Included with Google Workspace for Education licensing, the College provides the following AI tools to faculty and staff at no additional cost. These tools ensure data protection and security when users are logged in with their Lafayette credentials.
Gemini web app
The Gemini web app is a generative AI tool from Google that acts as a personal assistant for a wide range of tasks. It can help with writing, research, brainstorming, and planning, utilizing Google’s powerful AI models to generate text, images, and other creative content.
Access the Gemini Web App
- Go to gemini.google.com in your web browser. We recommend using the Google Chrome browser.
- Sign in with your Lafayette credentials (this is important to ensure data privacy and security).
Interacting with Gemini
The core of the Gemini web app is the chat interface. You communicate with the AI by entering prompts in the text box at the bottom of the screen.
- Text Prompts: Simply type your request or question and press enter. Gemini can handle a wide variety of tasks, including:
- Writing and Drafting: Create outlines, emails, articles, poems, or other written content.
- Brainstorming: Generate ideas for projects, names, or plans.
- Summarizing: Get quick, easy-to-understand summaries of complex topics or long documents.
- Research: Ask questions to get information on a topic, with responses often including cited sources.
- Planning: Get help creating itineraries, to-do lists, or event plans.
- Image and File Prompts: You can also upload images or files to give Gemini more context.
- Use the “Add files” icon (which looks like a plus sign) to upload your file, then add your prompt. For example, you can upload an image and ask Gemini to identify objects in it or explain a concept shown in a diagram.
- Voice Prompts: Use the microphone icon to speak your request instead of typing.
Additional Features
- Multiple Drafts: For many creative or written tasks, Gemini will generate multiple drafts of a response. You can click “View other drafts” to see and compare these alternatives.
- Refining Responses: If a response isn’t quite right, you can ask Gemini to modify it. You can ask for a shorter or longer version, or you can select specific text and ask for a revision.
- Gems: These are customized versions of Gemini that are trained for specific tasks or topics, acting as a personal “expert.” You can use pre-made Gems or create your own.
- Gemini Canvas: This feature provides a dedicated workspace for more complex projects like creating quizzes, study guides, or code snippets, offering a more structured and interactive experience.
- Deep Research: For in-depth topics, you can use the Deep Research feature to have Gemini comb through a vast number of online sources to provide a comprehensive, cited report.
Notebook LM
NotebookLM is your personalized AI research and writing assistant. By uploading your own documents—like research papers, meeting notes, or project briefs—you can get instant summaries, generate new content, and create outlines, all based on your specific source materials. Think of it as a helpful assistant that provides insights and answers directly from the documents you trust, without scraping the web.
Access Notebook LM
- Go to notebooklm.google.com.
- Sign in with your Lafayette credentials (this is important to ensure data privacy and security).
Create a New Notebook
- Click [Create] to start a new notebook. Give it a descriptive name to stay organized.
- Add Your Sources: This is the core of NotebookLM. You can upload various types of files to your notebook.
- Documents: Upload PDFs, Google Docs, or text files directly from your computer or Google Drive.
- URLs: Paste a link to a website or a public YouTube video. NotebookLM will use the text content (e.g., transcripts) from these sources.
- Copy/Paste: You can also paste raw text directly into a source.
Key Functions and Features
Once your sources are uploaded, NotebookLM’s AI gets to work. The main interface has two panels: a Sources panel on the left and a Chat panel on the right.
- Chat with Your Sources: The chat panel is your primary interaction point. Ask questions about your uploaded documents, and NotebookLM will provide answers. The key benefit here is that every response includes a citation that links directly to the relevant part of the source document, allowing you to easily verify the information.
- Automatic Summaries: Upon upload, NotebookLM automatically generates a summary and identifies key topics for each individual source, giving you a quick overview of a long or complex document.
- Notes: You can create your own notes within the notebook to summarize key points, brainstorm ideas, or save important AI-generated content for later reference.
- Studio Features: The “Studio” panel offers powerful tools to transform your sources into different formats. You can:
- Generate Reports: Create a briefing document, study guide, or blog post based on your sources.
- Create Quizzes and Flashcards: Turn your documents into interactive study aids to test your knowledge and improve retention.
- Mind Maps: Generate a visual representation of the key ideas and connections within your sources.
- Audio Overviews: Convert your sources into a podcast-like audio summary. You can even interact with the AI hosts in real time to clarify points or direct the conversation.
- Video Overviews: Generate a narrated video with slides to visually explain complex concepts, using text, images, and diagrams from your sources.
best practices for prompting AI
The effectiveness of AI tools is directly tied to the quality of your prompts. Be aware that AI can “hallucinate,” generating plausible-sounding but factually incorrect, fabricated, or non-existent information. Always fact-check AI responses. For more details, consult our Best Practices for Prompting AI help document.