Google Slides can be used in a variety of ways to increase student engagement! In this session, we'll explore methods such as hotspots and movable interactives along with an overview of Slides tools, features, and templates in order to make the most out of this amazing app.
Additional Resources
Pear Deck:
The Orchard - Pear Deck Templates
Control Alt Achieve post on Pear Deck
Ditch That Textbook - 20 Ways to Use & Student Paced Pear Decks
Using Slides for "Hot Spot" Activities
"Hot Spots" in Slides function like Choose-Your-Own-Adventure activities
This is similar to Thinglink and is often referred to as a hot-spot or "marker image." It's actually super simple to do. You can use shapes, icons, images, text or any element as a link to additional information within or outside of your slide deck.
Making Worksheets & Interactives with Slides
Use Slides to Make Worksheets from PDFs and other Non-editable Files and Documents >>>
This video has no sound. It is a simple demonstration of taking an image or screenshot of a PDF and using formatted text placeholders to create a worksheet for students.
Create a Custom GIF Banner in Slides
This video has no sound. It shows the steps for using slides to create an animation.
After following the steps shown in the video, record your auto-advancing presentation and save it as a GIF.
Summary
Slides page size set to 1200 x 400 pixels. To create an animation, duplicate the slide, move a piece or pieces, duplicate that slide and move more pieces, duplicate the slide and move more pieces, etc. Then you can Publish to the web (under File menu) and set to advance every second and just record it advancing using Screencastify or Loom. (You can advance the slides yourself in presentation mode and record it, too.) Download and save the recording as a GIF (or convert it from video using gifs.com), then upload it as your banner in Classroom, Forms, Sites, etc.
For my example, I used the premium version of Screencastify to crop everything else out of my recording and then downloaded the GIF at 1200x400, but remember that GIFs work like other images and can be cropped after they are saved.
Practice
Click the image to make a copy of this slide and animate the rabbit across the forest floor.
Also check out this shark banner and try changing the background on the Master Slide.
Additional Information
Sharing Google Slides with Students
Scavenger Hunt by Sarah Anderson: CLICK HERE and make a copy to personalize
Force Preview (00:27)
Publish to the Web: (05:10)
Options 3-5: (08:11)
Posting to Google Classroom: (09:00)
You can also add "rm=minimal&" after "pub?" (or &rm=minimal at the end of the url) on a publish to the web link to remove the navigation menu. Students will still be able to navigate through using the arrows on their keyboard. The only way to truly lock it all down (if absolutely necessary) is to make each slide a separate presentation.
I think this one might be from Tony Vincent
