Matthew's Google Workspace, Apple & AI EdTech Blog

Google's New NotebookLM is a very useful study tool but only users 18+ can use it. Does that mean that this new tool has no value for Educators who work in a K12 environment? The answer to that question is NO.  The purpose of this blog post is to show K12 Educators how they can use Google NotebookLM’s podcast feature to convert dense, theoretical, or policy-heavy documents into digestible audio content which can help them: Learn on-the-go and avoid “PD fatigue” Retain more from long readings Reflect more deeply via AI-generated conversations As educators, we’re constantly asked to read: policy updates, professional development (PD) documents, theoretical frameworks, and the occasional 50-page research article. These texts are often essential, sometimes not — but whatever their importance, let’s be honest: they’re not always easy to digest. Add a full teaching timetable into the mix, and it becomes nearly impossible to give these documents the attention (some of them) deserve. Recen...

Over the past week or so, I’ve been testing a new tool in the ever-evolving world of AI — Simular*. It's a browser-based platform that promises to bring “agentic AI” to life. The idea is compelling: instead of prompting a chatbot like ChatGPT to give you information, you can direct an autonomous “agent” to visit websites, scroll, click, read, extract data, and even write content like a newsletter or report. As an educator, this concept has obvious appeal. When I started to test out Simular I had high hopes, especially in helping me streamline tasks like researching new EdTech tools, curating weekly digests for other educators, and summarizing long-form blog posts or research articles. In theory, it could serve as an automated research assistant — browsing the web while I focus on planning lessons for my students or doing other, related tasks. But after hands-on testing, I’ve come away with two key conclusions: 1. It’s not quite ready — at least for educators. Despite its sleek inte...