Week 5: Google Slides and Beyond Again

Google Slides and Beyond Again

Revisiting Project #1

Last week in my blog post I talked about the My Friends book I was helping my students make in class. We were able to finish that up last week and I was able to finish up the tech side of the book. To finish this project up there were two more steps I had to complete:

1. Change the Page Setup: I changed the dimensions of the pages of the book to better resemble a notebook size book. My intention is to print out the pages, laminate them and insert them into a 3-ring binder for added protection, then display the book in the classroom library for the class to view. 

2. After changing the dimensions of the pages it was time to create the PDF: I took these steps when creating the PDF version of the book:

• File
• Download as...
• PDF Document

That completed the eBook and it is now ready to view and/or print out for the classroom. I plan to have it available for parents to view as a hard copy and digital copy on the Smart Board during parent/teacher conferences in March.

Our Friend Book 

Revisiting Slides Again:  Professional Development E-Course

This week I wanted to try my hand at creating an e-Course for professional development purposes. I have a connection to a local early learning center and the director has asked me to conduct a training on discipline strategies. I am currently taking a 10 session course on this subject and wanted to begin creating a document that could be used by me (to teach) or by the staff at the center for professional development. I thought creating an e-course would be beneficial for me to use as a guide and then to share with others who would like to learn about discipline strategies. 

As I started my adventure in e-course creating, I wanted to make this first experience as painless as possible. I began with the link in 30 Interactive Google Slides Activities for the e-course templates. This template activity gave some tips on creating the e-course and how to link slides together within the slides presentation. Basically, before I could think about linking slides and the presentation of the e-course I needed to get the slide presentation completed and the material onto the slides. 

e-Course Basics

I thought it would be easier to download a theme for the slides presentation instead of creating one from scratch. I remembered seeing a slides theme link in our course material so I investigated that for a child-related theme to use. I perused the SlidesCarnival site for a child theme for my e-course. There were many options to choose from, but, I wanted a child theme that was not really "professional" looking, something that would be preschool related but not too babyish either. I was disappointed that I didn't find exactly what I was looking for, but then settled on a "pets" theme mostly because when I downloaded it to slides, I really liked the slide options it had. 

Before beginning the e-course, I knew it would be a learning process for me and I knew I would not have a completed course this week. With that in mind, I set a goal for myself to build the basic layout of the course and complete the slides for Module 1. This way I could see what would work, what I could add in later modules, how I want the course to look, etc. without being totally overwhelmed.

Here are the basic steps I took to create the e-course Module 1:

1. Download the selected theme: "Crabs" theme from SlidesCarnival
2. Created the Introduction/Title page slide
3. Created the Module Intro page slide where all the modules are linked to: Only Module 1 is linked right now
4. Created each slide for Module 1 with information and material I want to present
5. Linked the end of Module 1 with the Module Intro page, this way Module 2 can easily be accessed when it is available

Within the e-course I wanted to utilize some different tools and make it interactive and easy to navigate. Here are some of the tools I have built into the e-course so far:

• Links to slides within the presentation 
• Audio links from YouTube 
• Video links from YouTube
• Visuals to represent big ideas and course themes
• Visually pleasing layouts and formats
• Review slides
• Self-assessment slides
• Reflection slides

Directions for linking slides within presentations:

• Create a rectangle shape that is the same size as the slide
• Use the paint bucket icon and change the color to transparent
• Click on Insert > Link  click on slides in this presentation and click on the slide you want to link it to (for me I wanted to link slide 35 to slide 2
• Right click then choose Order > Send to Back, this sends it to the background 

I attempted to create a few slides that would be interactive, however, I was not successful and will need to revisit this at a later time. On slide 11, I wanted to create a locked background drop/drag slide similar to what I did last week with the rhyming words drop and drag. This time, however, it was not successful. I was able to create it like I did last week and it works in edit mode but not in the present mode. This is something I will consider revisiting and possibly changing. I am wondering if I can make a drag and drop activity within slides or if I will need to create one and then link it onto the e-course slide?  

e-Course Ideas to Consider

As I work on this e-course there are several things I want to consider adding to the slides:

• Adding Assessments or Assessment links at the end of each module. Right now there are Reflection Slides that participants can consider and reflect on, but I would like to investigate an assessment tool that could be added after that or added as a link for participants to gauge their understanding of the concepts.
• Creating memory games to practice big ideas and concepts that are important 
• Downloading or creating Interactive Notebook tools within the slide presentation that will work in present mode.
• Adding additional video/audio clips to highlight and enrich concept development and learning.
• Adding interactive activities where learners can match concepts, definitions, etc. or can participate in games/activities that will reinforce what they are learning.

e-Course Reflection

 Overall I am pleased with the creation of the e-course so far. As I have said, I really want to investigate other tools that can be used to make this course interactive and easy to navigate for learners. I am glad I chose to download the theme, I think this saved a lot of time that otherwise would have been wasted on creating the theme. I was able to focus more on the content I wanted to present and how I wanted to present it. I am excited to continue working on this project and then utilizing it as an actual training tool. I am simply amazed when I think about how I am actually creating something that can be used to help others in the field learn! A year ago I would never have guessed this would have been possible!

My e-Course Creation