Google NotebookLM: Essentials

Description

Duration This course is 2 hours of live instruction, plus 90 minutes of supplemental on-demand, self-study material to provide additional depth, configuration details, and optional advanced features. The self-study, on-demand content is not required for successful participation in the live, instructor-led session. This NotebookLM Essentials course introduces learners to Google’s NotebookLM as a grounded, document-based AI assistant for understanding, summarizing, and transforming information. Unlike general AI chat tools, NotebookLM works only with the sources you provide, making it especially useful for learning, research, and professional knowledge work. _ This class focuses on building correct mental models, safe habits, and awareness of everything NotebookLM can create. Learners will see all major features demonstrated and practice the most important ones, while additional configuration details and less frequently used options are covered through on-demand modules.

Prerequisites

There are no technical prerequisites for this class. Learners should be comfortable working with common document types such as PDFs, Word or Google Docs, slide decks, or web articles. No prior experience with generative AI or NotebookLM is required. Who This Class Is For This class is designed for learners who are new to NotebookLM, including: • Professionals who work with reports, documentation, or reference materials • Educators, trainers, and instructional designers • Students and researchers • Knowledge workers in small and medium-sized organizations • Anyone who wants to use AI safely with their own documents What You Will Learn By the end of this class, you will be able to: • Understand how NotebookLM works and why it behaves differently from general AI tools • Create notebooks and add sources correctly • Ask effective questions and verify answers using citations • Understand all Studio output types and when to use them • Create core outputs such as summaries, reports, study guides, and quizzes • Save and reuse insights using notes • Understand feature limits and responsible-use considerations • Know which advanced capabilities are explored in the Mastery class

Course Outline

Getting Started: How NotebookLM Works What NotebookLM is designed to do (and what it is not) How NotebookLM is organized: sources, chat, and studio Creating a notebook and adding your first sources Why NotebookLM only knows what you give it and how that improves accuracy What happens when documents change: static sources and re-syncing * Asking Questions You Can Trust Why NotebookLM provides citations and how to read them Choosing how NotebookLM responds: general help, learning mode, or custom style * Asking effective questions for summaries, comparisons, and explanations Checking answers against the original documents What to do when answers are unclear or incomplete Common beginner mistakes when asking questions * Studio Tour: Everything NotebookLM Can Create Understanding Studio as the place where outputs are generated Reports: FAQs, study guides, briefing documents, timelines, and custom reports Audio overviews: brief, deep dive, critique, and debate formats * Video overviews: explainer and brief formats * Mind maps for visual understanding and navigation * Flashcards and quizzes for learning reinforcement Slide decks and infographics for presentation and visual summaries * Notes: saving answers and turning notes into sources Using the Most Important Studio Tools Well Creating a clear summary from a single document Combining multiple sources into a briefing or overview Building a study guide for learning or review Creating quizzes and flashcards to check understanding Saving useful outputs as notes for reuse * Exporting and reusing Studio outputs in other tools * Using NotebookLM Safely and Knowing What Comes Next Privacy and data handling basics Understanding feature limits and plan differences * Why some features may not appear for all users * Desktop versus mobile experience differences * End-to-end example: from messy documents to useful outputs What comes next: advanced research and the NotebookLM Mastery class Additional On-Demand Content This course includes approximately 90 minutes of supplemental on-demand self-study material. Topics covered exclusively in the on-demand content are marked with an asterisk (*). These materials provide additional depth, configuration details, and optional advanced features that are not required for successful participation in the live instructor-led session.