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REBECCA ZAPFEL: I'm Rebecca Zapfel,
and I'm a product manager for Google Assistant.
My team and I focus on new ways for developers
to build great experiences on our platform.
One of the keys to success in voice development is discovery.
When you invest in building delightful, high quality
Actions for Google Assistant, we want
to make sure users find, try, and love what you've built,
and continue to come back again and again.
We're always working to improve the Discovery
Levers available for you today.
Assistant Links, previously known as Action Links,
take users directly to a specific intent in your Action.
And now they can be generated in a flash
with the new assistant link URL and HTML generator.
You can find this tool in the Assistant Studio Developer
Console, along with documentation
to help you maximize the effectiveness of your Assistant
Links.
These links look particularly great shared on social media,
where they'll show your branding and action details.
And get ready to take Assistant Links to the next level
with Rich Assistant Links.
A new JavaScript library enables your Assistant Links
with better tracking, and even account linking, right
from your website or app.
Next, we will also be enabling linking
to native assistant features, starting
with donations and routines.
This unlocks a whole range of great experiences for users,
including things like mobile home screen shortcuts, sharing,
and more.
We will also be extending the reach of Assistant Links
beyond mobile for your users to directly open
Actions on smart displays.
So when a user is browsing your website from their desktop
or phone, they can simply click your Assistant Link
and watch their smart display invoke your Action.
In addition to improving our existing discovery today,
I'm particularly excited to announce a few brand
new Discovery Levers.
We want users to be able to browse and discover
your high quality, engaging Actions on Google Assistant.
To start, we're focusing on two key user journeys.
The first is education.
There is an amazing ecosystem of educational tools helping
learners today.
Learning is a lifelong journey, and voice technology
has a major role to play in the future of education.
So we're opening new discover opportunities
for educational actions.
When users ask Google to "teach me something new,"
we'll show a variety of learning topics to explore.
This visual discovery will be available on mobile devices
and smart displays in English to start.
We're starting with four learning topics.
The first is learning a new language,
a natural fit for conversational voice actions.
From language lessons to conversational partners,
we invite the voice community to build innovative new ways
to learn languages, powered by the Google Assistant.
The second topic is picking up a new skill.
How can your action help users find a new hobby
or learn a new habit?
The third topic is learning more about our natural world.
Helping our users explore Earth, the climate, and even space.
The final topic is learning with families,
where family-friendly educational experiences can
shine.
Voice technology has an opportunity
to help young learners, both auditory and visual.
And on communal devices like smart displays,
there's an opportunity for families
to find moments to learn and grow together.
And speaking of families, this takes us
to the next user journey we're opening for Discovery.
Storytelling.
"Tell me a story" is already a popular feature
on Google Assistant, loved by families
enjoying story time together.
Previously, Google Assistant would just
select an audio story and start playing.
Now, when users say to Google "tell me a story"
to a screen device, we'll surface up
a catalog of stories for families
to browse and select from.
Some for adventuring, some for bedtime,
and even some interactive.
All delightful storytelling experiences for families.
We're making it easy to replay a story you loved, or discover
brand new ones.
And here's the most exciting part.
The new Visual Browse Experiences
on mobile devices and smart displays
will surface up educational and storytelling actions
from you, the Google Assistant developer ecosystem.
The launch of these new Discovery Levers
is joined by the launch of new built in intents.
You can already register your game action
for the "play a game" built in intent.
That registration tells the Google Assistant
that your action fulfills a specific category of user
requests, and allows your game to be
surfaced when users ask Google Assistant to "play a game."
In the same way, you can register your Actions
to be surfaced in the Visual Discovery on mobile devices
and smart displays for "tell me a story"
and "teach me something new."
Registering is easy in the Assistant Studio Actions
Console and in the Actions SDK.
Simply choose the built in intent that suits your action.
"Tell me a story" is designed for families,
so if you're registering a story,
your Action will need to be part of our Assistant for Families
program.
This can be done easily in the Actions Console.
You can also let us know the genres of your story.
Is it better suited for bedtime or playtime?
This helps the Google Assistant know the best ways
to categorize your story, and help users find it.
When registering an educational action,
we'll also ask you which topics your action helps users learn.
If you select from our current list--
languages, skills, the natural world, or families--
you can be surfaced in Visual Discovery
on mobile and smart displays.
And if you're building an action for families to learn together,
your action will also need to be a part of the Assistant
for Families program.
We'll prompt you and the Actions Console
when you register to make this easy.
Now, these topics are just the beginning.
We also want you and your educational actions
to guide future discovery needs.
So in the Actions Console, when you register for the BII,
you can also suggest new topics.
We won't have visual discovery on these yet,
but this will let us know proactively where
discovery is needed the most.
And help us grow this discovery experience
based on your feedback.
You can also register for these built in intents directly
from the Actions SDK.
And just in case you're wondering,
what about an educational game?
Don't worry.
You can register for both the "play a game"
and the "teach me something" built in intents.
All of these great investments in discovery
deserve the most engaging user experiences.
That's why, in addition to the new Visual Discovery
and built in intents, we're excited to expand access
to Interactive Canvas for educational and storytelling
actions.
With Interactive Canvas, your actions
come to life, with compelling visuals
and engaging interactivity.
When creating your actions, you'll
see options for Education and for Storytelling.
Both of these provide access to Interactive Canvas
and the built in intents.
Now, I'll turn it over to Marco Lenoci, who
is interviewing Chris Leavens the creative director at Age
of Learning.
To talk about the exciting future
and growing role of voice technology in education.
MARCO LENOCI: Thank you, Rebecca.
Hi, everyone.
I am Marco Lenoci and I'm a partnership lead
for Google Assistant.
A big part of my role now is to lead our partnership strategy
around a few core investment areas
where we believe that Voice and Google Assistant is going
to be the best way to interact.
Playing fun family games, learning and educating
ourselves, and amazing storytelling experiences.
Today, I'm very excited to be joined
by Chris Leavens, creative director at Age of Learning.
Based out of LA, his job is to help
bring great industry leading interactive educational
products to children worldwide.
Welcome, Chris.
CHRIS LEAVENS: Hey, thanks, Marco.
Hi, I'm Chris, and I've been working in kids games media
and education for over 20 years.
I'm proud to be part of the team at Age of Learning.
We're a leading education technology innovator,
and we create engaging and effective learning resources
to help children build a strong foundation
for academic success.
Our mission is to help children everywhere build
that strong foundation for success in both school
and in life.
Tens of millions of kids in the US
have benefited from our programs,
and we're proud of the impact our company has
been able to make.
More than 200,000 teachers a year
use our products in classrooms.
MARCO LENOCI: We are really delighted to have you
here today.
CHRIS LEAVENS: Happy to be here, Marco.
MARCO LENOCI: Looking into the future,
how do you envision the role of voice technology
expansion on your industry?
CHRIS LEAVENS: Well, our goal as a company
is to meet and anticipate the expanding educational needs
of our families.
The families that love ABC Mouse and Adventure Academy.
In Voice we see a number of opportunities
to bring meaningful, playful learning to kids
through multiple devices.
Voice helps make learning more accessible,
even for young learners who might not
be able to read just yet.
For more than a decade we've been offering high quality
learning programs to help kids develop
a strong academic foundation and lifelong love of learning.
Age of Learning's mission is to help children everywhere build
that foundation they need for academic success.
And we are very focused on learning outcomes.
Now more than ever, families want access
to high quality, research-proven educational tools and programs.
Voice opens up a new pathway for teaching in the home,
delivering enriching content to devices
that offer an accessible point of entry
to nearly any user, child or adult.
We see a great opportunity for whole family learning in Voice.
The ability for a child to playfully learn on a device
in the living room or the kitchen--
maybe while mom and dad are cooking--
it's enriching the learner, but it's also
opening up conversations about learning
between parents and children.
And giving parents much needed support.
It's a great way for the family to be together,
and for the child to learn while the parent still
feels engaged in the process.
MARCO LENOCI: I couldn't agree more.
We definitely see a tremendous opportunity
for communal devices to enrich the learning experience at home
and really help parents and children
to connect in a new, fun way.
To transition to the next question, Chris,
how has your focus changed with most
learning happening at home now?
CHRIS LEAVENS: Well, technology has
blurred the line between formal and informal learning.
And it's created some opportunities
that didn't previously exist.
That allows us to be there for families
in ways that may not have been possible 15 or 20 years ago.
And it gives them access to the high quality
research-proven tools and programs we offer.
Our focus on helping bring education to all kids
hasn't changed, but we do realize we have an opportunity
to play a stronger role in helping families
make at home education a better and more enriching experience.
MARCO LENOCI: And from this perspective,
what are you excited to see happen in the Voice ecosystem?
CHRIS LEAVENS: Connecting kids to characters they love--
that's an area in which we see a lot of potential.
Kids build relationships with characters like ABC Mouse,
and having him come to life via Voice--
having him seemingly respond to and listen to kids--
helps deepen that relationship.
And the deeper affinity for a character like ABC Mouse
helps us teach in different, playful ways that
are more meaningful to a child.
Learning outcomes can potentially
increase when kids create bonds like these.
MARCO LENOCI: Absolutely.
Thank you, Chris, for sharing your thoughts
on the future of learning, and the changing
needs that parents and children are experiencing at home.
We are thrilled to see Age of Learning
invest in the Voice experiences, and really shape
the future of the industry.
Thank you so much for taking the time to be with us today,
and good luck.
Best of luck with everything.
CHRIS LEAVENS: Thanks.
Good luck to you too, Marco.
I really appreciate you taking the time.
MARCO LENOCI: Likewise.
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