An artificial intelligence may be your ideal assistant if you ever spent a Sunday night wondering how to keep kids engaged in metaphor lessons while Googling different options. AI does not require coffee, sleep, or pats on the back like any human assistant would, all it requires is a little text and a paid subscription. Now, with AI in the works, Google Classroom has made it easier for all teachers to create quizzes. It will not grade your mountains of essays yet, but it may just come to your aid in dodging the next teaching-planning meltdown.
Google Classroom advances in AI modality, and this time introduces a powerful teacher tool to make quiz building easy. On Monday, Google introduced the AI feature that assists teachers in generating quiz questions based on custom text input. With the Gemini large language model fueling it, the tool allows teachers to upload a document or input text content manually and get back a set of questions aligned with the content.
Utility of Feature
Teachers using this new feature can customize the output by varying several parameters such as the grade, the number of questions, and their types which may involve multiple choice, short answer, and open ended questions.
Teachers may also instruct the AI to focus on specific skills that students should practice, such as identifying figurative language or evaluating arguments. Generated questions may then be exported and directed into Google Docs or Google Forms for ease of distribution and grading.
Gemini Integration
The tool is part of Google’s broad intent to bring Gemini AI to the education front. Since its very first introduction to Google Classroom in early 2024, Gemini has come a long way from summarizing text to generating lesson plans. The latest update further showcased its vocabulary lists builder, further easing the lesson prep for busy teachers.
However, access to the new quiz tool is limited to Google Workspace for Education users who subscribe to the Gemini Education add-on ($24 per user) or to the users within the Gemini Education Premium tier ($36 per user).
Significance
The purpose behind all this is the intention to ease the administrative burden for teachers, many of whom are spending hours making quizzes and lesson materials. Google wants to automate question generation according to specific learning goals, the hope is that teachers will save time doing what matters most, which is teaching. It is also a part of a larger vision in edtech, the trend with which AI increasingly manages to find itself with most common everyday tasks going on in the classroom. It cannot really replace real human creativity, yet such features already open up possibilities for a future in which teachers will spend less time on logistics and more time on shaping critical thinking in their students.
There are those who fear that AI will transform classrooms into soulless, screen-filled environments, but tools like this show that when applied correctly, technology can enhance teaching and not replace it. This won’t solve every issue facing modern education, but it goes a long way towards providing a better, smarter classroom. If it gets one teacher off those midnight quiz-making marathons, that’s a win for sure.
