Gemini Notebook

Overview

NotebookLM is now called Gemini Notebook. The features and content remain the same. Gemini Notebook acts as an on-demand research assistant and is powered by Google’s Gemini AI models. To comply with data protection and compliance policies, Google Gemini Notebook is only available to practitioners through their Hwb account.

How to access Gemini Notebook in Hwb

To access Gemini Notebook from the Hwb website, log in and click the Google app on the Hwb dashboard. Open the Google waffle (the grid of squares in the top-right corner), scroll down and select Gemini Notebook.

To access Gemini Notebook outside of the Hwb website, open notebooklm.google.com and sign in using a Hwb account. Check the top right corner of the screen to ensure that Gemini Notebook is signed into a Hwb account and not a personal Google account.

How Gemini Notebook can support schools

• Summarise research articles and professional learning materials.
• Transform uploaded documents into audio overviews.
• Create video overviews to grasp core ideas.
• Ask questions about school documents, for example Estyn reports, school improvement plans.
• Organise notes and ideas for curriculum development or whole school strategic planning.
• Connect ideas by creating mind maps.
• Create flash cards for revision.

Sharing and assigning Gemini Notebook files in Google Classroom

Notebooks can be shared between practitioners to aid collaboration, with each user in that share being able to add up to 50 sources.

When in an individual notebook, click the share button in the top right corner to control who has access to the notebook and set sharing permissions.

Notebooks can be assigned and shared via Google Classroom. However, learners are currently unable to access Gemini Notebook using their Hwb accounts. While the icon to attach a Gemini Notebook file is visible to practitioners when creating assignments, learners will not be able to open or view Gemini Notebook files. 

Find out more about sharing notebooks. 

Key considerations 

• The use of Gemini Notebook should align to wider school policies such as digital literacy, online safety, acceptable use, safeguarding and data protection. Its use should also reflect any existing AI strategies set by the local authority.
• Gemini Notebook is designed to support not replace professional judgement. It may produce inaccurate or biased responses and is susceptible to copyright infringement. It can sometimes appear to express personal opinions or emotions, which are not genuine. Additionally, it may misjudge prompts, failing to respond appropriately or offer unsuitable replies.
• Careful consideration should be given to sources uploaded to Gemini Notebook, as it may influence the nature of the output. If content generated by Gemini Notebook is considered inappropriate, it must be reported to the school IT team, education technology support partner or local authority. 
• For additional resources on generative AI, including guidance, training and learning activities visit the Keeping safe online Generative AI page on Hwb.

Usage limits

Gemini Notebook in Hwb operates with 2 types of limits:

1. Creation limits

Google Gemini Notebook has ongoing creation limits. These limits reflect the maximum content a practitioner can build over time:

• up to 100 notebooks per practitioner
• up to 50 sources uploaded to each notebook
• each source can contain up to 500,000 words or 200MB (for local uploads)
• shared notebooks retain individual source limits, each practitioner can upload up to 50 sources, but the total number of notebooks is tied to their own account

These limits do not reset and represent the long-term capacity of a practitioner’s Gemini Notebook workspace.

2. Daily usage limits

These reset every 24 hours and apply to how much a practitioner can interact with Gemini Notebook:

• 50 chat queries
• 3 audio generations
• 3 video generations
• 10 reports
• 10 quizzes
• 10 flashcards

Data retention

Data assurances

• Schools should consider if a new Data protection impact assessment (DPIA) is needed, or if their current DPIA should be updated. For further information, refer to Supporting Your Data Protection Impact Assessment (DPIA) for Google Workspace with Gemini.
• Practitioners using Gemini Notebook in Hwb benefit from enhanced protections and controls called enterprise data protection. Always ensure a Hwb account is used, not a personal Google account, check the icon in the top right corner.
• Data in Gemini Notebook is stored within the Hwb domain. It’s private and cannot be accessed by anyone outside of Hwb, unless a practitioner chooses to share it.
• Prompts and responses will not be reviewed by human reviewers and are not used to train the underlying large language models (LLMs). Gemini Notebook only has access to files the practitioner allows access to. However, schools remain the data controller for any information entered and are responsible for how the data output is used.
• Where a school is considering using AI tools in a way that may involve personal or special category data, it should:
  • carry out a local Data Protection Impact Assessment (DPIA)
  • seek advice from the school’s data protection officer

This helps to make sure any risks are properly understood and managed in the local context. Examples of personal and sensitive category data include:

• • personal data, such as names, email addresses, learner identifiers, dates of birth or any information that could identify an individual
  • special category data such as health information, safeguarding details, additional learning needs or equality and diversity data
• Gemini Notebook respects the permissions and access controls set within Hwb Google Workspace.
• Gemini Notebook adheres to privacy and security commitments, including UK GDPR. Further information available at Generative AI in Google Workspace Privacy Hub. 

Data processing

Nature of processing

Gemini collects data directly from users through: 

• prompts
• queries
• content and files uploaded
• metadata required for service delivery

These inputs are processed to support professional and educational tasks.  

All processing occurs strictly within the Hwb's secure Google Workspace trust boundary. Google operates under enterprise grade data protection controls governed by the Google Workspace for Education Terms of Service and the Cloud Data Processing Addendum (CDPA). All interactions are logged by the system for UK GDPR compliance.

Prompts, uploads and responses are never used to train or improve Google’s AI models. They are never human-reviewed and never sold to third parties.

Google AI features respect all existing domain access boundaries and permissions. If a user does not have explicit permission to access a specific file or folder, the AI service cannot retrieve or interact with that data. 

Gemini and Gemini Notebook do not establish a direct connection between the user's local network and the public internet. Instead, live information retrieval relies on an internal "Search grounding" mechanism against Google’s web index, the service makes outbound queries to Google's Search index, returning external web content back into the secure session.

Scope of processing

The data processed may include: 

• text prompts entered by users
• files uploaded by users
• AI outputs such as generated text, lesson plans, quiz questions and summaries.
• system logs including basic login data, time stamps, and audit trails

Schools, as the data controller, decide whether to process special category or criminal offence data when using Gemini. Where a school chooses to do so, this must be reflected in their local Data Protection Impact Assessment (DPIA). Schools should identify appropriate safeguards, including:

• data minimisation
• purpose limitation
• staff guidance on appropriate use

The volume and frequency of data processing depend on staff usage and local implementation. Chat history is available for users for up to 3 months, subject to deletion by the user and organisational retention policies. 

The number of individuals affected is limited to authorised staff using Gemini within the school. Gemini is disabled for learners.

Data processing takes place securely within Google’s cloud AI infrastructure. However, no data is retained or used for model training within these processing centres. Data at rest (chat histories and logs) is stored securely within the managed Hwb Google Workspace for Education regional tenant boundary.

Data is transferred to Google's primary service providers within the European Union (Ireland). 

Differences between a Google account in Hwb and a personal Google account

More information on Gemini Notebook can be found at Frequently asked questions, Gemini Notebook Help.