NotebookLM is a tool that combines notetaking with an AI research assistant that works from your materials.

Key Features

Works from your materials
NotebookLM responds based on the sources you upload. You can add items such as articles, notes, PDFs, slides, audio files, or YouTube links.
Private workspace
Content you upload, the questions you ask, and the responses generated remain private.
Supports understanding
NotebookLM can help summarize material, explain sections that may be unclear, or generate questions to support review and comprehension.
Writing support
The tool can provide feedback on your writing, suggest revisions, or help generate ideas when drafting or revising content.

Quick Start

Go to MyPortal and open NotebookLM (or navigate directly to NotebookLM)
ClickCreate New
Click on+ Add Source in the left panel
Choose the sources that you want to upload for your notebook

Once you have uploaded your sources, you can ask questions about your source material or give instructions to perform specific actions.

The Studio panel lets you create new outputs from your sources, like Study Guides, Briefing Docs, FAQs, and Audio Overviews (like a podcast).

If you receive a response you want to keep, click the Save to note button below the response to save it to Notes.

You can share notebooks by clicking the Share icon in the top-right corner of the screen and granting Viewer or Editor access by email.

Common Teaching and Preparation Uses

Transcribe handwritten notes by uploading a PDF or image and saving the output as a Google Doc or Word document.
Generate short video-style presentations based on course readings or lecture materials.
Create podcast-style audio explanations of course content, including OER materials, for student review.

Deep Research Support

NotebookLM includes a Deep Research feature that allows you to pose a research question and have the tool locate and review relevant web sources on your behalf, then generate a sourced summary report. This feature differs from standard NotebookLM use in that it actively searches the web rather than relying only on uploaded materials.

Creating Visual Teaching Materials

You can create an infographic by opening NotebookLM, creating a new notebook, adding article or webpage URLs as sources, and selecting the Infographic option from the right panel. You can choose the orientation and level of detail, then refine the output with follow-up prompts or save it for later use.

NotebookLM can also turn your sources into a slide deck. After adding articles or webpages, select Slide Deck, describe the slides you want, and generate presentation-ready content that you can edit. This is useful for drafting lecture slides, activity prompts, or overview presentations.

Additional Ways Faculty Are Using NotebookLM

Summarizing long or complex readings into student-friendly overviews
Drafting discussion questions aligned to assigned texts
Comparing multiple sources to identify shared themes or differing perspectives
Creating study guides from several course documents
Drafting case studies based on real-world articles or reports
Supporting course refreshes by synthesizing updated research

As with any AI tool, instructors should review outputs for accuracy and alignment with course goals before sharing with students.

Supporting Student Learning

James Gardner (Northeastern University) encourages students to upload articles, book chapters, class slides, and lecture notes into NotebookLM so they can ask targeted questions or generate study materials. He reports that many students use the tool regularly, which students report as helpful for engaging with dense material. Students appreciate that the same materials can yield different outputs and often share their results with one another. Here are Gardner’s examples and instructions.

Google also provides resources to help students use NotebookLM.

Tutorials from Google for Education were used to create this page