BCoT shows Google chief how AI is transforming learning and teaching

Basingstoke College of Technology (BCoT) welcomed Ben Gomes, Google’s Chief Technologist for Learning and Sustainability, and his team, to see how the College is embedding AI in the classroom.

The insights gathered during the visit will help inform Google’s future product development for the global education sector.

BCoT is one of the UK’s leading EdTech institutions, integrating digital tools and AI into daily teaching, improving student experience and staff wellbeing. Committed to the ethical application of AI, the College uses the tools to enhance equity and accessibility, empowering neurodivergent learners to find their voice and build professional confidence for ESOL students. Additionally, teachers use AI as a collaborative ‘sparring partner’ to form feedback and lesson ideas, reducing administrative workloads so they can focus on direct, human-to-human teaching.

During the visit, Ben and his team spent the day with students across a variety of courses, including engineering, health and social care and animal management, hearing first-hand how digital technology and AI, including Google’s tools like Gemini, have been adopted in their learning. The Google team also spoke with teachers, some of whom have been sceptical about the use of AI, about the practical challenges and benefits of adoption.  The day concluded with roundtable discussions and meetings with BCoT’s senior leaders to discuss the ethical use of AI in education.

Scott Hayden, Head of Digital Learning at BCoT, said:

“We were proud to welcome Ben and the Google team. It was a profound opportunity for our learners to demonstrate how they use tools like Gemini and NotebookLM not as shortcuts, but as active sparring partners that support their own unique voices and professional growth.

“While AI can accelerate access to information, it cannot simulate the human desire to learn. We integrate these technologies with intentional friction, ensuring they act as a guided framework to prompt deeper thinking alongside our brilliant staff, supporting rather than replacing critical thinking. The meaningful, face-to-face mentoring and professional judgement of our educators remain the non-negotiable anchor of our practice.”

Growing up with a mother who taught him at home, Ben Gomes developed a lifelong curiosity that later fuelled his 21-year career building Google Search. Today, as Google’s Chief Technologist for Learning and Sustainability, he is applying that same curiosity to the future of education. Ben’s work is deeply product-focused: building AI tools that genuinely enhance learning. For Ben, this requires getting out of the office and into the classroom, visiting schools not to pitch a product, but to listen to feedback and see firsthand how students are interacting with AI.

Ben said:

“When it comes to education (especially vocational), technology has to be a balanced approach between human skills and digital ones.  The loss of ability for students to focus is society-wide; however, schools and colleges can be a place where this ability is taught again. Students need to rebuild their attention muscle and BCoT is intentionally using the classroom to scaffold it and support that growth.”