Whether you’re preparing students for a new topic, leading a lesson, or guiding reflection, NotebookLM Video Overviews can be a powerful support. Here's how to make the most of them at every phase of learning.
Before Learning: Build Curiosity and Readiness
Start your lesson strong by giving students a sneak peek into what they'll be exploring. Use NotebookLM to create a short video that introduces essential questions, vocabulary, or themes. This helps students feel prepared and gives them something to connect with from the very beginning.
Ideas for before-learning use:
Lesson teasers: Upload a reading or article and generate a Video Overview. Share it as a preview to get students thinking before class even starts.
Accessible entry points: Create versions in multiple languages to include English Language Learners and their families.
Professional development previews: Doing a professional learning session for staff? Create a short overview video of your agenda or essential resources to get everyone on the same page.
Pro tip: You can upload the video to YouTube and enhance it with timestamps, chapters, and interactive features like polls or comment threads.
During Learning: Guide, Explore, and Interact
During a lesson, Video Overviews can help organize content and focus attention. Since the videos highlight key points and visuals from your materials, they can be a dynamic anchor for discussion and collaborative exploration.
Ideas for during-learning use:
Frame-Focus-Follow-up: Use the video to introduce a topic, pause for discussion, then dive deeper after watching. Learn more about the Frame, Focus, and Follow-up technique.
Small group work: Assign different groups to watch and analyze different videos about various parts of a particular topic. Provide key questions or prompts, then have them share their key takeaways with the class.
Alternative presentations: Let students upload their writing (or do it for them if they don’t have an account) and generate a video. Instead of presenting live, they can lead a discussion based on their AI-produced overview.
This approach makes learning more inclusive and helps students explore different ways to communicate their ideas.
After Learning: Reflect, Revise, and Share
After instruction, use Video Overviews to help students consolidate their understanding and reflect on their work. Seeing their own writing turned into a narrated video can be a powerful moment of insight and a low-stakes way to revisit their thinking.
Ideas for after-learning use:
Student self-assessment: Upload a poem, essay, or report to NotebookLM. Watch the video version and ask: "Does this reflect what I meant to say? What would I revise?"
Final project reflections: Replace traditional exit slips with a "what I learned" video that’s based on student notes.
Build a learning portfolio: Take the work that students have completed at the end of each unit and create a video based on the end-of-unit project. Upload them to a class playlist to showcase their work and track progress over time.
These videos offer students a chance to revisit their thinking and improve their work in a creative format.
Grounded in Writing
While the final product is a narrated video, what truly drives the tool is the written input. Encourage students to use their own notes, summaries, or responses as the foundation. This ensures that their thinking stays central to the process and reinforces the value of writing as a foundation for strong communication.
Final Thoughts
NotebookLM’s Video Overview feature offers a flexible and exciting way to enhance teaching and learning. From lesson intros to reflections and everything in between, it can help students and teachers alike visualize their thinking, collaborate creatively, and take more ownership of learning.
Whether you're teaching a class, leading a PD, or supporting student presentations, try using Video Overviews before, during, and after your next lesson. Use AI to help make learning more powerful by bringing ideas to life.
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