Google Gemini

Free with your HCC account

Gemini

Gemini is a general assistant. You can ask it almost anything. It helps most with writing, explaining, planning, and thinking through a problem out loud.

How to sign in

Signing in the first time creates your Google for Education account. There is nothing to request or purchase. Use either route.

Through HCC single sign-on. Go to sso.hccs.edu and log in with your hccs.edu email address.
Or go straight to the tool. Open Gemini and sign in with your hccs.edu email address.

Either way, check the account name in the top corner before you start. If it shows a personal Gmail address, sign out and switch. Work done in a personal account is not covered by the HCC agreement.

Good places to start

Make something easier to understand

Try this: Explain how financial aid disbursement works, as if you were telling a student who has never been to college. Keep it under 150 words.

Turn messy notes into something usable

Try this: Here are my notes from a meeting. Turn them into a short summary with a list of who agreed to do what.

Get unstuck

Try this: I need to email my team about a schedule change and I do not know how to start. The change is [describe it]. Give me three different openings.

Practice something hard

Try this: Quiz me on this material one question at a time. Wait for my answer before telling me if I got it right.

Getting better answers

Say who it is for. Gemini does not know your class, your department, or your audience unless you tell it.
Ask for the shape you want. A table, a list, three paragraphs, one page.
Treat the first answer as a draft. Tell it what is wrong and ask again.
For anything with numbers or reasoning, ask it to show the steps.

What to keep out

Do not enter grades, student names tied to their schoolwork, health information, employee records, account numbers, or passwords.

What to put into AI

Watch out for

Made-up sources. Gemini can produce a book title, author, and page number that look real and are not. Check citations in the HCC Library databases.
Math. Check the arithmetic yourself.
HCC specifics. It does not know our policies, deadlines, or people unless you tell it.