Key Points
- More than 1,000 Florida State community members attended the Google Days event for hands-on artificial intelligence training.
- Google specialists guided faculty and students through practical classroom and research application.
Florida State University recently welcomed more than 1,000 faculty, staff and students to Google Days 2026, a two-day event featuring hands-on AI training, demonstrations and discussions.
Hosted Oct. 7-8 by FSU Information Technology Services in partnership with Google for Education, the event explored practical uses of artificial intelligence in higher education.
The event brought Google specialists to campus to show students, faculty and staff how emerging AI tools can support teaching, learning and research. Programming included faculty-focused sessions at the Innovation Hub and a two-day Gemini Campus Tour activation at the FSU Student Union.
“Bringing partners like Google directly to campus gives our community an opportunity to move beyond simply hearing about emerging technologies and actually explore how they can be applied to the work happening at FSU,” said Jonathan Fozard, FSU’s vice president and chief information officer. “Experiences like Google Days are part of our larger effort to give students, faculty and staff the tools, knowledge and confidence to use AI thoughtfully and effectively.”
More than 120 faculty members participated in workshops focused on practical applications of AI. Sessions explored how to build process-based assessments and use Gemini’s Deep Research feature to synthesize research. Pre-enrolled participants also had the opportunity to earn Google AI Educator digital badges upon completion.
“What we’re seeing at institutions like FSU is that faculty aren’t just curious about AI; they’re ready to lead with it,” said JP Ortiz of Google for Education. “The conversations in that room were some of the most forward-thinking we’ve had on any campus visit this year.”
The workshops also gave faculty a chance to explore new ideas, share experiences and consider how AI could fit into their teaching.
“Events like Google Days matter because they give faculty a low-pressure space to experiment and ask hard questions,” said Ken Baldauf, founding director of FSU’s Innovation Hub. “That’s where real innovation begins: not in policy documents, but in honest conversation.”
At the FSU Student Union, Google’s Gemini Campus Tour gave students opportunities to try AI tools firsthand. Students explored Gemini and other Google tools through interactive demonstrations and conversations with Google representatives.
Google Days 2026 builds on FSU’s partnership with Google for Education, which gives students, faculty and staff access to tools including Gemini, Gemini Notebook, Google Drive, Docs, Sheets, Slides and Meet through the university’s institutional agreement.
For more information about AI tools and resources available at FSU, visit its.fsu.edu.
