At the BETT 2025 education show, Google today announced the latest education and Chromebook features.
With ChromeOS 132, Google is rolling out Face Control to let people move the cursor with their head and facial gestures through the front-facing camera. It’s based on Android’s Project Gameface. Additionally, Reading mode on ChromeOS has text-to-speech with natural-sounding voices.
Google is touting 20+ new Chromebook and Chromebook Plus devices in 2025. Also of note is Chromebox OPS hardware that turns smart boards, or large interactive touchscreens often used in classrooms, into ChromeOS devices. Aimed at schools, expect these “simple plug-in device[s]” from LG, SMART, Promethean, and Viewsonic. This “extends the lifespan of your flat panels” almost like ChromeOS Flex.
Meanwhile, Chromebooks with Google Workspace for Education Plus can now be controlled with “Class tools.” Google frames this classroom management tool as a “remote control for Chromebooks in your classroom, helping educators keep students on task.”
Teachers can “share content directly to student screens, check their progress by viewing their screens remotely, share exemplary student work with the whole class, and use live translated captions for students who need them — all in real time.” Students join a class by entering a short code.
Meanwhile, Google is emphasizing how the “significantly higher limits” available with NotebookLM Plus “fit classes and organizations of any size.” Example use cases include :
- “professors can provide their students with a notebook containing their course materials — textbooks, lectures, YouTube videos and more — to equip them with on-demand AI guidance.”
- “IT admins can also upload their knowledge base to create a help center that anyone in their school can chat with.”
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