Classroom Ideas
Whether your district has chosen to begin the school year virtually, in-person, or a combination of both, all teachers are finding new ways to engage students on devices. Google Slides has come in handy more than ever these past 6 months. Not only can teachers create presentations and assignments using Google Slides, but students can also complete projects and collaborate with peers. Engaging students with vibrant images, fancy text, and hyperlinks within slides has proven to be very motivating for all ages of learners.
Here are 15 hacks to enhance your Google Slides!
1. Reformat the size of the slide
Click file> page setup> custom, then typing in the dimensions you want. If you’d like the slide to reflect the size of computer paper, type in the dimensions 8.5 x 11 inches then click “Apply.”
2. Search images from google to insert into a slide
Click insert> image> search the web. Once you have found the image you want to insert, click on it, then click “insert” on the bottom right hand side of your screen.
3. You can also insert images using the URL by copying the URL of a chosen image
Then in Google Slides click insert> image> by URL.
4. Add music to your slides through YouTube
Click insert> video> then search YouTube
5. Crop images to have round edges
Select an image then click the down arrow next to the crop tool in order to pick the shape of the crop you’d like.
6. Before sharing out a Google Slides presentation with colleagues or students who might edit it, make a copy of the presentation to ensure an unedited copy remains for your use
Click file> make a copy> entire presentation.
7. Type with your voice to save time
Click tools> voice type speaker notes.
8. Use an image as a slide background
Right click on a blank slide then choose change background> choose image> google image search> click an image> insert.
9. Make images clickable links
Select an image> click the hyperlink icon> paste the URL that you’d like to use as the hyperlink. After inserting the hyperlink, viewers will then be able to click the image and be automatically taken to the linked website.
10. Expand your workspace by using the grey areas around each slide for directions, links and more!
Click insert> text box, then drag the box out to the grey areas.
11. Revert back to an older version of the Slides
Click file> version history> see version history. Oftentimes, students accidentally delete an entire project or someone else’s work in Google Slides. In order to revert back to before those slides were deleted, use this hack to get back all of that lost work!
12. Make a table of contents to help students navigate through a long Google Slides assignment.
Similar to hyperlinking an image, you will need to insert the text you want in a table of contents> highlight the word that you would like to be linked to a future slide> click the hyperlink icon> link> slides in this presentation, then click the slide you’d like that word to jump to.
In this example, students will then be able to click the words “Welcome to School” on the table of contents and will be brought directly to another slide within the presentation that is all about back to school.
13. Make an image more transparent
Right click on the image> format options> adjustments> slide the scale under “transparency” to the right.
14. Add a border around images to make them stand out
Select your image> click border color icon that looks like a pencil> select color> click border weight icon next to color icon to change thickness of border.
15. Create fancy titles using word art
Click insert> word art> entering desired text> right click on text> format options> play around with colors, fonts, and shadows
Students love to complete assignments in Google Slides because of all that it offers! Impress your students this fall with all of these hacks to make learning more engaging!
