What's New in Google - August 2026

Catch up on everything new in Google Workspace for Education from August 2026, and see great ideas and resources!

Below is the recorded video from our August 2026 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 2026 meeting:

EdTech Links - Week of 8-24-2026

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!

Recorded BenQ Session - AI Games, Interviews & Activities for Student Learning

This year at ISTE26 I had the privilege to present a session at the BenQ Education booth where we explored using AI as an interactive partner for games, interviews, and activities for student learning.

These can be done with any grade level or subject, either as whole-class activities where the teacher manages the AI but the students still participate, or with students individually interacting with the AI for their own learning experiences. 

In this session we tried out a wide range of AI activities such as:

• 🎙️ AI Interview
• 🔠 “Choose Your Own Adventure” Stories
• 🤔 "20 Questions" games
• ❌ “Two Truths and a Lie” Games
• 📓 Emoji Definition Game
• 🤐 Classroom Taboo Game
• ⚖️ AI Debate
• ✍️ AI Co-Writing

To learn all about using AI for engaging student learning activities, see below to watch the recorded 30-minute session from the ISTE26 BenQ Education booth and to access the resources from the session.

Thanks to BenQ Education for sponsoring my presentation at their booth!

New PD Session - AI Prompts for Language Arts

Educational technology is constantly evolving, so my PD catalog has to change as well to keep up with everything new. During the course of the year I typically add several new sessions to my offerings. 

At the moment my PD catalog has over 70 different sessions that I offer for schools, conferences, and organizations. You can see the full catalog here - https://bit.ly/curts-pd

Recently I added a new session that covers AI prompts for language arts. See below for all the details and session resources. Feel free to use these resources any way you need, and if your school or conference is interested in this session or others, please reach out to me to discuss options for me to join you in person or virtually.

✍️ AI Prompts for Literacy, Reading, Writing & Language

• Description: In this session we will explore practical AI prompts specific for literacy, reading, writing and language to see how they can be used for teaching and learning. Prompts we will try out may include Decodable Texts, Discussion Prompts, Poem Writing Coach, RAFT Writing Prompts, Reader's Theater, Reading Level Analyzer, Story Co-Writer, Text-dependent Questions, Text Rewriter, Vocabulary List, Vocabulary Tiers and more.
• Resource Doc - bit.ly/curts-elaprompts
• Slideshow - View Slides - Copy Slides

Join my Gemini for Schools Online Course

Google Gemini is easily one of my favorite AI tools for education. It has a robust free version with a wide range of powerful features, can be used with any age level, and comes with free data privacy protection for schools.

I use Gemini every day in my own work, and provide PD sessions on it all the time.

I am excited to be offering a 4-week online course on Gemini for schools starting this September. This is in partnership with EdTechTeacher and their collection of eight courses they are offering this Fall.

See below for all the details on my course and how you can participate. I hope to learn with you!

EdTech Links - Week of 7-20-2026

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!

My ISTE 2026 Sessions

I am excited and honored to once again present at the 2026 ISTE Conference in Orlando, Florida this June 28th through July 1st.

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

You can attend ISTE in person this year, or take part as a virtual attendee. To get more details and register for the conference go to:

• https://conference.iste.org/2026

Below is a list of sessions I will be presenting at the ISTE Conference, along with any associated resources. I will continue to update this list with any changes and additions to my schedule.

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 6-22-2026

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!

ISTE26 Session Search Chatbot

To help ISTE26 attendees find the perfect sessions, I have pulled all the details on all the sessions including Session Title, Date, Start Time, End Time, Format, Location, Presenters, Session Type, and Session Description.

I then created some resources below to help you search through the sessions and get AI-generated recommendations. Please use and share however you need. Let me know any suggestions you have for improving these resources.

And be sure to check out all of my ISTE sessions at bit.ly/curts-iste26 and my ISTE26 Sharing doc at bit.ly/iste26-share

📓 Conference Concierge Notebook

• This Notebook contains datafiles on all of the sessions for the ISTE 2026 Conference. You can ask any question to get suggestions for sessions to attend, such as “What are good sessions on Monday related to AI and elementary students?”
• Or you can type #CONCIERGE to switch into Conference Concierge Mode. In this mode the notebook will ask you several questions to understand what you are interested in and will then create a suggested schedule of sessions. It does one day at a time.
• Because NotebookLM is a grounded AI tool, it will only pull from the provided files and will have the lowest chance of hallucinations and mistakes with the schedule.
• ISTE 2026 Sessions Notebook - NotebookLM link
  

🤖 Conference Concierge Chatbot

• This custom chatbot is a version of my "Conference Concierge" prompt. It will ask you several questions to understand what you are interested in and will then create a suggested schedule of sessions. It does one day at a time.
• ISTE 2026 "Conference Concierge" chatbot - ChatGPT version - Gemini Gem version

📊 Spreadsheet

• This is a Google Sheet with details on every session at ISTE26.
• ISTE 2026 Sessions Spreadsheet - Google Sheets link

My 2026 CFISD Digital Learning Conference Sessions

I am excited and honored to once again present at the 2026 CFISD Digital Learning Conference this year.

This year is the 16th annual CFISD Digital Learning Conference and is:

• Entirely virtual with over 50 EdTech sessions
• Held on July 21st and 22nd
• Open to all educators
• FREE!

You can get all the details on the conference website at: www.cfisd.net/dlc

• All sessions for 7/21 - https://cfisd-dlc-2026.glide.page/dl/d0a5f4
• All sessions for 7/22 - https://cfisd-dlc-2026.glide.page/dl/da19fa

There is no need to register for the conference. Just click the links above on the dates of the conference to watch any of the live streaming sessions for free.

Below is a list of sessions I will be presenting for the 2026 CFISD Digital Learning Conference, along with any associated resources and the live stream links for each session.  I look forward to sharing and learning with you!

EdTech Links - Week of 6-1-2026

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!

12 New EduGems from May 2026

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

You can access, use, and copy any of the Gems at edugems.ai where I currently have 145 Gems!

Each month I add new Gems to the site. See below for links to the 12 new Gems I added during the month of May 2026, along with a short description for each.

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

Podcast Spotlight - SupportED Learning

I recently had the pleasure to be a guest on the "SupportEd Learning Podcast" hosted by Dr. Joseph Sebestyen.

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:

On a mission to speak with global education experts on how we can revolutionize the education system, especially in the dawn of AI.

I had a wonderful time chatting all about a wide range of topics including:

• What Schools Get Right and Wrong About AI
• EduGems: The Free AI Prompt Library
• The Top 3 AI Tools Every Student Needs
• Guided Grading: AI-Powered Feedback
• The Biggest Mistake Schools Make With AI
• The Wrestle, Wrap, Reflect Framework
• The MIT Study That Changes Everything

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

What's New in Google - May 2026

Catch up on everything new in Google Workspace for Education from May 2026, and see great ideas and resources!

Below is the recorded video from our May 2026 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 May 2026 meeting:

EdTech Links - Week of 5-11-2026

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!

Join Me for the Jeffrey Powell Mobile Learning Conference

I am excited and honored to be providing a keynote session for the 17th annual Jeffrey Powell Mobile Learning Conference this summer!

This is an entirely virtual conference, so anyone and everyone can attend, with a wide range of educational technology sessions from amazing educators (and friends of mine) including Ken Shelton, Stephanie Howell, Melissa Kincaid, Steph Sukow, Katie Fielding, and many more.

For my keynote I will be presenting:

• 🍳 Your Brain on AI: Moving from Crutch to Catalyst
• Tuesday, June 9th at 10am ET
• When students use AI, are they learning or just offloading? As beneficial as AI can be, overreliance on it can hurt thinking skills, creativity, and understanding. How do we avoid this? This keynote offers the 'Wrestle, Rap, Reflect' framework, a powerful, practical solution that keeps the human in the loop by requiring learners to engage their own brains before and after the AI interaction. We will learn to move students from a passive 'crutch' mindset to an active 'catalyst' partnership, ensuring AI builds intellectual agency, not atrophy.

Here are the key details for this virtual event:

• 💡 Jeffrey Powell Mobile Learning Conference
• 📅 June 8-9, 2026
• ⏰ 10am to 5pm ET (7am to 2pm PT)
• 💲 Cost - $25 (includes access to live sessions and replays for up to 2 weeks after the conference)
• 🔗 Website - nemcc.edu/mobilelearning/
• 🎟️ Register - 2026mobilelearning.sched.com/registration
• 📋 View full schedule - 2026mobilelearning.sched.com/list/simple

I hope you can join this event. I look forward to learning with you!

My HICE26 Sessions

I am excited to be presenting at the 2026 HICE Conference right here in northeast Ohio on June 2nd and 3rd.

This is the conference that we put on through my work at SPARCC and the Stark County ESC. It is a free, in-person event with over 130 sessions covering all areas of education, teaching, learning, technology, and more.

I even created a Gemini Gem to help you select the best sessions to match your interests!

If you are anywhere near the area, I encourage you to join us for this amazing conference! Here are the key details:

• 💡 High Impact Conference for Educators
• 📅 June 2-3, 2026
• 🏫 Lake Middle High School
• 📍 709 Market Ave SW, Uniontown, OH 44632
• 🔗 Website - https://bit.ly/summerhice
• 🎟️ Register for free - Google Form

Below is a list of sessions I will be presenting at HICE26, 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 4-27-2026

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!

12 New EduGems from April 2026

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

You can access, use, and copy any of the Gems at edugems.ai where I currently have 133 Gems!

Each month I add new Gems to the site. See below for links to the 12 new Gems I added during the month of April 2026, 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 - April 2026

Catch up on everything new in Google Workspace for Education from April 2026, and see great ideas and resources!

Below is the recorded video from our April 2026 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 April 2026 meeting: