Google Slides is a powerful tool. In addition to having many of the features of PowerPoint or Keynote is also is a part of the Google Suite with files stored in Google Drive.
Teacher Comment: "Sharing the doc for collaboration and the ability for me to make comments to provide formative assessment and the main advantages for me [of Slides] over PowerPoint."
Activity: Obtain and review the Google Learning Center Slides cheat sheet
Follow the link to the learning center cheat sheet page and open the PDF version.
Use the Add to Google Drive option to add it to your Google Drive for future reference.
A newer feature of Slides is the ability to embed a video in the Slide that will play when clicked. This is an advantage over Google Docs which does not have this feature.
This is a very convenient tool for teachers for a number of reasons: a) eliminating unwanted ads from video content that you want to show in class; b) for having a component (or multiple components) of video content for a particular lesson cued and ready to play when needed for instruction/observation
Activity: Embedding and controlling Video in a Slides
1. Review the linked document on how to embed and control a video in Slides
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1T89Agli6V2uGOA8Gqw7HBqomaHqDO3kaDr7ExrItW9I/
2. Create a Slides with at least two pages. Add videos and explore your video options. Hint: To avoid the YouTube ad in Presentation mode edit the start point to be 1 second into the video
Traditionally files are intended to be printed or displayed on a data projector.
Using Slides you can work with pages of any size. If intending to print this could be postcards, or posters, if intending to show on a screen these could be square or thin rectangles.
Activity: Create a Postcard in Slides
Instructions to the facilitator: You must create the file and attach it to the Classroom assignment to get everyone in the same file.
1. In Slides create a file
2. File, Page Setup,
Set the page size to be 4 x 6"
Use the Share to Classroom button on the left. After the assignment opens attach your Slides file to the assignment and set as Students can Edit.
Instructions to the students:
1. Open the attached Slides file.
2. Create a new page, this is the page you will work on
3. Design your postcard
Activity: Create a Poster in Slides
Instructions to the facilitator: In this case we do not want all students in the same file. One file per poster.
Use the Share to Classroom button on the left. After the assignment opens attach your Slides file to the assignment and set as Students can Edit.
Instructions to the students:
1. Create a Slides file
2. Use File, Page to set the page size. use 16 * 20 inches (this will be four 8.5 x 11 sheets tiled)
3. Design your poster
When working online in Slides (or Docs or Sheets) you only have the printing options available through Chrome from your printer.
If you download the file as a PDF and use Adobe Acrobat DC on the local computer you can use the powerful Adobe print layout options to send a sheet tiled with several postcards, or many sheets to make up a poster.
Activity: Print postcards or a Poster
Download your Slides file to the local computer.
1. Open your Slides
2. Choose File, Download As
3. Select PDF
Open Adobe Acrobat Reader DC on the local computer.
1. Use File, Open in Adobe Acrobat Reader DC to locate your PDF file you just downloaded
2. Click File, Print, the print dialog box will open
3. a If this is a poster select the Poster option in the middle of the print dialog box
3. b If this is a postcard select the Multiple option in the middle of the print dialog box. Choose # of pages (postcards) per sheet of paper.
4. Print.
Example: Using Slides as a performance portfolio, cueing the video as needed in each section of the portfolio. (JN)
Example: Using Slides as a portfolio in K-6 science (P)