This Summer, Try Notebook LM: Google’s AI Tool for Smarter Teaching & Learning
Looking for a fresh, time-saving tool to try this summer? Google's Notebook LM might just change how you teach, plan, and prep.
Notebook LM - Language Model - is a personalized AI research assistant that grounds everything it does in the files you upload. Whether it’s a reading packet, lecture slides, or even a YouTube transcript, it creates an AI that only pulls from your materials. Think of it as a custom-built tutor, study guide maker, and podcast generator—all in one.
Let’s break down how you can make the most of it before fall semester rolls around.
📓What is Notebook LM?
Developed by Google and powered by Gemini, Notebook LM lets you upload content. Then, it turns these into interactive, AI-grounded notebooks. Each notebook can answer questions, create summaries, build glossaries, generate quizzes, and even produce audio podcasts of your materials!
No guessing. No hallucinations. Just your content, organized and enhanced.
👩🏻🏫 What can it do for you?
Here’s what Notebook LM can do that might just change your workflow:
Summarize articles, lectures, or slides in seconds
Generate study guides, timelines, FAQs, glossaries
Build quizzes (MCQ, short answer, essay prompts)
Create AI-generated audio overviews for students
Explain complex topics at multiple reading levels
Support multilingual learners with summaries and audio in 50+ languages
Collaborate easily by sharing public or private links to AI-enhanced content
Basically, it’s the AI assistant you wish you had when lesson planning at 11 PM.
☝︎Why NotebookLM?
Grounded in Your Own Sources: Unlike generic chatbots like ChatGPT, Notebook LM bases answers only on the documents you upload, reducing hallucinations and improving reliability.
Custom AI per Notebook: Each notebook becomes a mini language model tuned to your materials. You can make one for each topic, class, or project.
Multimodal Input Support: NotebookLM can accept materials in different formats such as:
PDFs
Google Docs
Slides
Web links
YouTube transcripts
ePub and more
However, as of now, Word documents are not accepted. They must be converted to PDFs.
Audio Generation ("AI Podcast" Mode): NotebookLM has an audio Deep Dive feature that generates podcasts between 2 speakers based on the uploaded content. The podcast can be based on all the sources uploaded or focus on just one or two. You can decide. You can also customize the podcast to produce themes, etc.
Converts summaries or explanations into natural-sounding audio
Multiple voice styles (e.g., single narrator, two-host conversation)
Available in 50+ languages
Study and Teaching Aids: With the click of a button, it can auto-generate:
Quizzes
Study guides
FAQs
Mindmaps
Timelines
Context-Aware Chat: As it draws its responses from the uploaded content, it has the capacity to
Answer nuanced, multi-part questions
Gives source citations for transparency
Saves Time & Effort: It can speed up tasks like:
Preparing lectures
Creating student materials
Reviewing academic texts
Converting dense content into simpler explanations or audio
Privacy & Control: Unlike large language models like ChatGPT and Google Gemini,
Notebooks are private unless shared
Your data is only used for generating responses within that notebook—not for training the global model.
💡You try it - Sample Prompts for Notebook LM
📖 Content Understanding
“Summarize the main arguments from this article in 5 bullet points.”
“Explain this lecture note using the Feynman technique.”
“Compare and contrast these two readings on climate change.”
“What are the key themes across these three texts?”
“Create a glossary of all the scientific terms in this PDF.”
🎧 Audio & Engagement
“Generate a podcast-style summary of this document in a conversational tone.”
“Create a two-host AI podcast that debates the arguments in this essay.”
“Convert this article into a student-friendly audio overview in Spanish.”
🧠 Study Tools
“Make a study guide from these readings with summaries and key quotes.”
“Generate 10 multiple-choice questions and answers from this lecture.”
“What 3 essay prompts could a student write based on this material?”
🔍 Critical Thinking
“What assumptions does the author make in this reading?”
“List potential counterarguments to the claims made here.”
“How would this theory apply to a real-world example like [X]?”
🧑🏫 For Teaching
“Make a lesson plan for high school students using this article.”
“Create 3 discussion questions for a college seminar based on this text.”
“Write a short script to introduce this topic to beginners.”
NotebookLM is a great tool to create scaffolded materials for learners - such as preparing study guides, reflective reading questions, etc.
Try it this summer.
Upload one unit’s worth of content
Generate a study guide, quiz, and podcast
Share it with your students (or your future self)
In less than an hour, you’ll have a reusable, AI-powered resource ready for next semester—and maybe even spark a few ideas for rethinking how you teach.
Happy summer prepping—may it be productive, AI-powered, and surprisingly fun. ☀️