Overview
Google Gemini Gems are customizable AI assistants within Google Gemini that allow you to create reusable prompts and specialized workflows for specific tasks, projects, courses, or business Processes. Gems can help streamline repetitive work, provide consistent responses, support teaching and learning, and improve productivity across a variety of academic and administrative use cases.
Gemini Gems are available to Mines faculty, students, and staff using their Mines login.
Contents
- Before You Begin
- Create a Gemini Gem
- How to Use a Gemini Gem
- Share a Gemini Gem
- Best Practices
- Additional Resources
Before creating a Gem, make sure you:
- Understand the task / audience your Gem is intended to support.
- Only upload or reference materials you are authorized to use within your role at Mines.
- Avoid uploading copyrighted materials, such as full textbooks & chapters, unless you have permission or a clear legal basis to do so.
- While logged in with your Mines account, the data you enter into Google Gemini is protected and will not be used to train Google’s AI models.
- Do not log into Google Gemini or any other AI tools with a personal, non-Mines account if you are conducting Mines related business.
For questions about copyright, fair use, or course materials, contact the Mines Library at libcirc@mines.edu or 303-273-3698.
Faculty who would like support designing Gemini activities or Gems for a course can contact the Trefny Center at trefnycenter@mines.edu .
Staff who would like help using Gemini Gems for work-related tasks can attend an IT training session or submit a Technology Training Request .
- Go to Google Gemini.
- Sign in using your Mines email address and password.
- In the left navigation menu, Click on the Gems section.
- Select + New Gem or use a Premade by Google gem.
- Enter a name for your Gem as well as a Description.
- Add instructions describing:
- What the Gem should do
- The intended audience
- Desired tone or formatting
- Rules, boundaries, or limitations
- Optionally upload reference files or supporting materials into the Knowledge field.
- Save the Gem.
The quality of your Gem depends heavily on the instructions you provide. Good instructions help Gemini understand the role, tone, structure, and expectations for the responses it generates.
Effective instructions often include:
- The role the Gem should act as.
- The intended audience.
- The desired tone.
- Formatting expectations.
- Tasks the Gem should perform.
- Tasks the Gem should avoid.
- Context or background information.
Example Instruction Ideas
- “Act as an academic advisor helping engineering students prepare for registration.”
- “Provide concise summaries using bullet points and plain language.”
- “Generate meeting notes with action items and deadlines.”
- “Create study questions based on uploaded course materials.”
Gems can use uploaded files as reference material to improve the relevance and consistency of responses.
Supported file types may include:
- Google Docs
- PDFs
- Microsoft Word files
- PowerPoint files
- Text files
- CSV files
- Other supported Google Workspace file types
To upload files:
- Open the Gem editor.
- Locate the Knowledge field.
- Upload the files you want the Gem to reference.
- Wait for processing to complete.
- Save the updated Gem.
Important! Uploaded files should only contain materials you are authorized to use or share.
Once created, Gems can be used like a specialized version of Google Gemini that follows your custom instructions, uploaded reference materials, and preferred workflows. As you use your Gem, you can continue refining its instructions and behavior to improve the quality, consistency, and relevance of its responses.
Gemini Gems can support a wide variety of academic, administrative, research, and productivity workflows across campus.
Faculty and Academic Use Cases
- Create a “Lab Report Feedback Assistant” Gem that reviews student writing against course-specific formatting and grading expectations.
- Build a “Field Session Planning Assistant” Gem that helps organize schedules, equipment lists, safety reminders, and logistics for summer field courses.
- Create a “Canvas Announcement Writer” Gem that drafts weekly course updates, assignment reminders, and student communications in a consistent tone.
- Build a “Research Proposal Brainstorming” Gem that helps faculty refine grant ideas, identify research themes, and organize proposal sections.
- Create a “Discussion Prompt Generator” Gem that develops higher-order thinking questions from uploaded readings or lecture notes.
Administrative and Staff Use Cases
- Build a “Policy Translator” Gem that converts formal campus policies into plain-language summaries for faculty, staff, or students.
- Create an “Event Planning Assistant” Gem that generates planning checklists, communication timelines, room setup notes, and communication drafts for campus events.
- Develop a “Meeting Summary Assistant” Gem that converts raw meeting notes into action items, summaries, and follow-up emails.
- Build a “New Employee Onboarding Assistant” Gem that answers common onboarding questions using uploaded departmental documentation.
- Create a “Campus Communications Editor” Gem that rewrites technical or administrative content into clearer audience-appropriate messaging.
Student Use Cases
- Create a “Homework Study Coach” Gem that explains difficult concepts step-by-step without directly giving away final answers.
- Build an “Internship Application Assistant” Gem that helps tailor resumes, cover letters, and interview responses for engineering and technical roles.
- Develop a “Capstone Project Organizer” Gem that helps students manage milestones, deliverables, timelines, and meeting preparation.
- Create a “Technical Presentation Coach” Gem that gives feedback on presentation structure, clarity, and audience readability.
Research and Collaboration Use Cases
- Create a “Literature Review Assistant” Gem trained on uploaded journal articles and project notes to help identify trends and recurring themes.
- Build a “Lab SOP Assistant” Gem that answers questions about laboratory procedures, safety documentation, and equipment usage.
- Create a “Technical Documentation Assistant” Gem that helps standardize research documentation and procedural writing across teams.
- Develop a “Proposal Review Assistant” Gem that checks drafts against funding requirements, formatting standards, or submission criteria.
- Open the Gem.
- Click in the ... icon in the upper right corner.
- Select the Share option.
- Choose whether to keep the Gem private or share it with others.
- Enter the appropriate users and sharing settings.
- Click send button to share the gem with people.
Important! Only share Gems that do not contain restricted, confidential, or inappropriate information.
- Create separate Gems for separate business processes and audiences.
- Use clear and descriptive Gem names.
- Write detailed instructions for better results.
- Review AI-generated responses for accuracy.
- Verify important information before distributing it to others.
- Avoid uploading confidential, sensitive, or restricted information unless authorized to do so within your role on campus.
- Use Gems as support tools, not as the final authority. All decision making must be done by humans.
- Regularly review and update Gem instructions as workflows evolve.
- Contact the Library for copyright questions.
- Contact the Trefny Center for faculty course-design support.
- Contact IT Training for staff productivity support.