Drawing Tools

Via @TomEMullaney Comparing and Contrasting Google's Drawing Apps

Google Drawings has real value for teachers and students. However, it is glaringly misnamed. The tool has no way to sketch and jot. It would be a real shame if G Suite for Education had no solution for digital drawing.

The good news is there are actually four Google apps that draw! Even if Google Drawings is not one of these four, it still has some great benefits that should be noted:

• Great for tables, charts, and timelines
• Graphic organizers
• Hyperlink transparent shapes to make interactive image maps
• Transparent backgrounds are great for creating logos and website favicons. I created this blog’s “ST” favicon in Google Drawings.
• Collaboration
• Full Google Classroom integration
• Precise dimensions settings under “Page setup…”
• Add alt text to images for accessibility
• Insert Google Drawings into Google Docs

Having established the non-drawing uses of Google Drawings, let’s discuss Google’s four actual drawing apps:

• AutoDraw
• Chrome Canvas
• Google Jamboard – I will discuss both the web and mobile versions because they are different.
• Google Keep – Keep has web and mobile versions.