How Augustana University is building its future with Google Workspace and NotebookLM
Dr. Peter Folliard
Dean of the School of Music and Vice President for Innovation
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Snapshot: Augustana University uses Google Workspace for Education Plus to save on operational costs, improve administrative efficiency, and introduce new AI-forward teaching strategies. Using tools like Gemini and NotebookLM, the university is preparing students for the future while streamlining operations with:
- New customizable learning modules for students with NotebookLM
- $15,000 per year savings by switching from Zoom to Google Meet
- A cost effective and secure eSignature solution within Drive and Docs
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The mission and challenge
At Augustana University, our mission is to provide an education of enduring worth that challenges the intellect, fosters integrity, and integrates faith with learning and service in a diverse world. Part of my role is ensuring we’re delivering on that promise by empowering our community with technology that enhances both teaching and learning. My guiding question has always been: Are we preparing students for their future, or are we clinging to our past?
This mindset has reshaped everything, from how we teach in the classroom to how we operate as an institution. Innovation isn’t just about shiny new tools; it’s about finding smarter, better ways to work. When I moved into this role, I saw opportunities to consolidate, innovate, and invest in tools that helped us support our faculty and students.
With Google Workspace, Augustana University’s staff and faculty can quickly and easily connect as they build the next generation of AI-driven education.
The switch to Google Workspace Education Plus and generative AI
Before a recent upgrade, we’d been using Google Workspace for Education Fundamentals for more than a decade. In the Augustana School of Music, I’ve encouraged my team to rely on Workspace as their core work tool, because it’s easy to use and helps us collaborate in real time. They share their Google Calendar availability across the department and files using Drive, while Chat and Meet are their daily real-time communication tools. We work well together and communicate clearly because we have all of these intuitive, secure-by-design tools in one place. Streamlining our communication tools helped us deprecate third-party solutions. We save the university $15,000 per year by switching away from Zoom and entirely over to Google Meet. Similarly, having access to a secure eSignature solution directly in Drive and Docs has helped give everyone on campus access to a tool that we wouldn’t be able to afford otherwise.
To continue transforming how Augustana University operates, we recently upgraded to Google Workspace for Education Plus, with the help of Google Cloud Premier partner, Burwood Group Inc. Their hands-on approach to educating my team throughout the implementation helped all of us upskill; they’re also willing to jump in and do the work themselves — that availability and flexibility is exactly what you want in a partner. Together, we’ve been able to further align our tools with our mission of preparing students for their future while adding new layers of security to our existing collaboration tools. We trust Google to be a secure solution while supporting our vision for continuous improvement and change.
Introducing new AI solutions was a major catalyst for this next step in our journey. We’re teaching students how to use tools like NotebookLM to personalize their learning experiences. They can upload notes, documents, webpages, and any other helpful resources, and then build quizzes, generate flashcards, and adapt the resources to fit their learning styles. Similarly, faculty and staff are using Gemini to automate workflows, brainstorm new ideas, as well as introduce new teaching modalities and topics.
In our administrative offices, Google Workspace allows people who aren’t technical experts to innovate quickly and easily with generative AI. I recently created a complex, 18-page Google Form with conditional routing in under five minutes using a combination of Gemini and Apps Script. Previously, a task like that would have taken me hours, if not a full afternoon to do on my own. With that time back, the team and I can focus on curriculum design, research, and taking meaningful steps to improving our students’ experience.
Educators are now integrating NotebookLM into their courses, so students can personalize their class experience based on their own learning styles and preferences.
Looking ahead
Employers expect 39% of key skills required in the job market will change by 2030. We know technology will play a massive role in that shift, and as AI continues to evolve, we’ve launched initiatives like AI microgrants — incentivizing faculty to embed AI into their curriculum to meet that need. We can support educators who want to pursue Google certifications to learn AI best practices and then integrate them into their classroom. As educators, this is our opportunity to build a more agile education model that evolves alongside technology and sets our students up for success in a very different job market.
We have to rethink how we work, teach, and learn — part of that is seeing the things we’ve always done through an AI lens. For example, we just launched our “Welcome to the Future” class that combines a college 101 welcome course with writing, presenting, information literacy, and critical thinking — all with a technology-minded focus. Working with the Google team to upskill our faculty, simplify our administrative work, and empower our students for the future reassures me that we have more than a platform provider; we have a real collaborator supporting the university.
