For the last two years, we have been playing a game of fetch with artificial intelligence. We type a prompt, and the AI fetches an answer. While this can be a helpful trick for quick tasks, it often leaves us wanting more when it comes to managing our daily workload. By creating AI Agents in the sidebar of Google Docs, we can move beyond basic chatbots and build tools that actively support our teaching routines.
Moving to Proactive Agents
We are now witnessing a major shift from passive AI assistants to proactive AI agents. Unlike a standard assistant, an AI agent operates by reasoning and acting to achieve a goal. Agents do not just write a single response. They can manage multi-step processes right inside your Google Workspace environment. With the release of Gemini 3 Pro and Workspace Studio, the options for what is possible in our classrooms is expanding.
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What Exactly Is an AI Agent
Many of us are using AI chatbots. You type a question, and it replies. A chatbot is passive and waits for your instructions. AI agents are software systems that use AI to pursue goals and complete tasks on your behalf. They can observe your systems, show reasoning, and have a level of autonomy to make decisions. Instead of just reacting to a prompt, an agent works proactively.
A regular AI is like:
“Hey, what’s the weather?” → It tells you.
An AI agent is like:
“Check the weather, decide if I need a jacket, and remind me before I leave.”
It doesn’t just answer, it acts.
For a teacher, this means moving away from asking AI to write a single email. Instead, an agent can notice when you add a specific label to an email, draft a response based on your syllabus, and save it in your drafts folder for your review. The technology handles the background organization so you can focus on great instruction.
How to Create Your Own Teaching Agents
It is not complicated to get started with creating your own agents.
Create an Agent with Gemini Chat
Head over to Gemini and ask it to create, for example, a math warmup that is collaborative and DOK 2 level critical thinking and to send you one every Monday.
You just created your first agent! So think about anything you do regularly and that you want Gemini to just do for you on a schedule. Ask for it!
Going Further with AI Agents
Gemini is building agents into Gemini Chat so you might be using them and not even realize it. For more robust agents Try out Google Workspace Studio.
Try Out Workspace Studio
You absolutely do not need to be a computer programmer to build these tools. Google Workspace Studio provides a logical, no-code interface that feels just like chatting with an AI bot.
In Workspace Studio, you build a “flow.” A flow is a series of steps that automatically run in the background of your Google Workspace environment. The flow waits for a specific event to happen, and when it does, it triggers one or more actions.
You can create an agent by defining three simple parts.
The Starter This is the trigger that initiates the flow. For a teacher, this could be a specific day of the week, receiving an email from a certain person, or a change in a Google Sheet.
The Step This is the actual task the agent performs. You can instruct the agent to use Gemini to summarize a document, extract action items, or post a message in a Google Chat space.
The Logic This is how the agent reasons through the execution to ensure the actions are successful based on the context you provided.
Try Proactively Sending Positive Parent Communication
Building relationships with families is a cornerstone of great teaching. We want to send those quick positive notes home when a student has a breakthrough or demonstrates great collaboration. Finding the time to write those emails during a packed school day is incredibly difficult. This is where an AI agent steps in to help.
The goal here is not to have a machine talk to parents. The goal is to use Google Workspace Studio to do the heavy lifting of writing the first draft. Your agent acts as a digital assistant that prepares the email for you to review. You add your personal touch and send the message. You keep the human connection strong while protecting your valuable planning period.
Setting up this agent in Google Workspace Studio is surprisingly simple and requires absolutely no coding. You are just giving your digital helper a routine to follow.
Set Up Your Tracking Spreadsheet
Before building the agent, you need a place to organize your contact information.
Create a new Google Sheet.
Add columns for the Student Name, Guardian Name, and Guardian Email.
Fill in your roster and the family contact details.
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Link a Google Form
Next, create a fast way to input your observations on the fly.
Open the Tools menu in your Google Sheet and select Create a new form. This automatically links your form responses directly to your spreadsheet.
Make your first question a dropdown list of student names. Ensure these names perfectly match the list in your spreadsheet so the system can link the observation to the correct parent email.
Add a text question where you can quickly type a positive observation, like “great teamwork on the math project.”
Build Your Agent in Workspace Studio
Now you can instruct your digital helper to connect the pieces.
Set the Trigger
Open Workspace Studio and create a new flow. Choose the starter for when a Google Form is submitted and select your new observation form.
Prompt the AI:
Add a new step and select the Ask Gemini action. Type your instructions clearly. Tell Gemini to read the form submission and write a warm, positive email to the family celebrating the student. Use the Variables menu to insert your specific observation and the student name directly into your prompt.
Define What to Extract
Tell your agent what you want it to look for in the submission. Action items? Questions? Tone?
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Ask Gemini
Prompt Gemini for what to look for and do.
Draft the Message:
Add a Gmail step to create the email. Use the parent email address from your spreadsheet for the recipient variable. For the message body, insert the variable containing the response Gemini just generated.
Test and Save:
Click the Test Run button to safely try your new agent. Always configure communication agents to create drafts rather than sending them automatically. You remain the ultimate decision maker and stay in total control of the final message.
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Try Creating Your Own Agents
Agents are the next step after you’ve dived into using Generative AI such as ChatGPT or Google Gemini. If you have the upgraded Workspace account, look for the Studio icon in the upper right of your Gmail and start creating agents!
