Stephen Schenck / Android Authority
TL;DR Google is introducing a range of new NotebookLM features to improve learning.
NotebookLM gets quizzes and flashcards, along with an Explain option, to help you memorize better.
It also gets multiple new formats for reports and a Learning Guide that lets you ask open-ended questions and adapts to your learning style.
While AI, in general, is marketed to enhance learning, NotebookLM has proven to especially boost understanding of concepts and enhance productivity. Its advantages are not limited to just students, and Google recently announced new tools that make learning more adaptive and fun.
Google is bringing six new resources to NotebookLM right in time for the Back to School season. This includes new options to generate multiple-choice quizzes and flashcards from all uploaded notes or documents, enabling students to learn through active participation. Besides simple quizzing, the features also get an Explain button to expand on the correct answer. ChatGPT’s Study Together mode also offers similar functionality to help you learn better.
The latest update to NotebookLM also introduces additional features for generating reports, now available in various formats tuned to various requirements. In addition to existing options, such as study guides and briefing documents, NotebookLM now generates documents in more formats, including blog posts, research proposals, whitepapers, explanatory articles, and concept overviews.
Don’t want to miss the best from Android Authority? Set us as a preferred source in Google Search to support us and make sure you never miss our latest exclusive reports, expert analysis, and much more. Find out more here.
Alongside these additional tools to ease the learning curve for you, NotebookLM adds a new Learning Guide conversation style to explain concepts in detail by condensing them into smaller chunks of information and taking you through them one by one rather than dumping them all at once. Google also says the Learning Guide will adapt to your learning style to establish a stronger foundation of concepts.
With this update, Google is also incorporating textbooks for a richer bank of information. It is sourcing free textbooks from OpenStax to help high-school and college students learn or refresh the basics of specific subjects. Currently, Google is offering notebooks on the following subjects:
Audio Overviews, among the most cherished features of NotebookLM, have also been updated recently with new conversation styles. Now, the learning tool allows choosing among Brief, Critique, and Debate modes, wherein the speakers in the podcast will alter how they discuss a specific topic for it to sound more engaging, and hopefully, easier to remember.
And finally, Google is rolling out the ability for teachers to use NotebookLM tools, including Audio Overviews, to generate notes and audio summaries on specific topics and share them with students — or assign specific notebooks — through Google Classroom. This was announced in June, alongside other Gemini-powered upgrades for Classroom, and is now rolling out.
These features may be limited to certain languages or regions or may not be available immediately. However, Google states that it intends to expand them to more users over the coming weeks.
Follow