Google Slides may be new to some readers and so I am writing this post about how to access and add the freebies on this blog to your own Google Drive. When a link is provided, the reader is invited to “make a copy” to his or her own Google Drive. Google Drive is free and online.  It is not a program that may be downloaded.  It is free for teachers and students at this point in time. It is useful for schools and homeschools, as well. The programs are online only.

Only Gmail will access these programs, and not other email services. I get many questions about why a file didn’t download from people not using Gmail. With Gmail, free apps and services are included such as:

Google Drive

Google Jamboards

Google Slides

Google Forms

Google Sheets (spreadsheets)

Google Websites

The benefits of Google Drive Resources Include:

• Students can access the materials from anywhere they have access to their Google Drive.
• Students work directly in the file.
• Increased student engagement.
• It is paperless.
• No printing is required; however, if you wish to print, it will look great!
• No lost assignments, and in fact, a history of all the work is kept in the slides
• Google Drive is completely free for teachers and students.

Students may work independently or collaboratively, as directed by the teacher. Work is turned in through email or Google Drive folders.  This approach is being used in 1:1 classrooms, and classrooms using one iPad or Chrome book per student. It is part of Google Classroom but may otherwise just be used in Google Drive.

Google slides are quite interesting. First, the teacher can email the link to students who have their own free Google Drive. Some schools have Google classroom and the entire school is on a free program that organizes all students and teachers.  Or students can get free accounts under the supervision of the school. This requires access to a computer for each child at least part of the time.

Teachers can give different levels of students different levels of work more easily, assisting classroom differentiation.

Google slides does not correct the work, so the teacher does so online. Although Google slides are an app, they are not games. They are not self-correcting.  The teacher still corrects work and can add comments. However, Google forms may be set to correct student work! It depends which program is being used. See what is being offered for whatever file is being accessed.

There are a few ways to turn in work. One, the teacher may have a folder in the student google drives and students place finished work there. The teacher has to open the folder and look at the work online and free. Or, students email the finished work link to the teacher. Or for homeschools, the parent can look at the finished pages right on the computer.  Or, work can be printed and turned in to the done basket, if wanted.

The REALLY interesting part is there is a history of the work, which can be done individually or collaboratively by a group of students. Teacher comments can be added to the side of slides. As slides are revised the program keeps a record including what the teacher said. The slides can be emailed or shared back and forth several times in the case of a big research project.  There is no more telling the teacher something was worked on for two weeks as the history shows the truth such as: it was only worked on last night.

There are additional Google apps such as classroom forms and those can be graded more easily with some automaticity and additional apps. I learned about making Google Slides from a variety of sources including searching for YouTube videos, Danielle Knight Teaching’s Google Drive Toolkit, a blog post at Cult of Pedagogy, an online class about Google Slides Basics for teachers as well as students and beginning a Google Certified Educator online course. I feel I am still learning, and the possibilities with Google Apps are wonderful.  Hopefully, at some point, I can make some work pages easy for grading. Still, the student would have to get the corrected work and feedback through the teacher online and/or by seeing grades.

Because Google drives is free and online, students can work at home. Parents can see their child’s google drive and see what is being learned. I suppose they could even help with homework in the child’s drive from their child’s computer.

It is nice for homeschools to have an electronic record of what was learned and the work history also, and to save money on printing.

Not everyone is using Google drive as yet. Much of Canada is using Microsoft’s OneDrive instead. Another new course to take would be OneDrive.

Technology is providing for new and exciting ways to learn!

Thank you for reading, Carolyn