Control Alt Achieve

Tuesday, September 2, 2025

What's New in Google - August 2025

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

Below is the recorded video from our August 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 August 2025 meeting:

As educators one of our goals is to try to prepare our students for their future. To help them be whatever they want to be.

Sometimes though, especially for students who are struggling academically, it can be difficult for students to visualize that positive future.

What if we could give them a vivid, personal glimpse into their own potential? Perhaps with a picture that shows them working as a marine biologist, tagging a sea turtle by a coral reef. Or maybe a photo of them as an architect, personally sketching designs in a studio. Or a teacher or athlete or chef or singer or doctor or such.

Well with AI we can do that! With Gemini's latest image model, you can take a picture of a student and show what they would look like working in their dream career. And you can do it easily, accurately and safely. Let's take a look at how to do this!

EdTech Links - Week of 8-25-2025

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!

I recently had the pleasure to be a guest on the "Digitize Fully Charged Podcast" hosted by Pam Currie and Niall Ridgway.

Anyone who knows me, knows how much I love podcasts and am always mentioning something new I learned from one of them, so I was super excited to get to join an episode of this podcast.

The podcast is described as follows:

Welcome to the Digitize Fully Charged Podcast – where Scottish humour meets digital transformation. Hosted by Pam Currie and Niall Ridgway, we’re here to spark real conversations about how technology is shaking up classrooms, schools, and local businesses across Scotland (and beyond).

I had a wonderful time chatting about AI topics including:

Why AI must move beyond helping staff, and reach students too.
The big question: Will AI ever replace teachers?
Creative classroom ideas: AI guest speakers, debates and choose‑your‑own‑adventure games.
How to get started with AI as a teacher, even if it feels intimidating.
The dangers of bias, mistakes and misinformation in AI – and why that’s exactly why it belongs in the classroom.
Data privacy, student safety and why I recommend Gemini for schools.
Why AI is your new teaching assistant, not your replacement.

Take a look below to listen to the episode, access the resources that I shared in the episode, and explore more about the podcast.

The Bionic Educator - Banzai Recorded Webinar

A few weeks back I had the privilege of presenting my "Bionic Educator" keynote to kick off Banzai's virtual "Back-to-School Bootcamp".

If you are not familiar with Banzai - https://banzai.org/ - here are some quick details about them:

They provide totally free online courses for students in grades 3 through 12.
The courses cover personal finance, digital citizenship, college and careers, and more.
The courses are highly interactive with games and resources that allow students to make mistakes, learn, and succeed from the safety of their classroom.
Teachers instantly view student progress with a powerful grading interface.
Banzai complies fully with restrictions set by COPPA and FERPA, and does not store any personally identifiable information.
And it really is free, thanks to the support of banks, credit unions, and other organizations.

My keynote was "The Bionic Educator" which explores the impact of AI on education, with the key question being "Will AI take our jobs, or help us do our jobs better?" The recording of the keynote is now available! See below to watch it and access more resources from Banzai.

My Sun City EdTech Sessions

I am excited and honored to be a featured speaker at the 2025 Sun City EdTech Conference hosted by ESC19 and TCEA in El Paso, Texas on September 11th.

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 get all of the details about the conference including registration, presenters, sessions, and more on the conference website at:

esc19.net/conferences/sun-city-edtech-conference

Below is a list of sessions I will be presenting at the conference, 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!