often delivered via a revamped Classroom homepage, which serves as an actionable dashboard for educators to view class-wide metrics and individual student engagement.
By moving beyond general grading to tracking performance against specific standards, educators can more accurately personalise their teaching to meet the needs of every learner.
Source: https://blog.google/products-and-platforms/products/education/bett-2026-gemini-classroom-updates/