As part of my daily routine, I scan dozens of blogs, visit a handful of Facebook groups and skim through Twitter.

The goal: find the most helpful resources, tools, and articles that I can share with my teacher friends (that’s you!)

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Here are my top 10 links for March 2024!

1. Improved video playback in Google Drive – Have you noticed that videos in Drive are slow to load? It wasn’t just you! Google is making changes that should fix this issue. 

2. Google is now offering a limited AI use plan – Gemini for business is $20/user/month and has a cap of 1,000 uses/month for each user. Gemini Enterprise is $30/user/month with unlimited use. Google is expected to announce a special EDU version of Gemini this spring. 

3. Migrate Email between Google Domains – A new email migration feature is available to ALL edu editions which can help schools merge Google Domains together. 

4. Remove background from Slides – this handy new feature is only available for users with the Gemini upgrade ($), and is similar to what you can do with Canva Magic Studio or remove.bg.

5. AI image generation (with text!) – Ideogram.ai is my new favorite image generation tool because it does a pretty good job at creating images with text, something that other tools struggle with.

6. Visit a class setup guide – Google Classroom has a great feature for administrators and coaches that lets you visit any class without being a co-teacher. To use this premium feature, you need to set up a special admin role which I outline in this post. 

7. Tips for using AI responsibly – Eric Curts wrote a helpful guide for teachers on the do’s and don’t of AI. If you are using AI in your work as a teacher, you should inform yourself on the type of information you can and should not share with tools like Gemini and ChatGPT. 

8. Chromebook prank guide – April fool’s day is right around the corner, which means it’s time to bust out the ‘ol list of Chromebook pranks!

9. The explore tool is no more – You’re not crazy, Google removed the “explore” feature from Docs, Slides, and Sheets. Here are some possible explanations and alternatives to fill the gap.

10. Chromebook features for teachers – there are some great tips in this blog post from the Google Keyword blog. 

What awesome resource did I miss?

Got something that’s too cool not to share? Hit me up on Twitter or Instagram (@jrsowash). I’m always on the hunt for interesting and useful resources!