Recorded Webinar - Learning Genie

I recently recorded a webinar about a super-helpful AI-powered EdTech tool called Learning Genie. (Disclosure - Learning Genie sponsored this webinar, but all opinions were my own.)

If you are not familiar with Learning Genie it is a tool which helps educators quickly develop a comprehensive and well-structured teaching unit. Here are some key features:

• 🧰 Create complete unit plans with all the needed resources (plans, slideshows, worksheets, assessments, more)
• 🏫 Works with any subject and any grade (PreK-12)
• 🎯 Aligns with state standards and uses Al to support interdisciplinary learning and connect instruction with assessment
• 📍 Localizes curriculum to engage students in meaningful and relevant learning experiences
• 💰 Robust free version

To learn all about Learning Genie, see below to watch my recorded 1-hour webinar and to access the resources from the session.

Public NotebookLM with AI Policies, Guidelines and Frameworks

Over the last few years most schools around the world have been working on developing policies and guidelines that clarify how AI can and should be used by their students and educators, as well as which uses are prohibited or limited in a school setting.

If your school does not have AI guidelines yet, you are certainly not alone. Many districts are still digging into this task with committees and pilot groups and more.

Thankfully there are many organizations, states, and schools that have been blazing a trail in this area by developing and sharing their own AI policies, guidelines, and frameworks.

I recently collected over 40 of the best examples I have come across from states, schools, and organizations, and uploaded them all into a public notebook in NotebookLM.

See below for the link to access this shared Notebook and some directions on how you can interact with it to support you work on AI guidance for your school.

My 2026 FETC Sessions

I am excited and honored to be presenting at the Future of Education Technology Conference (FETC 2026) in Orlando, Florida on January 11th through 14th, 2026.

I always look forward to an opportunity to see old friends, make new friends, share some ideas, and learn so many new things from others.

You can register for FETC at https://www.fetc.org/

Below is a list of sessions I will be presenting at FETC 2026, along with any associated resources. Please feel free to join me for any of these sessions. I look forward to sharing, learning, and chatting with you!

EdTech Links - Week of 1-5-2026

Each week I keep an eye out for the latest edtech resources through blogs, social media, podcasts, videos, user groups, and more. I then try to reshare these resources in many ways.

One way I share these is here on the blog in these "EdTech Links of the Week" posts. See below to explore the latest batch of resources, and be sure to share with others who may benefit.

If you want to make sure you don't miss new resources, you can:

🔗 View all EdTech Links of the Week: bit.ly/caa-links

📰 Sign up for my weekly email newsletter: bit.ly/curts-news
📧 Join the "Control Alt Achieve" email discussion group: bit.ly/caa-emailgroup

🔔 Get new blog posts automatically through email - FollowIt link

And as always, please let me know of any resources that you recommend. I would love to learn from you!

Making Graphic Novels with Gemini and NotebookLM

Graphic novels have long been an excellent medium to engage students in reading. Some of the benefits of graphic novels include:

• Dual-Coding - Having both a visual representation and a text description provides students with two ways to consume, process, and recall the information being presented.
• Inference Skills - Students have to mentally bridge the gap between Panel A (a character reaching for a doorknob) and Panel B (the character standing in an open room), which encourages high-level cognitive participation in the reading process.
• Accessibility - The visuals help reduce cognitive load, allowing students to focus their mental energy on the text itself. Also the "chunked" nature of the text is often less overwhelming than a wall of words, helping them maintain stamina.
• Introductions - Graphic novels can also be the gateway for students to larger texts. Reading a graphic novel version of "Tuck Everlasting" may prompt a student to take the full novel for a spin.

As easy as graphic novels are to consume, creating them is a much more challenging task. Certainly the best graphic novels are going to be created by skilled and hard-working authors and illustrators, and I strongly encourage everyone to support them in this work.

However with new AI tools, educators and students now have free options to enter into this world and create basic, but good, graphic novels of their own. This is something I have been working on recently with Gemini and NotebookLM, and I am excited to share with you both the results that I have made and the tools and directions for you to do the same.

See below for all of the details. And as always feel free to share with others, and please share with me your creations, comments, questions, and suggestions.

New EduGems from December 2025

EduGems is my website where I share my favorite Gemini Gems for schools.

You can access, use, and copy any of the Gems at https://www.edugems.ai/

Each month I add new Gems to the site. See below for links to the 18 new Gems I added during the month of December 2025, along with a short description for each.

Feel free to share with others and please consider submitting your own Gems to the site.

What's New in Google - November/December 2025

Catch up on everything new in Google Workspace for Education from November/December 2025, and see great ideas and resources!

Below is the recorded video from our December 2025 Google User Meeting, along with the meeting agenda with all the awesome resources and Google updates from the last few months. This includes lots of new Google updates and Google resources for your class.

The monthly meetings are hosted by the Google Educator Group of Ohio, but are open to anyone from any location. The purpose of these meetings is to:

• Connect Google-using educators
• Share the latest Google Workspace news and features
• Provide tutorials, demonstrations, and how-to’s
• Share best practices of how Google Workspace is being used within schools
• Ask questions and get answers

The video from the meeting is recorded and available for later viewing for those who cannot attend or connect live. See below to view the recorded video, agenda, and all the resources from the December 2025 meeting: