Updated - Show Off Any Project With Google Sites

This is an updated version of a post I made in 2017. It addresses some changes to the publishing process in Google Sites.

Regular readers and anyone in my training sessions has heard me repeat it. "Show off the learning!"

There are lots of ways to show our best work, but doing it online is certainly one of the easiest. Even if the end product is not digital, it's now very easy to show it off online using Google Sites.

I created a one page document and video tutorial for teachers in my district to give them this easy way to show any product digitally. It makes use of the new Google Sites, which I absolutely love. 

Google Sites doesn't have a ton of options, which means students won't lose time finding just the right font and background image. 

So imagine students made a physical "something" in class. You could give the students this document of directions and they'd end up with a web page that shows pictures or video along with text, showing off what they made and learned. 

Remember that you'll have to supplement those directions with specific things you need to see on their site. For example, you might ask for three or more pictures that show all sides of their project and a detailed description of what it is. I also suggest always requiring a summary of what they learned from the project.

Here is the full video tutorial. The document has links to the relevant sections, so students don't have to watch it all at once.

And here is the single page of steps that you'd give the students. Notice most of the steps link to the exact place in my video tutorial. That way they don't have watch everything if they're stuck on only one part.

Some things to note:

• My directions and tutorial only show the how. It directs them to you for the what.
• Students would need to take pictures or video of their project, then upload those to Google Drive first. I didn't show that in this tutorial, but it's very easy if they have the Google Drive app at their phones. I consider this to be a survival skill in today's world. I'm working on making a good video to show this process.
• Some students forget to do the sharing step (labeled as #1 on my list). If that happens, you won't be able to see their pictures or video when you look at the site. 
• If your students are restricted to sharing their documents within your G Suite domain, then your site will be restricted as well. In any event, the sharing of the pictures, videos and published site will need to be changed to Anyone with the link if you want it shared beyond your domain.
• Step #8 is another common pitfall. Students often will send the link to their side of the website instead of the published version. It is clearly shown in the video, but they need to pay attention.
• I didn't address adding multiple pages in my steps, but it is very intuitive to add a new page. This could be great for organizing information about a larger project.
• Note that my final step tells them to turn it in through Classroom. If you use a different process, you'll need to modify those directions.

Updated for 2018 - Simple Video Presentations with Google Slides and Screencastify

This is an updated post about a process I've been promoting for years. It uses Google Slides and Screencastify. Since they recently updated the app, I remade the main tutorial, which you can find below.

The idea of these projects is that students make a slideshow presentation, then they record the screen and their voice as they present it.

Teachers can also use this process to make simple, quick videos for lessons to post in Classroom.

Here are two examples of how the final video might look.The first is best to show students, but keep in mind it actually was made with SnagIt instead of Screencastify. SnagIt is no longer available. The second one was designed for teachers and refers specifically to their activity.

  

Screencastify is a great Chrome extension for this process. It makes it very easy to record the presentation on a Chromebook or laptop. It also links directly to Google Drive, so students don't have extra steps of uploading video files to Drive.

You will need to install Screencastify from the Chrome Web Store or, if your school uses a managed Google domain, you can have your administrator force install the app for you and your students.

As referred to in the video below, the first time you run it, it will take you through a simple setup process. Just allow all the permissions it asks for and sign into your Google account when it prompts you.

The tutorial below shows how to actually record the presentation. As it says in the video, there are three things students should do before recording:

• Install and setup the extension. This is not shown in the tutorial, but it's very easy.
• Make the slideshow. I suggest doing this in Google Slides, but you can use any slideshow app.
• Practice! It's very important to rehearse the presentation because these have to be done in one take.

As you can see from the tutorial, the resulting video ends up in Google Drive. From there it's easy to share or turn it in through Google Classroom.

Keep in mind that the free version of Screencastify puts a watermark on the screen. It also limits you to a 10 minute recording and 50 recordings per month. There is a paid version which removes those limitations and watermark. It also allows for some basic editing. I haven't paid to upgrade yet, but that option to edit is very promising. 

If you have any questions about this process, please let me know. I'd like to improve these resources so they benefit many students!

Introduction to Video Editing Assignment Using WeVideo

I created a project last week for our middle school Computers class that introduces students to video editing. We use the education version of WeVideo in our district, so the project is based on that application. If you use another editor, you might still find the video clips and the assignment document to be useful.

For a final product, the students will create a 20-25 second commercial. This will require them to edit several short clips that I provide below and also make use of transitions, titles and music.

The Video Clips

To make sure this project only focuses on editing (leaving out all the work of recording), I compiled and trimmed out several short clips of free videos from Pixabay. Each clip shows rides and people at a carnival or amusement park. You can see those video clips in this Google Drive folder.

If you are using my directions exactly as I did, you'd want to make copies of those videos and upload them to a folder in your WeVideo Media. See this video for more information.

The Project Directions

Click here to get a copy of directions for the project as a Google Doc. It contains these things:

• Step by step directions
• Links to two videos that take students through the editing and finishing process
• The list of requirements for their commercial

Note that two links are left out on the document because you would have to provide those to your students on your WeVideo account. Or you might use a different editor. In that case you'd have to modify those steps explaining how to get started.

If you do use WeVideo, you will want to set the project up similarly to what I did, including adding some links to the document. Here are the steps I used:

• I copied the link from WeVideo that would allow students to add themselves as members to my account. That link needs to be pasted into in Step 4 of your document. There are several ways to add students to your account, but doing it this way worked best for this group I was working with. See this article from WeVideo for more information.
• I created a project in WeVideo called Carnival Commercial and copied the link to it so students could add access the project. See this article from WeVideo to learn about project types. I chose the Shared option and I copied the link from the lower left of that Project screen (see the picture below). That link needs to be pasted into Step 5 of the directions. 

• Finally, I shared those video clips I uploaded to my WeVideo media with anyone in that shared project.

After you do that to finish your version of the directions, share it with your students (possibly through Google Classroom) and they should be able to work through the project to completion.

___________________________

A couple notes about WeVideo:

• Students under the age of 13 should not use the free version of WeVideo. It is not COPPA compliant. If you don't use the educational version, you also won't have all the features referred to above.
• We have had a lot of success with WeVideo at our middle school and high school. However, we do find the audio is sometimes too quiet on clips we record. It won't matter in this project if you use the clips I provided, since they have no audio. I have contacted tech support about this, but no satisfactory solution was offered. 

Short Music Video Project for Middle School

Here's a quick music video project we did for our middle school Computers class. We used iPads with the Pixlr app, GarageBand and iMovie.

The video that students produce will be very short and the song will be very simple. Here's a sample one I made with my family. It took about 30 minutes from start to finish, but students will probably take at least two class periods to work through everything.

All of the directions can be found in this document. It links to the sample video and to four tutorials. We assigned it in Google Classroom and the students were editing pictures and making songs in no time!

Here are a two notes:

• I made the tutorials as a series of slides rather than capturing the iPad while I used the apps. It was a shortcut that leaves out some details, but I like the students to have to explore and learn the apps rather than watching every single tap.
• Our iPads are shared between classes, so each one has a generic Google account on it. We encourage students not to sign in on them with their own accounts. That's why the final steps explain that the students must share the files with their account. If you have a different setup, you will want to modify those last steps.

It's really easy to add some class content to this project. Just have students sing a simple chorus or make a short rap about what they're studying. They could hold signs in the pictures or use text features of Pixlr or iMovie too.

I'll be glad to hear feedback if you get a chance to try this fun activity with your students!

Another Fun Middle School Computers Lesson - Making Comics with Google Slides

I've been posting some of the creative projects we used in our middle school Computers class. (See this post on simple podcasts and this one on animation.)

Those of you who regularly follow my work will be very familiar with the basics of this one -- Comics with Google Slides!

When we did this in class, the excitement level went through the roof! Many students in my district have learned this process already, so some took their own pictures instead of using the ones provided in the directions. You can modify those as necessary for your class.

Click here to get a copy of the Google Doc that contains the directions for students. It links to this sample comic.

Those directions take students through the process of creating a comic. It uses some of my resources that you can find on my Comics page.

Also, this video tutorial is referenced in the directions. It shows the basic process.

And in case you missed the header image above, remember you can get my free ebook about making comics like this by joining my monthly newsletter list. Please click here to sign up.

Fun Animation Project with Chromebooks

This simple animation project from our middle school Computers class proved to be the most engaging one we've done so far. I'll post all the videos, the directions and some tips below so you can easily adapt it for your class.

We used the Stop Motion Animator app on Chromebooks. (They finally released an update for the app after a bug had made the previous version unusable for several months.)

Students had a ton of fun with this project! They watched my simple tutorial (below) and were making animated videos in no time. A few groups didn't want to stop at the end of class!

You can see in the photo that our students used Lenovo Chromebooks with the reversible camera. It allows them to easily capture images on the table in front of the device. If you have Chromebooks with cameras that only face the user, it's a little more challenging to get pictures of objects on the table and see the screen at the same time. (Here's a blog I came across that shows how one teacher addressed this problem.)

Here are the simple example videos that I created for the project:

• Example 1
• Example 2
• Example 3

And here is the short tutorial that shows how to use the app:

This document contains all the directions and links to the above video files.

And here are a few tips and things to consider:

• I didn't mention in the video that the spacebar is the shortcut key for capturing a frame and that the Undo button will delete the last frame of the animation.
• In my tutorial I neglected to emphasize the importance of slight movements of the object from frame to frame. I also didn't state that it looks best if the camera stays in the same place. Consequently, some students made a very choppy series of images. It sort of hinted at action, but I wouldn't call it an animation.
• We had a little trouble with the app when we tried to load a previously saved video or when we were recording audio. Usually restarting the app or the Chromebook solved it.
• You'll notice the directions refer to a contest for the best animation. I selected five videos from those submitted and posted them on our school's homepage. Students could vote (using a Google Form) for their favorite. Here's the winning video, created by one student who won a snack and soft drink for his efforts.

I hope your students enjoy this activity as much as ours did! If they create videos you'd like to share, I'd love to see them and show them to our class.

Show Off Any Project Using Google Sites

**A newer version of this post can be found by clicking here.

Regular readers and anyone in my training sessions has heard me repeat it. "Show off the learning!"

There are lots of ways to show our best work, but doing it online is certainly one of the best. In my district, many teachers assign a lot of real world products rather than digital ones. That's great, but when I talk about sharing work online, they feel they have no options (or they happily think they're off the hook!).

This week I created a short document and video tutorial to give them one easy way to show any product digitally. It makes use of the new Google Sites, which I absolutely love. 

Google Sites doesn't have a ton of options, which means students won't lose time finding just the right font and background image. 

So imagine students made a physical "something" in class. You could give the students these directions and they'd create a web page that shows pictures or video along with text, showing off what they made and learned. 

Here is the full video tutorial:

And here is the single page of steps that you'd give the students. Notice most of the steps link to the exact place in my video tutorial. That way they don't have watch everything if they're stuck on only one part.

Some things to note:

• You must tell them what you expect to see on the site. My steps and tutorial only show the how. It directs them to you for the what.
• Students would need to take pictures or video of their project, then upload those to Google Drive first. I didn't show that in this tutorial, but it's very easy if they have the Google Drive app at their phones. I consider this to be a survival skill in today's world. I'm working on making a good video to show this process.
• You'll see in the video that images don't always work like they should. I show a workaround if your students experience that problem.
• Some students forget to do the sharing step (labeled as #1 on my list). If that happens, you won't be able to see their pictures or video when you look at the site. 
• Step #7 is another common pitfall. Students often will send the link to their side of the website instead of the published version. It is clearly shown in the video, but they need to pay attention.
• I didn't address adding multiple pages in my steps, but it is very intuitive to add a new page. This could be great for organizing information about a larger project.
• Note that my final step tells them to turn it in through Classroom. If you use a different process, you'll need to modify that.

Simple Video Presentations with Google Slides and Screencastify

Update:  I made a new version of this post, including a new tutorial to match the latest version of Screencastify. Click here to read it.

-----
This is an updated process I first highlighted on this post from 2015. I used to use SnagIt to record the video, they stopped supporting it a few months ago. I've started using Screencastify. Below I have two updated tutorials that show how to record presentations using it.

The idea of these projects is that students make a slideshow presentation, then they record the screen and their voice as they present it.

Here are two examples of how the final video might look.The first is best to show students, but keep in mind it actually was made with SnagIt instead of Screencastify. SnagIt is no longer available. The second one was designed for teachers and refers specifically to their activity.

  

Screencastify is a great Chrome extension for this process. It makes it very easy to record the presentation on a Chromebook or laptop. It also links directly to Google Drive, so students don't have extra steps of uploading video files to Drive.

This tutorial shows the setup process, which has to be done the first time you use the extension. It's very intuitive to click through, but you might want to watch this before you try it with a class, just so you'll know what to expect.

Then this tutorial shows how to actually record the presentation (which is limited to 10 minutes if you're using the free version of Screencastify). As it says in the video, there are three things students should do before recording:

• Do the process shown in the video above to set up the extension.
• Make the slideshow. I suggest doing this in Google Slides, but you can use any slideshow app.
• Practice! It's very important to rehearse the presentation because these have to be done in one take.

As you can see from the tutorial, the resulting video ends up in Google Drive. From there it's easy to share or turn it in through Google Classroom.

There is a paid upgrade of Screencastify which removes the time limit and watermark. It also allows for some basic editing. I haven't paid to upgrade yet, but the option to edit is very promising. 

If you have any questions about this process, please let me know. I'd like to improve these resources so they benefit many students!

Announcing My Game Design Project Packs

This week I went live with my game design project pack website. You can check it out at ClassroomGameDesign.blogspot.com.

The project packs are collections of resources that help students make fun, simple games based on your lessons. Some key features are:

• Through group discussion and individual reflection, students will explore the class content in order to apply its themes to a simple, novel game.
• Creative teachers and students can use the project in many subjects, but they work best as creative projects for social studies and language arts.
• The games are non-digital, so you won't lose class time while students learn to program a computer.
• All resources are created in Google Apps, so it's easy to assign and students can collaborate on the games.
• The project is very flexible. Teachers can focus on the game design process as much or as little as they want.

Right now I have two project packs, both of which appeared on this blog in two series of posts. I plan to add at least two other packs by the end of the month.

Another part of the site I'm excited about is this page designed for students. It offers several resources for those who want to dig deeper into game design.

Game Design Exploration 2 - Reflection on Re-Designing Love Letter

This final stage of the project can be the most important, as it requires students to reflect upon what they learned about the lesson topic for your course as well as game design. In it each student Students will complete the document at the link below. 

Do not give students the document until they worked through Parts 1, 2 and 3 of the activity. That means they should have created a game based on the Love Letter game, tested it and played at least one game created by another group before they try to answer the questions. 

If you modified the activity in Parts 1 - 3 of the project, you might have to change the questions in the document to fit what your students experienced. Also, change the references to "the course topic" so they ask about the specific topic students studied in your class.

Through reflection, students should gain deeper insights from the activity. Their responses also provide you with a look at what they've learned about the lesson topic. That can be used to guide followup instruction or class discussion.

The reflection questions in the document come in three parts:

• The activity itself
• The game design process
• The lesson topic and how they connected elements of it to their game theme

You can find the Game Design Exploration Reflection Sheet here.

Game Design Exploration 2 - Printing and Testing the Games

This is the third part in a game design exploration based on the game Love Letter*. The activity would work well in any language arts or social studies class.

Be sure to see the previous posts in the series:

• Learning to play Love Letter
• Adding a new theme to Love Letter

In this stage, students will test the games. They might play their own game or just play each other's games. You could even incorporate revisions and further playtesting. It all depends on how much time you want them to spend on this. Details follow below.

Note that this post draws heavily from what I wrote in the playtesting stage of my first game design exploration from last year.

Is everyone ready to proceed?

If a class is working through this design activity, at this point each group of students should have redesigned the Love Letter game to fit the lesson content. At the very least they should have done the following. (All of this is explained in the second post in this series.)

• Chosen a theme for their game based on the topic studied in class

• Created a title for their game

• Written a short introduction about the game

• Redesigned the cards and changed them on the template found in Part 2 of this series.

Optionally, the groups might have designed additional rules and components for their game.

Making the Cards

In the previous stage of this activity, students revised a template to create new cards based on the Love Letter game. Before they can test the games, they'll need to produce some cards they can actually play with. One way to do that is to print on card stock, but I've found it's easy to see through most card stock I've used over the years.

Whether it's a first draft or a late stage prototype, here's the method I've been using lately. 

• Buy some card protector sleeves like these, found on Amazon.
• Put an old playing card or some other game card in them that you won't need. This keeps them stiff enough to shuffle.
• Print your cards on paper and cut the cards out. (Or for first drafts, you might just write them by hand on slips of paper.)
• Slide those paper "cards" into the sleeves.

Here's a short video that I created for students that shows how I use this process with early and late stage prototypes.

If the groups added rules for additional cards or components, all of those pieces need to be printed and cut out or gathered as well.

Depending on how much time you want the class to devote to this playtesting experience, groups could make two or more copies of their game so multiple groups could play them at once.

The importance of playtesting and revision - the iterative process in game design

This testing and revision stage of the game design process is essential. It can be fun and rewarding or sometimes very frustrating! It's often the heart of the creation process and it will probably take more time than all other parts combined.

Being so important, students need to see it. With limited class time, though, it is likely you will use it in this activity only provide some exposure to the concepts and a chance to have fun with the designs. Tell students it is important when making any type of game, but remind them to really test and improve their game they'd need to work on it a lot outside of class.

Keeping that in mind, tweak the following outline and resources to fit your needs.

Groups test their own games

Game designers often play their own games first, just to see if the creations even work at all. At this stage, each group should play their game at least once.

After playing, students should discuss these questions:

• Did the game work as we intended?
• Did we find anything (good or bad) that we didn't expect?
• How much do we think other groups will enjoy our game?
• What changes could we make to improve the game?

Depending on how much time you have for this design exploration, students could rework their cards. Simple changes might be handwritten right on the cards. Significant changes might require students to actually alter the cards in the original Google Drawings they made in Part 2 of this activity.Of course, that would require them to print and cut out more components.

If time doesn't allow a students to make all the changes they want to, remind them that they can improve the game as much as they want on their own.

Groups test a game designed by another group

For this part of the activity, each group will play at least one other group's game. Ideally this will be "blind playtesting", meaning the groups will play the games without additional assistance from the game designers.

The game components should already be created by now. Game introductions and possibly new rules need to be printed (or shared through Google Drive) so groups have everything they need to learn and play the games.

Along with these materials, give each group a copy of this Game Playtesting Sheet. It provides questions for before and after playing the game. 

Additional considerations

• Give the groups time in class to read and discuss the Game Playtesting Sheets that test groups filled out for their game.
• Groups could test games from more than one group if possible.
• Students could take their games home and have other people play them to get more opinions.
• Have a class discussion (possibly virtually) at the end of this stage so you and the students can look for patterns on what worked best in the games.
• It would be ideal to get test groups from a class that did not go through the design process themselves. In other words, they would likely be unfamiliar with Love Letter, so the whole experience would be new to them. This requires the designers to put a lot more work into their written rules.

In the next post (and final stage of the activity) students will reflect on their game designs and the design process.

*Love Letter was designed by Seiji Kanai and published by Alderac Entertainment Group. I have permission from the publisher to use their game as I have in this exploration. Please consider supporting them by buying a copy of the game that your students can play as they learn the basic rules.

Game Design Exploration 2 - Adding a New Theme to Love Letter

This is the second part of my game design exploration based on the game Love Letter*. Be sure you and your students are familiar with Part 1 before you work through the activity below.

In this second step, students will add a new theme to the simple, fun game Love Letter. The theme will be based on a topic you are studying in class. This will work best in a language arts or social studies class, but you could definitely use it in other classes too.

In applying the theme, students will discuss people, events and other elements of your course content.

What Is Theme in a Game?

Theme is what the game is about. Not all games have a strong theme, but many popular ones do. The theme of Risk is world conquest. The theme of Monopoly is making money in real estate.

If you're familiar with the original Love Letter, that theme was to deliver a love letter to the Princess.

See Part 2 of my first game design exploration for more examples of theme in games.

Examples of variations on the Love Letter game

Love Letter has been such a popular game across the world that it already has some new themes and other variations based on it. Here are a few you could show students in class. You can click on some of the images on the pages below to see the similarities and differences between versions:

• Love Letter: Batman
• Love Letter: The Hobbit
• Lost Legacy - There are actually many Lost Legacy games, all of which use and extend the simple rules of Love Letter.

Adding a New Theme to Love Letter

After discussing themes in games and looking at the different versions of Love Letter, it's time for students to add a new theme to the game. The theme will be based on the lesson topic they've studied in class. 

The special Game Design Planning Sheet linked below will guide them through the process. Here are some things to keep in mind before assigning the planning sheet:

• The students will choose a theme that's related to your topic. The lesson might be about a book they just read, like The Odyssey, or maybe it will be about a historical event like The War of 1812. While they could use those entire topics as the theme, they also could choose a specific part of those topics. For example, they might focus on a climatic scene of the book or a particularly interesting battle of the war.
• The planning sheet will require them to name each card as something from their theme and to rename the tokens. Though not necessarily required, the sheet also suggests they make other changes to the effects and rules.
• The document has a link to the components for a very basic template of Love Letter cards. If students click it, they will get a copy of it as a Google Slides file. They can type their changes onto the cards (and they will print them in a later stage of the game).
• There are optional ideas listed on the second page of the planning sheet for students who want to explore game design further. Use them as appropriate for the age of your students and the needs of this project.

Click here to get a copy the Game Design Planning Sheet in your Google Drive.

In the next stage, we will look at how to make a playable copy of the new version of Love Letter. We'll also present some options for testing the games in class.

*Love Letter was designed by Seiji Kanai and published by Alderac Entertainment Group. I have permission from the publisher to use their game as I have in this exploration. Please consider supporting them by buying a copy of the game that your students can play as they learn the basic rules.

Game Design Exploration 2 - Love Letter

Several months ago I created a game design exploration that required students to redesign a simple game so it fit a topic they were studying. I'm now working on several Game Design Project Packs that include games of different types.

While most of these Project Packs will use simple games I created myself, this second installment uses a very popular new game called Love Letter. I do have permission from the publisher (Alderac Entertainment Group) to use the game this way.

For this first part of the game design exploration, students would learn how to play Love Letter and they'd play a few rounds.

The General Idea of the Project

You will want to know the overall flow of the activity. You can see my previous exploration as an example, or this short outline should suffice.

• Students study some topic in class. It could be anything really, but these activities lend themselves to people and events. Language arts and social studies classes are a good fit. Some of this part can happen concurrently with the following stages.
• Students learn and play a simple game.
• Using a planning sheet, they will apply a theme and possibly some new rules to that game so it fits the topic they're studying.
• Depending on how much time you want them to spend on this project, you can follow up with some playtesting and further development.
• A reflection sheet allows students to think deeply about the course topic and game design in general.
• Further resources are available for students who want to dig deeper and possibly print a quality copy of their game.

Getting a Copy of the Game

Like all the games in these projects, Love Letter uses few components and it can be played in about 15 - 30 minutes. In fact, the entire game has only 16 cards in it! (It's in a genre of modern games known as micro-games.)

I strongly encourage teachers to buy a copy of the game for students to play. The original Love Letter has spawned several different variations including a Batman and a Hobbit version. All are essentially the same and any would work for this project.  Here's one link to the original version for less than $10. (Just don't mistakenly get one of the more expensive, harder to find early editions of the game.)

I do have a template (linked below) to the basic cards. Students will use that template in Part 2 of this exploration, but it would be possible to play the game by printing that template on card stock.

How to Play

Here is a video I created (with some help from my wife for narration) that shows how to play the game. You could show this in class or just watch it yourself and explain the game to the students. All the rules take less than two minutes to explain.

If you want to read the full rules, here is a PDF from the publisher.

Playing the Game

I recommend for this activity that the students only play the game enough to get the general idea. They don't have to play a full game, as described in the video. A few rounds should be sufficient.

As I mentioned above, I did make this template so students can modify the game in the second part of this activity. If you want to use this to make a very plain (and boring!) version of the game to use in class, you could print it on card stock and cut out the cards. (More information will be given later for ways students can make prototypes of their game without using card stock.)

Next...

See the second part of the activity here. In it, students explore underlying concepts and elements of your lesson topic by adding a new theme to Love Letter.

Quick Start Tech Projects for Any Class

After two years of helping a lot of teachers get started with different tech projects, I finally got smart and combined the many existing tech project resources I've created.

My goal was to save time for teachers. Having everything in one document (or at least linked from one document) can cut out a lot of emails or our initial planning meetings, since now they can find these documents on one single webpage.

Instead of taking me out of the picture, it allows them to ask me the questions that are most relevant to their class a lot more quickly. 

Each of these "Tech Project Packs" focuses on one type of final product, like a blog or an audio recording. It answers important questions such as:

• What is this type of project best for?
• What tools are needed?
• What are some common challenges?
• What tutorials do you have for it?
• What should I include in the directions?
• How can we share it beyond the classroom?

We are a Google Apps for Education district and most students are using Chromebooks.

Here are four packs to start with. More will be added in the upcoming week. 

• Images with Text - A very quick project that can be adapted to any subject
• Infographics - Create informational "digital posters" with Piktochart
• Blogs - Good for getting started using Blogger
• Audio Recordings - A simple process for creating audio recordings on a Chromebook or laptop

If you have any suggestions or requests or if you see problems with the documents or links, please let me know.

Simple Video Presentations with Google Slides and SnagIt

Update 12/2016: Since TechSmith stopped supporting SnagIt, I now use Screencatify to do the same thing. A more recent post about this is here.

One of my most popular posts has been this process of making a digital slideshow using Google Slides and WeVideo. It's my preferred method, since it works on any computer or Chromebook and it's a good introduction to video editing. The only downside is the tech can take more than its share of the time from the lesson.

Here's another method that can be done much more quickly. It is an informal recording, with no opportunity to edit. So what it saves it time, it may lack in polish. It's a great next step from traditional slideshow presentations, though.

First, this is an example I made to show what the finished product might look like. Notice that the recording will capture the act of starting and stopping the presentation.


And this next video is a tutorial of the process. It really just involves just three steps:

• Create the slideshow with Google Slides (or any other tool you prefer on a laptop or Chromebook).
• Practice what you'll say and when you'll advance each slide.
• Record it with the SnagIt Chrome extension.

I worked out this process with another teacher at my school about a year ago for math tutorials. Then last summer I found this great overview of the process from Jonathan Brubaker on the FreeTech4Teachers blog. See his guest post for other details and options. He also includes some good examples from students.

How to Create an Audio Recording on a Chromebook Using Twisted Wave

I created this short tutorial to show students how to record "podcasts" on a Chromebook. We used Twisted Wave to record, edit and save their audio skits as mp3 files. Twisted Wave can be installed on the Chromebooks as an app or the students can just go to TwistedWave.com.

If the students have Google Apps for Education accounts, it makes it very easy to sign in and save their files to Google Drive. From there it can be shared with others or turned in through Google Classroom.

I was very impressed with the ease of this process. Students who wrote and practiced their scripts ahead of time finished their short recordings in about 10 minutes. Those who remembered doing similar projects with Audacity in the past agreed this was much simpler. (Though Audacity is an excellent tool for multi-track projects.)

We did run into a few bumps using the process outlined below.

• It seemed to freeze more often if students opened the recorder in full screen. I suggest keeping it in a smaller window as shown in the tutorial.
• When the recorder did freeze, closing and reloading seemed to solve the problem. No one reported that their file was lost. It autosaves frequently.
• Sometimes it wouldn't properly load the window asking for permission to access the microphone on the Chromebook. This stumped me and some students at first, but eventually the recording window would show up with a small icon in the upper right. By clicking that, I was able to grant access and complete the activity.

Thoughts on 'Most Likely to Succeed'

I first heard about Most Likely to Succeed about six months ago when organizing some staff professional development for project-based learning. I watched the trailer and all the sound bites gave me chills. The things the teachers and the experts were saying in the film were all the best things I was discovering in the job as I was implementing project-based learning.

A few weeks ago, while my mind has been swirling with ideas for my upcoming conference sessions, I was thrilled to learn they were screening the movie at a nearby college. My wife and I were able to watch it tonight.

I won't give a detailed review of the movie. I would want to watch it again and dig into a few claims before I would do that. I want to get a few thoughts out, though.

To provide some background, the film contrasts the traditional education system with innovative teaching methods and organization of High Tech High. What's wrong with the current system and the promises of the new approaches to teaching come out through interviews with familiar faces like Sal Khan and Ken Robinson as well as staff of High Tech High and experts in business.

I enjoyed it thoroughly from start to finish. I want to watch it again as soon as I can. Every educator should watch it the first chance they get. It raises excellent questions and even if you think some of the visions were too idealistic or that High Tech High is too unrealistic, it offers at least a glimmer of hope for what education can be. Seeing the students perform or show their work in the exhibitions was powerful.

As someone who has been working in ed-tech now for almost eight years, a lot of the points were nothing new. Yes, the current system was originally designed over 100 years ago with a purpose of turning out good factory workers. Yes, computers are making many jobs obsolete and we don't know exactly what careers will even be available for today's K - 12 students.

Some of these insights will be new to many, though, and what I appreciate most is the film made them loud and clear. Viewers will be forced to think about the questions that are raised. Teachers will have to form convictions.

One of my favorite statements came from Dr. Eric Mazur. He raised the question of why we test students the way we do when we know the posture and restrictions of a student taking a test is never what we see anyone doing in the world of work. I have a lot of respect for Mazur's work and it's something I've pointed out myself. He put it brilliantly.

I enjoyed how it let parents and students provide the counterargument to the ideal world of High Tech High. Parents of the students who attended the school asked great questions of the teachers about the lack of course content. In one school, the students banded together against their innovative math teacher and said they just want to be prepared for college, not necessarily life. In some cases the teachers didn't have much to say in return.

The film ultimately portrayed a decision between these extremes as a gamble for the parents. The facts are simply not in yet as to which is better. As a parent, I waver on this myself. The traditional and the innovative approaches have some benefits. Is a good balance possible? If not, which is best? What about the majority of us who don't have a very innovative option for our children anyway?

But the biggest question in my mind during the film was this: Who decides what matters?

Is development of "soft skills" like empathy and leadership more important than the broad exposure to traditional content? Do we let the government decide the standards by which schools are measured? Or do we listen to Sal Khan and the rep from Google, as they talk about what the most forward-thinking companies should be looking for in their employees? Do SAT scores matter just because they matter to colleges?

I look forward to exploring these questions with administrators in my district and with my colleagues. I hope the film will be widely available soon. At least parts of it will be excellent for use in class. I want to hear what students have to say.

Let's keep the conversation going with a focus on being the best educators we can be.

_________________

I'm doing a challenge this month to post on one of my blogs every day. It's in preparation for my conference session, The Way of the Google Drive. Be sure to follow me on Twitter or on either blog to keep up with the "thoughts and tools to inspire". 

Click here to see all the posts from Teaching Like an Artist with the tag The Way of the Google Drive.

10 Ways Students Can Show Off Their Learning Beyond the Classroom...and PowerPoint is not one of them

Using The Cube to broadcast Geometry presentations

Two newer posts that provide updates to the items below:

• Tech Project Packs - Save time with these compiled resources for tech projects
• Adobe Spark for Narrated Slideshows and Digital Stories

This year my mantra is going to be Show off the learning!

When teachers and students show off the best things they learned, perceptions change and the culture changes. I want to make sure my district is known as a place where important learning happens every day.

I'm a big fan of that final essential stage of project-based learning: Put the final product in front of a larger audience. 

A lot of teachers in my district like hands-on, physical projects and they've struggled ideas for making them public. (How many art exhibits and science fairs can you do a year?) 

I compiled this list so now they have options for even those paintings done with real paint and the science experiment made of food.

Because I made this for the teachers I work with, please keep in mind:

• It is a tool for awareness, not a how-to guide. Teachers in my district would contact me for more help. I included examples and some links to tutorials or tips below, but all the tools will require further exploration beyond this post.
• Most classrooms in my district use laptops or Chromebooks. I didn't include options for tablets with most of the ideas.

I've listed these options roughly in order of how much tech is involved on the part of the students.

1) Live broadcasts of student presentations - Use The Cube. 

• You can broadcast to the internet easily with an iPhone or iPad. 
• Someone from your school will have to sign up and create an admin account at the site.
• Share the link to your broadcast with parents or to the community beforehand so anyone can watch live. 
• The recording can be left online, so people can watch it later if you want.
• When using live video, be sure you have parent permission to post online and remember not to identify students by first and last name.

2) Websites and Blogs - A simple site or blog (created by you or the students themselves) is the starting point for sharing all the other types of project presentations listed below.

• Any final product, even if it’s has no tech involved, can be posted online by way of pictures and text. 
• For websites, Google Sites is a good, simple option. I made this tutorial for my district for making a website with Google Sites.
• For blogs, use Blogger. Here’s a tutorial I made for creating a new one.

3) A PDF ebook - Within seconds anything students make in Google Docs or Slides can be turned into a PDF. From there it can be posted on any blog or website so anyone can open or download it like an ebook.

• With the file open, go to the File menu and select the option to Download as PDF.
• Once the PDF is downloaded, upload it to Drive again and share it as needed.

4) InfoPics - If he didn’t invent this simple concept, Tony Vincent is the one who named it and he sings its praises. This really is just a process of adding notes or other text to pictures that are related to a topic. 

• Here's Tony’s blog post about it (with examples).
• It would be very easy for students to make these and share the images on a website or blog.The pictures could also be shared by a teacher or a parent on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook or any other social network.
• The device you like to use will dictate the tools, but I’d suggest Google Drawings for computers or Chromebooks. Pixlr.com is a good tool on many devices if you want to add more effects to your pictures.

5) Infographics - Students can create infographic images to show facts in a concise, visually appealing way.

• Finished graphics can be posted on social media or websites and blogs.
• Piktochart is a great tool for this.
• Users can log in on Piktochart with their Google accounts.
• Here’s a good article from Matt Smith with ideas for Piktochart in many subjects.

6) Audio Recordings (podcasts) - Students can create audio recordings and share them online in a variety of ways. These can be completed much faster than a video project. Here are a few details.

• Here’s a simple example of an interview between two students.
• On a PC with a microphone (or a laptop) Audacity is the program to use for recording.
• On a Chromebook you can try SoundCloud for recording (if editing isn’t necessary) or SoundTrap. Both work with Google accounts.
• Finished mp3 or wav files can be uploaded to SoundCloud so people can listen to them and even add comments.

7) Virtual books on Flipsnack - This site is a great tool that turns any PDF into a fun virtual book. 

• Important Note: I found out if students sign in using a Google Apps for Education account it uses the first and last name in the URLs. This is not a good practice. Be sure students go to their account page at Flipsnack to change their username when they first log in. It only takes a minute.
• I usually create the PDF in Google Slides or Google Docs first, then upload to Flipsnack.
• Here’s an example I use for a comic assignment.
• Users can sign into Flipsnack with their Google accounts.
• Free Flipsnack accounts are limited to three virtual books at a time.

8) Screen Recordings - Think of these as somewhat informal recordings of something the students show on the screen. 

• These are great for tutorials or presentations.
• Here’s an example from a teacher who has his students use this method a lot.
• They’re informal because editing is usually not part of the process. Students need to practice before recording!
• On a computer with a mic, use Screencast-o-Matic.
• On a Chromebook you can use the SnagIt app.
• Final results can be uploaded to Google Drive or YouTube for sharing as necessary.

9) Digital slideshows - These are a series of pictures combined into a video by using an editing program.

• These are a step up from screen recordings because you can (and should) edit them.
• Students can add audio. It might be just background music or they can narrate the slideshow.
• With narration, these become presentations that present themselves.
• They make a good introduction to video production, but don’t require as much time.
• I present on a method for making these with any laptop or Chromebook. Here is the resource site include my examples and the process using Google Slides and WeVideo.

10) Videos - Producing a good video is the pinnacle of technology integration in most classes.

• Good videos require several technology skills and a deep understanding of class content. 
• There is a huge range of possibilities for complexity. Don’t just tell students they can “make a video”! Know the options and set guidelines that are appropriate for your students.
• Here are my tips for teachers and students for any video project.