Web Browsers

Your web browser, originally called Internet Browser, is your window to the web and impacts on how effectively you interact with content, your social networks and websites on the Internet.

A common misconception is you can only run one web browser. Wrong! Web browsers are just programs; just as you can install/use several graphics or word processing programs on your computer so can you have several web browser without causing any problems.

Just because a web browser is incorporated in the operating system of your computer doesn’t mean you have to stick to using that one web browser. There are quite a few free open source web browser that can enhancing your browser experience.

Whilst Internet Explorer dominates, contributing 74.88 % of market share in February 2008, FireFox is increasing in popularity. Check out this article for a comparison of web browsers.

Statistics used in graph above were taken from Market Share Report prepared by Net Applications. If you compared these statistics to results from Google Analytics, or similar application, for browser usage by visitors to your blog it’s likely that FireFox will feature highly (Note: Statistics for Flock are normally combined with FireFox).

FireFox

Firefox, a free open source web browser which runs on various versions of Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X and Linux, is very popular with e-learning professionals with most preferring it to Internet Explore. It was nominated 2nd top tool in the Top 100 Tools for Learning 2008 list by 155 learning professionals.

It’s regarded as the best Web browser in terms of add-ons that users can install to modify or add to existing functionality of FireFox. There are hundreds of FireFox add-ons which can be downloaded from here

Everyone who uses FireFox has their own personal favourite add-ons.

My favorite add-ons include:

1. Del.icio.us Bookmarks add-on – great for adding the sites I bookmark to del.icio.us plus excellent for searching my bookmarks in del.icio.us
2. CoComment add-on – automatically activates coComment when you write comments on all major blogging platforms, on services like Digg, Flickr or Youtube and some Forums making it easier to track responses to comments you leave on other people’s sites.

Glen Gatin nominated Zotero add-on in his top 3 tools because it’s easy-to-use and helps you collect, manage, and cite your research sources. Zotero was nominated 72nd top tool in the Top 100 Tools for Learning 2008 list by 155 learning professionals.

Flock

Flock is another free open source web browser that also runs on various operating systems and is based on open source FireFox’s code. It’s becoming increasing popular because of the social networking features built into it’s interface.

Dean Groom, John Larkin and ozesteph1992 all twittered that Flock is one of their 3 favorite tools. Ozesteph1992 says “I feel like sitting in planes cockpit where I have all ‘controls’ on my fingertips, just a few clicks” when I use Flock.

One cool feature of Flock is once you’re logged in into your favorite sites such as Flickr, Facebook and Twitter the far left side of your flock browser window becomes a mini-people’s feed showing the latest updates from these sites by your friends.

Check out this excellent video by Liz Davis on Figuring Out Flock.

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Liz Davis has created an excellent range of videos on “how to” use a range of web 2.0 tools and she has located them in this post on her blog.   Make sure you take the time to watch her three video on how to use Google Reader if you are still trying to set up a feed reader.

Blogging and Web Browsers

People’s decision to read and/or subscribe to your blog is based on appearance. The various web browsers display your posts differently so every now and then it’s important to check what your blog looks like in various web browsers.

I’ve had my posts display lovely in FireFox only to be upset to discover they looked terrible in Internet Explorer because my image sizes where too large for the web browser making the posts untidy.

FINAL THOUGHT

Other posts from this Best of Web 2.0 series include:

• Are You Making Your Life Easier By Using A Personalized Start Page?
• Setting Up iGoogle For Your Personal Learning
• Blogging Tools To Help You Blog
• Getting More Out Of Blogging And Edublogs
• Using Your Twitter Network For Help & Providing Their Recommendations

What’s your favourite web browser, and why? What’s your favorite add-ons, and why? What tips and tricks do you have for using web browsers?

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Larry explained that Edublogs is his #1 best Web 2.0 tool because “it’s so easy to use and not blocked by my School District filters”. While Rafa agreed with Larry saying “especially with the new facility to create blogs for my students. I have a small group project started which involves every team running a blog, and this made it so easy to monitor!”

So let’s check out resources for getting more out of blogging and Edublogs in our latest post on our ongoing series on Best Web 2.0 tools.

Blogging Resources

I’ve set up a Getting Started With Edublogs page on this blog to provide a central location for information, provided by the edublogger community, on the “basics of getting started blogging” including:

1. “How To” Manuals

These Introductory manuals are both excellent with fantastic “how to” explanations; both can be viewed online or downloaded and printed to provide excellent guides to step you through the process of setting up your blog and writing posts.

I still refer to both these manuals for extra tips — thanks Gail Desler and Janetta Garton for taking the time to create and share them.

2. Blogging With Students

Some really excellent posts explain the benefits of student blogging plus cover all the different aspects of blogging with students from parental consent, setting up their blogs, and student blog management to effective use of student blogs.

Let me know if you have a post to add to this section.

Don’t forget that Edublogs has now added a new feature that allows you to create blogs and usernames for your students and colleagues in batches of up to 15 at a time.

3. “How to” Video Tutorials

Edublogs has created excellent short “how to” video tutorials that step you through the process of setting up your blog and writing posts. I’ve added some of these to the Getting Started With Edublogs page (just click on the image and the video plays) and included the entire collection link.

Like the Introductory Manuals, I still refer to these videos for extra tips.

Latest News

Edublogs is committed to providing you the latest news of what’s happening in the Edublogs community and lots of great tips but are you receiving these updates?

Here’s how you can receive the latest updates:

1. Subscribe to Edublogs

James Farmer writes blog posts to let us know what’s happening.

The fastest and most efficient way of being notified of these is to subscribe to Edublogs’s URL using your feed reader (i.e. add http://edublogs.org/). Now whenever James writes a new post it will be delivered straight to you.

If you aren’t currently using a feed reader read this post on Are You Making Your Life Easier By Using RSS? Plus check out How I Use RSS To Make My Life Easier.

2. Follow Edublogs on Twitter

Edublogs has set up an account on Twitter to let the community know of the latest news.

Make sure if you use Twitter that you follow the Edublogs Twitter account.

Alternatively, if you don’t use Twitter you can still receive these updates by adding the RSS feed from the Edublogs Twitter account to your feed reader – here is Edublogs Twitter accounts RSS feed.

If you’re currently not using Twitter check out this post on How I Use Twitter plus read How A Twitter Network Can Be Used For Help & Providing Recommendations.

3. Subscribe To The Edublogger

The Edublogger was set up by Edublogs to help educational bloggers with emerging technologies in education, share their own experiences, and promote the blogging medium.

The fastest and most efficient way of being notified of the latest tips from The Edublogger is to subscribe to its RSS feed in your feed reader — here is The Edublogger RSS feed.

Help And Support

If you’ve got a problem with your blog the best place to access support is through the Edublogs Forum.

Before asking for help take the time to search the forum because more than likely the questions are already being asked and answered.

If you can’t find the answer by searching the Forum, reading the FAQ, or watching the videos, then post your question to the forum — please provide as much information as you can including:

• The exact URLs you are referring to (i.e. add the address of your blog to your post), if it is an issue with your blog
• A detailed description of the issue (the more the better)
• Sample of the code you are trying to embed, if you are having trouble embedding

The Edublogs crew does an excellent job supporting the community in the Forum but they can’t be expected to help 24/7. Please subscribe to the Forum Feed in your feed reader, and if you know the answer to a question take time to write a response — here is the Forum RSS feed. Let’s give back their support by helping as a community in the Forum :).

Don’t forget to check out the benefits of being an Edublogs Supporter — only costs $25 per year and you get lots of extra features.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Other posts from this Best of Web 2.0 series include:

• Are You Making Your Life Easier By Using A Personalized Start Page?
• Setting Up iGoogle For Your Personal Learning
• Are You Getting The Most Out Of Your Web Browser?
• Blogging Tools To Help You Blog
• Using Your Twitter Network For Help & Providing Their Recommendations

Don’t forget to let us know about resources or posts suitable for Edublogs Help info pages.

If you are enjoying reading this blog, please consider Subscribing For Free!

And yet to dismiss Twitter is a mistake because it’s an incredibly powerful tool for your personal learning, connecting with others and complements your blogging. Twitters way more than telling people what you’re doing!

The key to “getting twitter” lies in using it effectively. Fortunately besides being a RSS power user I’m also well known as a Twitter-a-holic so let me share my tips on how I get the most out of using Twitter.

Disclaimer: Twitter is personal; it means different things to different people and there’s various ways people use it. Like blogging, my focus for using twitter is the conversations and connections. These are my personal tips and not rules for using Twitter :).

Getting Started With Twitter

Go to Twitter.com and click “Get Started-Join.” Think carefully about your username; I personally recommend use your real name. If I could wind back time I’d use Suewaters, and not dswaters, because branding with one unique and recognizable online identity is better.

Make sure you upload a picture; people connect more when they can visualize the person. Also very important you complete your “Online line bio” and add your “More Info URL” (for a link to your website) because people check these out carefully when deciding if it’s worth following you.

To gain a deeper insight into the value of twitter check out:

• This podcast, or the text from the podcast, I created with Alan Levine, Graham Wegner, Michael Coghlan, Kristin Hokanson and Simon Brown for the Knowledge Tree
• Michele Martin’s podcast with Jeff Nugent, Britt Watwood and Bud Deihl from Virginia Commonwealth University Center for Teaching Excellence where they try and educate Michele on what she’s missing out by not using twitter effectively
• Chris Betcher’s video tutorial on Understanding how Twitter works

Effective management of twitter lies with:

1. Processes i.e. how many people you choose to follow, how you choose who to follow and your purpose for using twitter
2. Technical i.e. the tools you use to manage twitter

Adding Followers

How many people you follow, and who you follow, influences what you get out of twitter and to some extent how you use twitter e.g. how effective you will be at maintaining conversations.

When you follow a person you will receive their tweets. You get their tweets when they follow you; but not necessarily their replies (tweets that start with @) to people they follow but you don’t (unless you have @replies set to “all @replies” in Settings>Notices — this is not something you want to do if following lots of people).

Following too few people with too few following means you’re less likely to see the true power of twitter for connecting and providing assistance. Follow too many people makes it harder to maintain the conversation.

My magic number of people to follow is between 100-200; that was when life was easier. Once you’ve set up your account check out the twitter accounts of some of your favourite bloggers (most have a link on their blog)– go through the people they are following to choose people to add to your account. Remember to follow Edublogs twitter account so you get the last news on what’s happening at Edublogs.

Personally I avoid choosing higher profile people, as they often have too many followers, are less likely to engage in conversations or follow you back — however do check their @ replies.

Using A Twitter Client

The power of twitter is in the instant notification/response to tweets of people you follow.

A twitter client is a MUST; using the web interface isn’t the way to go. They provide instant notification of the latest updates. Which to use is very personal however my favourites, at the moment, are Snitter and Twhirl.

Twhirl is really nice which I equate to a lovely sports car; has a beautiful interface. Definitely a good choice if you aren’t following too many people. Unfortunately I follow too many people and find the way Snitter displays notifications of new tweets is better for maintaining my conversations.

Snagging Link URLs From Twitter

People are always sharing fantastic links in twitter that are worth checking out. I use Twitter Link Monitor to collect these links and feed them by RSS into my Google Reader so I can check them out at my leisure; also handy for grabbing links tweeted when I’m offline. Note — doesn’t display links from people with locked accounts.

Tracking Terms in Twitter

I use TweetScan all the time to effectively manage conversations in Twitter that I want to track e.g. replies to my twitter name dswaters and any other variations people have used e.g. suewaters and tags like Edublogs.

With the number of people I follow I need TweetScan as my eyes and ears. By subscribing to the RSS feed for the tracking term using my feed reader I’m notified through Google Reader whenever anyone, anywhere, tweeters that term. Here are my instructions for setting up TweetScan. Note — doesn’t display terms tweet by people with locked accounts.

Applying A Bit Of Twitter Karma

There’s nothing worse than having a conversation and not realising you’re having it with yourself which is why I use Twitter Karma.  It displays whom I’m following and who’s following me back; I’ll often unfollow if they’re no longer following me.

And Let’s Not Forget The Classroom

The uses of Twitter in the classroom are really only limited by our imagination. Tom Barrett’s been writing some excellent posts on what his Twitter network means to him in terms of his classroom practice and the best ways that twitter can be utilised in your own classroom. Check out Tom’s posts:

• Twitter – A Teaching and Learning Tool
• Plan, Tweet, Teach, Tweet, Learn, Smile

FINAL THOUGHT

I’ve shared my tips for using twitter but everyone has their own secret ingredients —what are your tips for getting more out of twitter? Do you have any favourite applications?

If you’ve tried twitter and it wasn’t working for you — what did you like/not like? If you haven’t tried twitter and you now plan to — please let me know how you go and don’t forget to follow Edublogs on twitter.

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I love teaching people how to create digital stories and videos because it’s a skill that most learners, regardless of age, enjoy learning and experimenting with and are more likely to spend time perfecting their skills in their own time. A great way of engaging even the most reluctant educator to use technology.

However, there are so many videos available online, on so many different topics, that it’s sometimes more effective to use ‘others videos’ than create your own video.

Locating Videos Online

The efficient and fastest platform to locate videos is YouTube

YouTube has made it easier than ever to share and embed videos across the web. Embedding a video from it onto your website allows you to seamlessly integrate multimedia content without the need for complex coding or hosting the video files yourself.

YouTube’s recommendation algorithm is also worth mentioning. It has the ability to suggest videos that are tailored to the viewer’s interests, which keeps users engaged and coming back for more and can be extremely helpful for students to consume similar resourceful video content.

Embedding Videos From YouTube

1. On your blog dashboard, go to Posts > Add New
2. Completely write your post adding all text and images including adding your categories, tags, and post title.
3. Make sure you tell your readers that you have embedded a video below as many feed readers such as Google Reader may remove the video).
4. It’s best to add any code you want to embed as the last step just before you click publish as you’re less likely to have problems.
5. Click on Save Draft and Preview this Post to make any final edits to your post
6. Locate the video you want to embed from YouTube. Click Share to view the embed URL.
   
7. Click Copy to copy the embed URL for the video.
   
8. In your post, you can either insert a YouTube or Embed block on the location where you want the video to appear.
   
9. Now, paste the previously copied embed URL for the video in the YouTube/Embed block, and click Embed.
   

In the provided example, I’ve added the A Guide to Clients & Billing video using the above-mentioned method.

Final Thought

What are your favorite video-sharing websites? How do you use video with your learners?

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Traditionally, blog posts were all about text and images. However, videos can really bring your blog alive and make the visitor experience more engaging and interactive.

Blogs are the perfect place to house videos that are made by you, your students, or someone else. If you’ve never tried adding a video to your blog, or you’re looking for some additional tips or ideas, you’re in the right place.

It’s clear that when defining the meaning of literacy in the 21st century, being a fluent reader and writer of only print materials is no longer enough. Silvia Tolisano has suggested that our notion of being literate or illiterate needs an update. Being a skilled communicator, creator, and consumer of multimedia is so important. This includes video.

No doubt your students are avid consumers of videos so why not tap into this interest in the classroom?

This post demonstrates 3 ways that you can use videos in your blog posts.

Click on the links below to navigate this resource.

1. Embedding Videos That Others Have Made

2. Online Video Tools

Screencasting

Make your post into a video

Animation

3. Offline Video Creation

Piece to camera

10 filming tips

Film your lesson

Interviews

Editing software

1) Embedding Videos That Others Have Made

Many teachers and students like to embed videos they find online on their own blog. That means you can play it within the post without having to open new tabs etc.

An embedded video looks like this.

Tip: When embedding a video, it’s a good idea to also put a link to the video, like this:

Check out the video, What Is A Blog?

Educators or students might embed videos from sites like:

• YouTube
• Vimeo
• TeacherTube
• Google Drive
• TED Talks

Methods For Embedding Videos

Videos from video sharing websites can be embedded into posts or pages by either using:

1. The video URL: Paste the URL on a line by itself in your post/page editor where you want the video to appear. This method only works with certain services. 
2. The embed code: Find the embed code on the site you’re using (e.g. YouTube) and copy it. Then in your post put your cursor where you want the video. Click on Add Media and then Insert Embed Code. Paste the code and press Insert into post. Note: this option isn’t available on free blogs

You can find the full instructions with visuals on how to embed videos in this Help Guide.

A Note On Copyright And Videos

You may be wondering about copyright, because we know we can’t just take an image from another site and use it on our blog.

It’s fine to use videos from sites like YouTube that give you the embed option. That being said, you can’t necessarily download and make changes to the video (for example, cutting it up, remixing, adding audio etc).

A Note On Safety

Access to sites like YouTube is a contentious topic in schools. Feel free to leave a comment if you have any experiences with that issue.

If you use sites like YouTube, it can be a good idea to set up a class or teacher account if you plan to upload videos or create playlists. This helps separate your work videos from your personal videos.

Most video sharing websites are not designed for children. In fact, you’ll find most Terms and Conditions state that children under 13 are not allowed to use the service.

Therefore, there are a few things you can do if you’re working with younger students.

Embed Options

When you’re embedding a YouTube video, you’ll notice there are embed options. You’ll find these when you click on Share and then Embed.

You might want to uncheck suggested videos and player controls, and consider enabling privacy-enhanced mode.

2) Online Video Tools

Making your own videos is easier than ever! There are online options that are:

• free/paid
• simple/complex
• for editing/creating
• for all ages/restricted to over 13 or 18
• designed for video footage/images/animation

Here are three options for creating different sorts of videos using online tools. Feel free to share your own ideas too!

Screencasting (Loom)

Screencasting is where you narrate a video recording of your computer screen. Sometimes it’s just audio and sometimes you can see your face in the video as well.

One free tool that I’ve found particularly useful is Loom. There are many advantages to this tool including the fact that there are no age restrictions.

I’ve written a blog post about Loom if you want to learn more.

Screencasting is such a versatile way to use video in the classroom. Not only can teachers and students make tutorials, but students can share their learning as a screencast by narrating their digital creations.

For a very simple example, students could narrate a Google Slide presentation as I’ve done below. This is a video I made for our Better Blogging With Students course which we ran in early 2018.

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Make Your Post Into A Video (Lumen5)

Back in December, I made a promo video for our Better Blogging With Students course.

I created that with a free online tool called Lumen5.

It’s a simple way to make a slideshow type video.

It can even “automagically” make your blog post into a video (for best results you’ll need to edit it slightly).

Lumen5 contains a library of Creative Commons Zero images and music so you don’t need to search for content either (although you can use your own pictures and video).

The only downside (apart from it being a 13+ tool) is you can’t embed your video directly onto your blog as far as I can tell. So you have to put it on social media or YouTube first and then get the embed code from there. Or you could download the video and upload it directly into your post/page.

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Animation (PowToon or Biteable)

There are a number of ways you can create simple animations online. Two free tools you might be interested in exploring with your students include PowToon and Biteable.

Both of these tools have free plans and can be used by students under 13, however, they do require students to sign up via email. I contacted both companies to confirm the age restrictions. PowToon recommended supervision or using a paid classroom account (obviously, supervision is always a good idea!)

One benefit of PowToon over Biteable is that you can download your finished product as a PowerPoint or PDF file. You can only download your Biteable creation with a paid plan.

You can embed both tools into your blog posts or pages.

Biteable Example

Another student taking part in the challenge created this Biteable about YAPPY.

What is YAPPY? on Biteable.

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3) Offline Video Creation

You and your students can make videos in the traditional way too. You don’t need any fancy equipment either — a phone, tablet, or webcam can work just fine!

Here are three ideas that might work for your blog posts.

Piece To Camera

I know, I know… who likes getting in front of a camera? Most teachers would avoid it at all costs! But it is really a great way to connect with students and families.

You could even create the occasional piece to camera for special occasions like:

• Welcoming students and families at the start of the school year (publishing the video before school returns is a good idea!)
• Thanking your class and families at the end of the school year/term and wishing them happy holidays etc.

Depending on your privacy settings, you might encourage students to create these sorts of videos too.

Here is an example Linda Yollis made to welcome her new students to the classroom last year.

10 Filming Tips

There are a few things you can do to enhance the quality of your piece to camera.

• Lighting: This is really important! Sit near a window if you can or add lamps etc. Aim for even natural light. Don’t have a window behind you.
• Audio: Your phone or computer will record video just fine (in good lighting) but the audio quality won’t be great. Add an external microphone if possible.
• Tripod: If you’re using a phone, it needs to be steady. Many discount stores now sell basic phone tripods. You can elevate these on furniture as needed.
• Location: Keep your background simple and film in a quiet location (easier said than done at school?).
• Clean your lens: Especially if you’re filming on your phone, wipe that dirty lens.
• Horizontal: If you’re using a phone, turn it on its side. If you want to know why your video should be horizontal, you might enjoy this very funny video.
• Raise your device: If you’re using a laptop to film, you might want to raise it so you’re at eye level. Same with a phone or tablet.
• Front facing camera: If you’re alone, switch the camera so you can see where you are in the frame (consider positioning yourself slightly off centre in the frame).
• Look at the lens: Find the tiny hole and try to make eye contact with it. Smile!
• Record: Whether or not you want to actually script what you want to say is up to you. A more natural approach may be to create a few notes or an outline, rather than scripting or reading. Pace yourself and enjoy!

Want to share these tips with your students or colleagues? Download the PDF.

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Film Your Lesson

Have you ever thought about recording your lessons and publishing them, not just for your own class, but for anyone who wants to watch and learn?

Eddie Woo is a Sydney maths teacher who has done just that.

Eddie’s award winning work has earned him a huge following with students from across the world.

Eddie has a YouTube channel and houses his videos on his blog too.

Here is an example…

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As you can see, it’s nothing fancy but it works!

Of course, students can “be the teacher” too and record tutorials for other students.

Interviews

Depending on the permissions and privacy settings you have in place, it might be an option to have your students act out interviews.

Shawn Avery has done some great interviews with his class. Here is one example when students interviewed a famous person from history. A green screen was used to create the background.

The possibilities are endless! Students could make real interviews or mock ones. And it could work well for so many different subject areas and any age group.

Note on green screens

Want to learn more about green screens?

• Tony Vincent has compiled some different green screen set ups.
• LitFilmFest has shared 7 tips for using a green screen in the classroom.
• Jonathan Wylie has compiled green screen tips from teachers on Twitter.

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A Note On Editing Software

Most people know how to record a video. It can be as simple as opening the camera function on your phone and hitting record.

But then what do you do with your raw video?

It’s not always essential, but you’ll generally want to do some basic editing. This can include things like:

• Adding text titles or captions
• Adding music
• Chopping out certain parts of the video
• Mixing together video and images

If you use a Mac computer, the go-to program is generally iMovie. You can also use the iMovie app on your iPhone or iPad if you have one.

It’s a little more complicated on a Windows computer. Windows Movie Maker used to be a popular choice for simple editing but it has been discontinued now.

Personally, I currently use a paid program called Adobe Premiere Elements and occasionally use a free program called Shotcut. There’s a learning curve for both of these editors.

For quick video editing on my phone, I love two free apps from GoPro called QuikStories and Splice. QuikStories puts everything together for you with music, transitions, and other cool effects. Splice is handy if you want to make more manual edits and don’t necessarily want too many effects.

(Note: We have no affiliations with any of the above brands).

Let us know your choice of video editor in a comment!

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Conclusion

Want more video tips? Be sure to take a look at our interview with Rob Kelly for more video tips and examples.

We encourage you to have a go at creating or embedding a video. Leave the link to your blog post in a comment so we can check it out.

We’d also love to hear your own suggestions for finding or creating videos.

Lights, camera, action … and over to you!

So we’ve tried our best to explain what is RSS and why it’s important to learn how to use. And as we said it’s hard to explain probably because the power of RSS is really something you need to experience first hand.

We’re really into RSS — RSS power users may be an appropriate title since we grab every RSS opportunity to make our lives easier and maximise our ability to interact effectively with others.

Remember that using RSS is a simple and effective way of keeping in touch when new information is added to a website without having to visit the site; instead information is brought to one location, a feed reader, to read whenever convenient.

Let us show you some of ways to use RSS with an RSS Reader.

Subscribing To Blogs

Read a lot of blogs by subscribing to their RSS feeds because blogging isn’t about working in a vacuum; it’s about the conversations.

Conversations aren’t about you just writing a reflective post that invites / encourages / evokes readers to express their opinion by writing comments on your post. It’s also about you engaging in conversations on others’ blogs by linking to their posts and writing comments on their posts.

To engage effectively in blogging conversations, you need to subscribe to blogs that interest you.

Effectively Managing Comments

One of the most important tips for keeping up the conversations on blogs is being very effective at managing your comments on other people’s blogs. Getting good at this is when you use tools that track comments posted on other people’s blogs plus subscribe to the RSS feed from these tools.

Whenever a person comments on a post that you have commented on, their comment is transferred from the post into your RSS Reader, so you can choose to immediately respond back if you want.

Managing Interactions on Flickr

Flickr is really cool Web 2.0 tool that didn’t initially grab us back when it started because we didn’t get the whole idea of sharing photos online and it’s whole social networking aspect.

Make Flickr friends and comment on their photos; your friends’ newest photos and any comments you make are automatically fed from Flickr to your RSS Reader (here are instructions of how to do it).

This interaction has shown a different glimpse of their life compared to what can be seen from reading their blogs or following them on twitter.

RSS is More Than Blog Posts

As Rafa Ribas said about a previous post on RSS:

There is more to RSS than just blog posts. You can RSS news, comments to your posts or others, audio and video, comic strips (I am an absolute fan of xkcd.com), other people’s bookmarks (del.icio.us), and so on and so forth. In summary, RSS is a bit daunting at first, but absolutely amazing in its potential.

We’ve only given a small glimpse into the ways to harness the power of RSS. Remember to look out for the RSS icon whenever you visit a web site and consider if subscribing to it’s feed will make your life easier and/or more fun.

FINAL THOUGHT

So have you set up a feed reader yet? If you’re just getting going – please let us know what’s working for you and what’s not.

If you are experienced with using RSS how about telling us about the different RSS feeds besides blog posts that you subscribe to, and why you like subscribing to them.

If you are enjoying reading this blog, please consider Subscribing For Free!

If you’re anything like us, you’re taking more photos than ever but there’s an important next step which is often overlooked — organizing and archiving.

Google Photos is our favorite solution for storing, organizing, and sharing photos and videos.

It’s easy to use and it’s free, yet many people still don’t know about this useful service. We’re here to help!

This complete guide explains how Google Photos works, how to get started, and lots of tips and tricks for getting the most out of it.

Contents of this Post

Google Photos boasts many excellent features.

Use the menu below to navigate our guide and learn all about Google Photos.

What Is Google Photos?

Getting Started with Google Photos

Google Photos Search

Google Photos Memories

Create Movies, Animations, and Collages

Google Photos Albums

Google Lens

Storage and Space

Digitize Old Photos

Add a Partner Account

Safety and 2 Step Verification

Embedding Tips for Bloggers

Don’t have time to read the guide? Here is a two page cheat sheet you’re welcome to download and share.

Download the PDF summary.

The Basics – What Is Google Photos?

Google Photos is a photo sharing and storage service developed by Google. It was released in 2015 and is now hugely popular worldwide.

Google Photos stores your photos and videos in “the cloud” — this is just tech-talk for online storage.

In the past, you might have plugged your phone or camera into your computer and laboriously transferred all your photos and videos. From there, you might have backed up your computer on an external hard drive.

While extra backups can still be a good idea, especially for important files, storing your photos and videos in the cloud does have many advantages, such as:

• It’s quick and easy — you can set up backups to occur automatically when you’re connected to wifi.
• You can access your photos or videos from any device (phone, tablet, computer) as long as you have internet access.
• Sharing albums, photos, or videos with others is simple.
• Running out of storage on your phone is a thing of the past! Once your photos or videos have been uploaded, you can free up space on your phone.

There are a number of services available where you can store your photos in the cloud but Google Photos is particularly popular. Let’s take a look at why.

The Benefits of Google Photos

These are the main reasons why we consider Google Photos the best cloud storage service going around:

• You get unlimited storage for free. You can pay if you want your photos stored with the original resolution but you’ll probably find the standard high quality free version is fine. (Images over 16MP are compressed to size, and videos are capped at 1080p resolution). We explain storage more later on.
• It’s packed with numerous features to organize, use, share, and manage photos and videos.
• It works on all devices seamlessly.
• You don’t need to be overly tech-savvy to use Google Photos. It’s fairly intuitive and straightforward to navigate.
• Other people don’t need to have Google Photos to be able to view the content you share with them (sharing is optional; your content is private by default).
• You can archive photos that you want to keep, but don’t necessarily want to revisit like screenshots or receipts (find out more about archiving).
• It’s easy to find a specific photo. You don’t need to remember the date the photo was taken. You can search by someone’s name, an event, objects, places, text in a photo, or even a map.
• You can make movies, animations, collages, and albums to save, share, or embed.
• You can access Google Lens to identify objects in photos, copy-paste text from textbooks and documents, translate text in textbooks and on signs, scan QR codes, and more. 
• You can relive your favorite memories within the app (a very popular feature).

Google Photos has become more than just an app to manage your photos, it’s become the home for your life’s memories.

Here’s a summary of why we recommend Google Photos. Feel free to share this summary graphic with others!

How to get Started with Google Photos

Getting started with Google Photos is simple:

1. Download the free app from the iOS App Store or Google Play Store.
2. Open the app and sign in to your Google account. Chances are, you’ll already have a Google account (such as Gmail). If not, it’s quick and easy to sign up.
3. Once you’re signed in, you simply follow the prompts to start uploading your photos and videos. Be prepared: this can take a while if you have a lot of images and videos. Make sure you’re connected to wifi if you don’t want to waste your mobile data.

There’s also a web version of Google Photos for uploading pictures and videos that are stored on your computer. You can view and share images and videos via the web version but the app is better for exploring memories or creating movies.

How to View Your Photos and Videos

To view your uploaded photos and videos, you simply open the app or visit the Google Photos website from any device.

Go to https://photos.google.com on the web, or tap on the Photos tab in your app to view all your photos sorted in order of date uploaded.

The great thing about Google Photos is it doesn’t matter if you use multiple devices; as long as you’re signed in to your Google account you’ll be able to access your photos and videos.

Navigating the Google Photos App

The Google Photos app has three main tabs at the bottom: Photos, Search, and Library.

You’ll notice the app looks ever so slightly different depending on whether you’re using an iPhone/iPad or Android device.

Let’s take a closer look.

The first tab is Photos. This is where you see your past Memories and most recent photos.

The next tab is Search. This is where you can look for your photos by person, category, map, or things. You can also view your creations: animations, collages, and movies.

The third tab is Library. Here you’ll find your Albums, Favorites, Archives, and Trash. You can also make animations, collages, and movies through the Utilities option.

You view an individual photo by tapping on it. This is also how you access the options for editing and sharing a photo.

The image below explains what all the icons on a photo mean.

This is what the icons surrounding an individual photo mean:

• Cast to: Allows you to stream your photos from your phone to your TV using Chromecast. If you don’t have a Chromecast, you won’t see this icon.
• Favorite: Adds the photo to your favorites folder.
• More Options: Lets you add to album, archive, delete, and edit photo information. You can also open the image in Snapseed which is a photo editing app.
• Share: Used to easily share a photo with others. The icon looks a little different on iPhone/iPad but is in the same position as the image above.
• Edit: Used to apply filters to your photos; adjust light, color, or pop; rotate or crop the photo. If you want more complex photo editing tools you’d go to More Options (…) and then Open in Snapseed.
• Google Lens: Image recognition software designed to bring up relevant information using visual analysis. We explain this tool more further on.

Backup And Sync in the Google Photos App

If you take photos on your phone, the easiest way to get them to your Google Photos account is via backup and sync.

My phone is set to automatically upload my photos to Google Photos when I’m connected to wifi. It’s a good idea to make sure this setting is turned on if you have a limited data plan on your phone (so you don’t waste all your mobile data).

To turn on the wifi backup setting:

• Open your Google Photos app and tap on your profile image (or initial) in the upper right corner of the app.
• Tap Photos settings (the gear icon).
• The first option is Backup & sync. Toggle to activate backup & sync.
• Make sure the two options at the bottom of the screen, “Use cellular/mobile data to back up photos” and “Use cellular/mobile data to back up videos” are turned off.

Google Photos Search

Google Photos Search

Google Photos uses complex techniques to analyze and group photos which make its search very accurate and powerful!

You can search for people, pets, places, things, text, and more. You can type in search terms like “tennis”, “Sydney”, “Mike birthday”, “carrot cake recipe”, “Charlotte wedding” or anything else that springs to mind. You can have multiple search terms too like “2016 summer Steven picnic”.

What makes all these search options great is you don’t need to remember the specific date or even any specific details of the photo you’re looking for.

To find a specific image in Google Photos:

1. Click or tap on the Search tab at the bottom of the Google Photos app (or use the search bar on the web).

2.  When you start typing in your search, suggestions will pop up like recent searches, people you’ve named, location and so on.

3.  When you enter your search term you’ll see all the options which you can then scroll through and select.

Naming People and Pets

If you use Google Photos a lot, it can be very helpful to name your friends and family. You can also give pets a name!

When you click on a photo of a person or pet at the top of the Search tab, it pulls up any photo you’ve uploaded to Google Photos with them in.

Want pets included? Go to Photo settings > Group similar faces in your app and turn on Show pets with people.

You can name the faces of people for easy future searching too. This is how you do it:

1. In the Search tab of your app, you’ll see faces of people (or pets) who show up in a lot of your photos.

2. Tap on the photo of the person or pet you want to name.

3.  Tap on Add a Name.

4.  Type their name and tap Done if it’s a new name.

Or select from an existing list of names if it matches an existing name you’ve already created. Then tap Yes for merge.

Google Photos Memories

Memories is a feature that was added to Google Photos in 2019 and due to its popularity, it became a main feature of the app in mid-2020.

Memories are collections of some of your best photos and videos from the past. Memories are available on Android devices, iPhones, and iPad (not on the web version).

Only you can see your Memories unless you choose to share them.

To access your Memories, simply go to your Photos tab in your app. Memories are displayed in a carousel above the grid of your most recent photos.

Tapping on a preview for a year opens up your memories of photos and videos.

You can select the types of Memories you want to see in Settings:

• At the top right of the app, tap your account profile photo or initial and then Photo settings > Memories.
• From here you can hide particular people, pets, and dates if you don’t want to revisit these memories.

Slideshow style videos can be a powerful way to bring together the best of your school experiences and share with others.

Millions of school and college students will be graduating in the coming months. Given the current pandemic, many graduation ceremonies will be held virtually. A slideshow video can be a core feature of a virtual graduation ceremony and serve as a useful memento.

There are many other occasions where special days, events, and milestones can be marked with a photo montage video.

There are many tools out there to put together slideshow videos with music. This post summarizes 7 free online tools and apps. We also look at the legalities of music and copyright. Finally, you’ll find out how to share your completed video with others or embed it on your blog.

The tools and apps we reviewed are:

• Animoto
• Google Photos
• Quik
• Clips
• iMovie
• Lumen5
• Adobe Spark

Another option that’s currently popular with teachers is WeVideo. This is a fantastic tool but was only free to schools until June 30, 2020. So, it’s a tool you might want to explore depending on your timeline and budget.

Comparison Chart

Here’s a quick comparison of the 7 tools we review in this post. Read on to find more details and examples.

Animoto

URL: https://animoto.com/education/classroom
Use on: The web or iOS app (The Android app has been discontinued)

Animoto allows you to create videos from photos, video clips, and music. There are a number of pre-made video templates available that are designed to make the creation process quick and easy.

Animoto is an intuitive tool that allows you to create a professional-looking video in minutes.

Educators can sign up for a free account which allows you to create student accounts as well.

You can embed Animoto videos on your blog. This help guide shows you where to find the embed code.

Here’s some graduation inspiration from Animoto. Do you have a current example we can use? Let us know in a comment!

Google Photos Movies

URL: https://photos.google.com
Use on: Best on the Google Photos app (iOS | Android)

Do you use Google Photos? It’s a free service to store, organize, and share all your photos and videos. If you’d like to learn more about this service that many of our team enjoy using, check out our beginner’s guide.

You might not know that you can easily make a slideshow of your photos with music using Google Photos.

This is best done on a phone or tablet. You can do it on a computer but the computer version only allows you to create a movie from one of the pre-set themes shown below. This is unlikely to be what you’re after.

To make a movie on your Google Photos app on your phone or tablet, tap Library and then Utilities.

From here, you’ll select “Movie” and then “Create movie”.

You’ll be prompted to choose your photos or video clips (up to 50). You can then customize your creation by choosing your music and a variety of filters.

When you’re done, there are lots of sharing options. You can share your completed video with friends, save it to your device, publish it on social media, add it to your Google Drive, or share it to a service like YouTube.

Check out these instructions from Google for step-by-step directions.

Quik

URL: iOS app | Android app
Use on: Phone or tablet
Note: There is also a desktop app but it requires downloading software.

If you like creating on your phone or tablet, check out Quik by GoPro. It’s a free app with no in-app purchases.

The Quik app allows you to make video slideshows with professional transitions and music with minimal effort.

You simply select your photos or videos from your camera roll (up to 200). The app then analyses your footage to make smooth and effective transitions. You can choose from 26 themes and customize the video with 100+ music options. You can add your own music but beware of copyright. You can also add text and titles as needed.

Completed videos can be saved to your device or there are other sharing options like social media or text message.

Here’s a short tutorial video by Richard Byrne of Free Technology For Teachers.

Clips

URL: iOS app only
Use on: iPhone or iPad

If you’re looking for a simple video creation tool to use on your iPhone or iPad, Clips might be the answer.

It’s a very intuitive app that lets you create videos out of photos and video footage. There are lots of additional features like text, stickers, emojis, and filters. Because this app is easy to use and has lots of fun features, it’s always a popular choice for students as well as teachers.

Clips now offers a few options for background music; you can create your own music in GarageBand as well as using their built-in soundtracks. Additionally, you can pull in music from your iTunes account but please be cautious of copyright.

One unique feature of Clips is Live Titles which is a built-in caption feature. Users can choose to have their words appear as they speak. The words can come up all at once as static text, or as animated text with each word highlighted as they’re spoken.

Here’s an example of a short video created in Clips by teacher-librarian Jo Martin from Brandon Elementary. It’s called LEGOmania in the Library.

iMovie

URL: iOS app | macOS
Use on: iPhone, iPad, or Mac computer

iMovie is a step-up from Clips with a lot more features that allow you to create anything from a short video slideshow to an impressive full-length movie.

Unlike a lot of the tools reviewed in this post, iMovie doesn’t do the work for you. There are handy templates to enjoy but you need to add your own photos, videos, titles, and music to put your video slideshow together.

Some of the special effects available include the ability to slow down or speed up footage, as well as picture-in-picture and greenscreen effects. While these are awesome, they may be more than you need to create a simple photo montage.

If you don’t have your own music to add to the video, iMovie offers 80+ soundtracks and there is also the option to add your own voice-over narration.

Here’s an example from teacher-librarian Amy Kincaid. She used iMovie to create a video that condensed her year with Jackson Elementary students into 7 minutes.

Lumen5

URL: https://lumen5.com
Use on: Computer (or on a phone/tablet via the web browser)

Lumen5 is a free drag and drop video creator. It’s most known for its ability to turn blog posts into videos, however, it can also be a handy tool for creating video slideshows using images, short clips, GIFs, and music.

When you log in to Lumen5 and opt to “Create a Video”, you’ll be given three choices as outlined below. You can “automagically” make a video from your blog post, script, or media. 

To make a slideshow style video with music, select “Use your media”.

Lumen5 contains a library of Creative Commons Zero images and music if you need some content to complement your own collection.

This is a fabulous tool with some minor downsides being:

• The free plan allows you to make 5 videos a month in 720p resolution
• The free plan has a Lumen5 watermark
• It’s 13+ (so if you have younger students, they can’t create their own videos)
• You can’t embed your video directly onto your blog. So you have to put it on social media or YouTube first and then get the embed code from there. Or you could download the video and upload it directly into your post/page if it’s a small file. Scroll down for more details on embedding.

In this video, Richard Byrne from Free Technology For Teachers shows how to create a Lumen5 video from a blog post. You can modify the instructions and select “Use your media” if you don’t want to base your video on a blog post.

Adobe Spark Video

URL: https://spark.adobe.com/make/video-maker
Use on: The web or iOS app

If you’re an educator who is going to be using Adobe Spark, you might want to first make sure you’ve signed up for an education account. This will give you free premium features. 

Adobe Spark Video allows you to combine pictures, videos clips, icons, text, voice, and music to create compelling videos.

If you need extra footage or a soundtrack, there is a free database of images and music.

If you’d like to read a “how-to” on creating an end of year celebration video, check out this detailed explanation from Monica Burns.

Here’s an example of a video made in Adobe Spark by teacher Laura Hanser Burkhalter. She used photos that were emailed to her from members of her school community. 

Music and Copyright

When you’re creating a slideshow style video it can be extremely tempting to use popular music that reflects the mood and emotion of the footage.

As you probably know, most music is protected by copyright. It doesn’t matter if you paid for a song or not, it’s still protected by copyright. It doesn’t matter if you’re only using 30 seconds or less of a song, it’s still protected by copyright.

Normally, you can’t just use any music you like in your video creations.

However, in many countries, you are allowed to copy music to add to a video if:

a) it’s for educational purposes and
b) you’re not sharing your video publicly (or selling it!)*

So, if you make a video with music that’s protected by copyright, it’s not okay to publish this on a public blog, social media, YouTube, and so on. And you couldn’t show your video at a public event. However, it’s okay if the video is just being shown privately to teachers, students, and families at home/school.

It’s also important to note that background music is not considered “educational use”.

Despite the flexibility in these rules for educators, it’s always a good idea to not only think about loopholes but consider ethics and how to be the best digital citizen you can be. As everyone can now be a publisher, copyright is an important topic for educators and students to have a grasp on.

*Note: This is the case in Australia and the US but if you live in another country you may need to check your own guidelines. 

Here’s a brief summary of the above. You’re welcome to share this graphic on your own site, LMS, or social media with attribution.

Copyright Free Music

Luckily, many of the free online tools and apps available now have inbuilt music options that are free to use. All the tools and apps we’ve reviewed in this post have some free music options.

However, if you’re looking for some other copyright free music options, you might first like to check if you district has any subscriptions you can make the most of. For example, Soundzabound.

If this isn’t an option, there are lots of other sources of free music online. Just two are Dig CC Mixter or YouTube Audio Library.

Let’s take a look.

Dig CC Mixter

Dig CC Mixter offers thousands of hours of free music.

The music on this site has different Creative Commons licenses so you need to check whether you need to attribute the music or not.

Educational Blogger Richard Byrne’s video below explains how to use Dig CC Mixter and filter by license.

YouTube Audio Library

YouTube also has a great library of music you can use. In case you’re wondering, using an online tool to download music from a YouTube video is not okay.

Visit the Audio Library on YouTube to browse the selections.

If you click on Attribution, you can filter your results to find music that doesn’t need to be attributed.

You can preview the music to see what it sounds like and download the music you want to use.

Here’s an example called Sunshine in my Heart by Jingle Punks.

There are many other ways you can find copyright free music online so please let us know if you have a favorite.

How To Add A Video To Your Blog

Videos can be quick and easy to make but sharing them can be more difficult due to large file sizes.

If you want to share your video on your blog or website, first check whether the tool you’re using offers an embed code. If you’re using an online tool like Animoto or Adobe Spark Video you’ll be able to use an embed code to add the video to your blog quickly and easily. You can find the full instructions on how to embed videos in this Help Guide.

If you’re not using an online video tool that offers an embed code, you’ll want to download the video to your device. From there you’ll upload your video to a third party service and then embed it. Most videos are too large to upload directly to your blog or site.

These are third party services you might consider to house your videos:

• An online hosting site (e.g. YouTube, Vimeo, TeacherTube)
• Google Drive
• A Cloud service like DropBox or OneDrive
• Social media (many services have limits on video length e.g. Instagram 60 seconds, Twitter 2 minutes 20 seconds, LinkedIn 10 minutes, Facebook 120 minutes)

If you’re uploading your educational videos to a platform like YouTube or social media, check your school/district guidelines for advice and choose your privacy settings carefully.

Once you’ve uploaded to one of these services, you can embed the video on your blog, website, or LMS, or share a link. If you’re embedding a video, you can use the instructions below.

Methods For Embedding Videos

Videos from video sharing websites can be embedded into posts or pages by either using:

1. The video URL: Paste the URL on a line by itself in your post/page editor where you want the video to appear. This method only works with certain services, like YouTube.
2. The embed code: Find the embed code on the site you’re using (e.g. YouTube) and copy it. Then in your post put your cursor where you want the video. Click on Add Media and then Insert Embed Code. Paste the code and press Insert into post. Note: embedding isn’t available on free blogs to prevent misuse from spammers.

You can find the full instructions on how to embed videos in this Help Guide or check out the PDF below for detailed instructions for YouTube.

Download the PDF of the embedding instructions.

Do You Have Any Tools Or Examples To Share?

Sometimes it’s helpful to play around with a few different tools or apps to see if they’re what you’re after. No doubt you’ll soon settle on a favorite that you will end up using time and time again.

We’d love to see some more examples of video slideshows created by teachers (or students!). Do you have one to share? Please leave the link in a comment below so we can take a look.

We’d also love you to comment if you can recommend another free online tool or app that other educators might find useful.

We look forward to hearing from you!

Related Posts

You might also enjoy reading:

The Educator’s Guide To Using Video In Teaching And Learning

How To Deal With Student And Class Blogs At The End Of The Year

10 End Of Year Blogging Activities

A Beginner’s Guide To Google Slides In The Classroom

By Kathleen Morris

You’re probably familiar with the range of free, web-based tools offered by Google within its Google Drive service?

These tools include Google Docs, Google Sheets, Google Forms, and Google Slides. They’ve become staples in classrooms, homes, and businesses around the world.

For teachers and students, Google Slides is one of the most exciting and versatile tools on offer.

Maybe you’ve heard of Google Slides and you’re wondering how you can use it in the classroom?

Or perhaps, you’ve dabbled with Google Slides but you’re not sure exactly how it can be used beyond presentations?

Or are you a blogger wondering how Google Slides can complement your blog posts?

You’re probably familiar with Microsoft PowerPoint — the software used to create and present slideshows?

Google Slides is similar except it’s hosted online and allows for multiple people to collaborate on the same presentation in real time.

Quick facts about Google Slides:

• It’s free.
• You can start with a blank document or use a pre-designed template. 
• It’s available via the web, a mobile app (Android, iOS, Windows, BlackBerry), and as a desktop application on Google’s ChromeOS.
• PowerPoint files can be imported into Google Slides and then edited. Your Google Slides presentations can be exported as a PowerPoint file, PDF, JPEG, PNG and more.
• Images and video can be added to presentations. As of April 2019, audio can also be added (this feature is currently being rolled out — see below for more details).
• There are many sharing options for your Google Slides presentation. It can be private, you can share it with select people, or you can share it publicly on the web. You can choose whether people can view or edit your presentation.
• If you’re collaborating with others on a Google Slides presentation, you can chat, leave comments, and work simultaneously on the same presentation.
• Your work is automatically saved as you work on your presentation.
• You can present your slides within the platform (View > Present). You can either plug your computer into a screen or use Chromecast or AirPlay to show a live audience. You can also present virtually via Google Hangouts.
• You can add real-time automatic captions when you present in Google Slides. Find out more here.
• There are many add-ons available for Google Slides. These are tools from 3rd party developers to add more functionality to Google Slides. Most add-ons are free but some have paid premium versions. Learn more about add-ons by reading Eric Curts’ post: 9 Awesome Add-ons to Supercharge Google Slides.
• Google Slides presentations can be embedded in blogs and websites.

Here’s a graphic summary of the above. Feel free to share it with colleagues who want to learn more about Google Slides.

You’ll need a Google Account to access Google Slides. There’s a high chance you already have one! This is the same username/password you use for Gmail and other Google Products. You might also have a school Google account.

If you haven’t got a Google account yet, you can sign up here:

Google Drive is the place where your Google Slides presentations are stored. It’s also one of the ways you can start a new Google Slides presentation.

You access your Google Drive on the web through this URL:

Click on New in the top left-hand corner. Then click on Google Slides and either Blank Presentation or From a template.

Other Ways To Start A New Google Slides Presentation

• You can go straight to your Google Slides collection to view past Slides and create a new one using this URL https://docs.google.com/presentation
• In late 2018, Google introduced some new shortcut URLs to start new Google Slides. You simply type these into your browser to start a new Slides presentation. They are:
  • slide.new
  • slides.new
  • deck.new
  • presentation.new
• You can also start a new Slides presentation in the app (Android | iOS)

Using Google Slides Offline

Rolling out from late April 2019, there’s a new way to access Google Slides when you’re offline or have poor internet connection.

The first step is to enable offline access in your Drive settings.

How to enable offline access for Google Slides:

• Go to your Google Drive and click the gear icon at the top right corner
• Select Settings > General and select “Sync Google Docs, Sheets, Slides, and Drawings files to this computer” so you can edit offline.
• You can then right-click on any file in your Google Drive and select “Available offline” from the menu (while connected to the internet).
• You’ll need the free Chrome Google Docs Offline extension to access your offline documents.

Check out the full instructions to access Google Slides offline on any device here.

You’ll notice when you start a new Google Slides presentation, using the methods described above, you have the option to build a blank presentation or work from a pre-designed template.

Whatever option you choose, creating your presentation is straightforward.

Here are the basics of creating a Google Slides presentation.

• You add text via text boxes which you can drag around to suit.
• You then insert other elements via “Insert” on the main toolbar. These elements include:
  • images
  • video
  • audio
  • shapes
  • tables
  • charts
  • diagrams
  • word art
  • animations
• Use the + button on the top left to add a new slide
• Right-click on your slide on the left navigation panel to duplicate it (this can be easier than building a slide from scratch). Duplicate is also found under the “Slide” menu.

This diagram shows the basic functions you will use most with Google Slides. Feel free to share it with your students or colleagues.

Click on the image to enlarge it.

Learn More About Google Slides

Learn more about getting started with Slides with the G Suite Learning Centre. 

“Get started with Slides” is an easy to follow tutorial that’s suitable for both teachers and students.

Video Tutorials: Google Slides Overview

This two-minute video tutorial provides a simple overview of Google Slides basics.

After a more detailed video? Check out David Lee’s 12-minute introduction to Google Slides.

In April 2019, Google began rolling out the ability to add audio to Google Slides presentations. This long-requested function could be very handy for teachers and students.

Audio can be great for reflection, narration, feedback, and all sorts of creative projects.

Want more examples of how audio can enhance Google Slides for teachers and students? Kasey Bell has written a blog post that shares 25 Ways to Use Audio in Google Slides Projects.

Although the ability to add audio is a great new feature, you can’t record audio directly into your Slides presentation.

As Eric Curts explains,

You see, even though we can now add audio to a Google slideshow, there isn’t a simple built-in recording button. Instead you need to record the audio separately with another program, then save it to Drive, and then add it to a slide.

Thankfully, Eric has put together a helpful collection of 4 Free and Easy Audio Recording Tools for Google Slides.

The tools Eric recommends to make audio recordings are:

• ChromeMP3 Recorder from HablaCloud
• Online Voice Recorder
• Beautiful Audio Editor
• TwistedWave

You can find out all about this process and how exactly you insert audio into Google Slides in Eric’s blog post, podcast, or video.

The simplest and most obvious way to use Google Slides is to create a slide deck. That is, a collection of slides put together to form a presentation.

A slide deck is used to support an oral presentation.

There are many times when teachers or students might need a basic slide deck:

• Teachers can create a slide deck to support the lessons they’re presenting to students.
• Students can make a Slides presentation to accompany an oral presentation that’s part of their classwork.
• Students or teachers can create slide decks when they need to showcase learning or share school programs (e.g. information evening, school assembly, parent-teacher night, etc.).
• Teachers can collaborate on a slide deck for a conference or staff meeting presentation.

Apart from these basic uses, there is so much more you can do with Google Slides.

Let’s take a look…

Kasey Bell isn’t wrong when she calls Google Slides the Swiss Army knife of G Suite. Let’s take a look at some creative ways you could use Google Slides in the classroom.

1) Introduce Your Class

Alethea Vazquez is a teacher who participated in the Student Blogging Challenge with her students a number of times. Her students collaborated on a great Google Slides presentation to introduce themselves on their class blog.

In this post, Alethea explains how she carried out this process. It involved giving students a Slides template that they could edit.

Take a look at the end result. This is perfect for an About page on a class blog.

2) Make Choose Your Own Adventure Stories

Remember those Choose Your Own Adventure books that were popular in past decades?

Creating a similar style of “interactive fiction” is a creative way to use Google Slides. It includes a certain amount of planning as teacher Kevin Hodgson explains in this post.

Here’s an example of interactive fiction using Google Slides by Kevin Hodgson. He shared this on his class blog as an example for students.

Tutorials For Choose Your Own Adventure Stories

• Check out this post by Eric Curts for a detailed explanation
• Jake Miller has made a useful GIF to explain the instructions
• This resource from Google explains how to make a collaborative “If-then Adventure Story”

As Kevin Hodgson says,

Most of my students really enjoy this writing, as it is very different from traditional pieces we do, but a few do struggle with the unconventionality of it. That’s OK, too, for what I am trying to show them is that writing is not one form, but many forms and always adaptable.

3) Try Collaborative Storytelling And Research

Two students in Linda Yollis’ third grade class collaborated together on a Google Slides presentation for the Student Blogging Challenge.

They shared their experiences of traveling to London with their own families and included some great research.

They embedded their presentation on their personal blogs — check out “Jodie Bloom’s blog and “Sarah Gold’s” blog. These are pen names.

4) Compile Individual Slides Into One: Poetry Example

Sometimes you might want students to all contribute one slide to a group presentation.

There are two ways to do this:

• You can start a new Slides presentation and share this template with the class. You would assign a slide number to each student. You just need to make sure students don’t interfere with other students’ slides.
• Or, you can have students create their own new Slides presentation and then share their completed slide with you. You can then compile all slides into one group Slides presentation. These instructions from Erintegration explain how to do this.

Here’s an example I made with students where they wrote their own Haiku poem. The students could write a few examples in their own Slides presentation and share their favorite one with me for the class compilation.

5) Share Photos Of Work That’s Not Digital

Google Slides doesn’t have to just be used to share digital work. It can be used to share and present any work students complete in the classroom.

Here’s an example where my students created their own Wacky Wednesday rhyme and illustration after studying the Dr. Seuss book.

I took photographs of all the students’ work and put them in a Google Slides presentation.

Readers were invited to guess the ‘wacky’ things they found in the students’ pictures.

Tip: Make A Photo Slideshow With PowerPoint

I found the easiest way to do this was to add the album of images to a PowerPoint presentation. You just need to go to Insert > Photo Album > New Photo Album. PowerPoint can position one image per slide automatically.

You then save your PowerPoint and import it into Google Slides (these instructions show you how).

6) Flip Your Classroom: Create A Self Guided Lesson

Google Slides is a great way to help someone work through a lesson, either in a live classroom setting, or in their own time.

You’ve probably heard of the term “flipped classroom”? This is where students can learn content outside of the classroom freeing up face-to-face class time for rich discussions, projects, collaborations and so on.

Teachers can prepare Google Slides presentations that walk students through lessons. Students can work through these presentations at their own pace and in their own time. A similar model can be used for staff professional development.

Here is an example from instructional technology coach, Noah King. Noah used a blog post I wrote about how to teach students to research online to create a Slides presentation to use with 5th graders.

Read more about this Slides presentation here.

7) Make Images

Google Slides offers a blank canvas where creations can be download into image formats like JPEG and PNG.

For those reasons, it’s a great way for students and teachers to make images that they can print or use digitally.

Examples of images you could create in Google Slides:

• Blog headers
• Other blog images (e.g. see the example of the promotional graphic at the start of this post. These are great to share on social media).
• Certificates
• Comics
• Photos with captions
• Flowcharts, mindmaps, or other graphic organizers
• How-to tutorials
• Classroom labels

Note: Another option for making images is Google Drawings. In this Venn diagram, Tony Vincent shows us how Google Drawings and Google Slides are the same and different.

Be sure to follow Tony on Twitter or Instagram as he often shares tips for using Google Slides and other tech tools.

How To Make A Graphic Or Image Using Google Slides

#1 Open Google Slides

You can work with a blank presentation or a template.

#2 Change your image size (optional)

If you want your image to be a certain size (e.g. the size of your blog header), you can change this in File > Page Setup > Custom. You can enter the dimensions you’re after in inches, centimeters, points, or pixels.

Tip: If you’re making a blog header, you’ll find the required dimensions in Customizer as demonstrated here.

#3 Make your background transparent (or another color)

If you want your image to have a transparent background, click on File > Change background.

Then choose Transparent (or another color).

If you select a transparent background, there will be no background when you download your image as PNG or JPEG.

#4 Create your design

Add the text, images, and shapes that you’d like on your design.

Tip: If you want to experiment with a design element but you’re not sure if you’ll like it, duplicate your slide before making your changes. Then you can choose the one you like best.

Right-click on the slide in the navigation panel and select “Duplicate slide”.

#5 Save your design as an image

When you’re ready, go to File > Download as > JPEG image or PNG image. Save your image to your device. 

You’ll then have an image file that you can print or use in your digital creations.

Here is a simple blog header image I made with Google Slides by modifying a template.

These 7 examples are only the tip of the iceberg of ways you could use Google Slides in the classroom.

We’d love you to share your own examples in a comment. Scroll down to find the comment box.

As you’ve seen, Google Slides can be used in so many different ways. You can amplify this learning even more by sharing your work with an authentic audience on your blog.

Google Slides presentations can be easily embedded in blog posts or pages using HTML code (don’t worry if you’ve never done this before — it’s easy).

Note: If you’re using Edublogs, you’ll need Edublogs Pro or CampusPress in order to embed HTML code. This is to prevent misuse by spammers.

Let’s take a look at how to embed a Google Slides presentation into a blog post or page. You’ll find the written instructions below and then a video and PDF version.

This is a two-step process. First, you need to get the embed code from your Slides presentation then add it to your blog.

Step One: Get the embed code for your Slides presentation

1) Open your Slides presentation

You can go to your Drive or directly to your Slides collection to find your presentation. Double click on the presentation to open it.

2) Publish to the web

Go to File > Publish to the web

You’ll find File in the top left-hand corner of your page.

Click on Embed. There are a few options to control the size and speed of the slides. Changing these options isn’t essential (medium is usually a good size).

Click on Publish.

You’ll receive a warning that you’re about to publish to the web. Press OK.

3) Copy the embed code

After you press OK, your HTML embed code will appear in a box. You need to copy this code to add to your blog post or page.

How to copy:

• Click on the text to highlight it if it’s not already highlighted
• Press Control C (Windows) or Command C (Mac)
• Alternatively, right-click and press Copy

Note: If you ever want to unpublish your Slides presentation so it’s not available on the web, repeat these steps and click on the small arrow at the bottom of the box that says Published content and settings. Select Stop publishing.

Step Two: Add the embed code to your blog post or page

These instructions show how to add your Slides presentation to a blog post. The same process applies to pages.

1) Open your post

Go to your blog dashboard and open the post you’re working on. Or, go to Posts > Add New.

2) Add Media

Place your cursor where you want the Slides presentation to appear and then click on the Add Media button.

3) Insert Embed Code

In the Add Media window, click on the Insert Embed Code tab on the left.

4) Paste Embed Code

Paste the embed code into the Insert Embed code box.

How to paste:

• Press Control V (Windows) or Command V (Mac)
• Alternatively, right-click and select Paste

Click Insert Into Post.

5) Publish

When you’ve finished writing your post, click Publish.

You should now see your embedded Slides presentation when you view the published post. You can also preview your post to see what it looks like before publishing.

Here’s an example of an embedded Google Slides presentation.

This 3 minute video takes you through the process described above.

You’re welcome to print this 2 page PDF to show your students or colleagues how to embed their Google Slides presentation into a blog post or page.

>>Click here to download a copy of the PDF

If you’re teaching remotely, you’ll need to offer your students a planner or lesson descriptions.

Some teachers put their planners in a Google Slides presentation.

Don’t forget to add these Slides presentations to a blog, LMS, or website so they don’t get lost).

• You can include text, links, and videos of yourself teaching to a Slides presentation amongst other things.
• One major benefit is you can copy and edit your planner so you don’t have to start from scratch each day.
• Check out this post by Alice Keeler for more advice on using Slides in remote learning.

Here’s an example from US kindergarten teacher Megan Peschke @MeganPeschke). Don’t be put off by the age group. This idea could be adapted for any age!

Click here to view the Google Slides presentation in a new tab.

Instructions for Editing and Using Megan’s Google Slides

1. Click on this link:

2. You will be prompted to make a copy (screenshot below).

3. The Slides will be saved in your Google Drive.

4. You can edit the Google Slides to suit.

SlidesMania have also published a fantastic free weekly planner template that can be used in Google Slides or PowerPoint. Find it here. 

Google Slides is a versatile way for teachers and students to create, collaborate, and present. There’s a lot you can do with Google Slides beyond a standard oral presentation.

Many teachers and students enjoy embedding their Google Slides presentations into a blog post or page. Sharing work with an authentic audience yields many benefits!

How are you using Google Slides?

Do you have any tips or examples to share?

Do you have any questions about Google Slides?

Leave a comment below. We’d love to hear from you.

You might also be interested in reading:

A Beginner’s Guide To Google Photos

Canva In The Classroom: Getting Started, Example Designs, And Tips!

Six Tools To Create Interactive Learning Content On Your Blog

Teaching and visuals go hand in hand!

Using visual aids has always been a solid strategy for engaging students and supporting learning. Clearly designed visuals can also streamline communication across the whole school community.

In the past, we had to often settle for purchasing impersonal visuals or laboriously making our own.

There are now a number of free online tools that allow you to make all sorts of professional-looking graphics. My favorite one is Canva!

Teachers are not the only ones who can benefit from using Canva. We are now saturated with visual media and it’s becoming increasingly important for students to have strong visual literacy skills. Canva can help students communicate messages and tell stories in a variety of ways.

This post explains how to get started with the free version of Canva. I offer 10 examples of the sorts of things you can make for your classroom with Canva.

And if you think you have zero design skills, don’t worry! It’s not a problem with Canva and I have some tips that will help you look like a pro in no time.

Canva Basics

This is Canva in a nutshell:

• Canva has millions of users worldwide and is popular in many industries, including education.
• Students under 13 can use Canva if they’re ‘appropriately supervised’. (Read Richard Byrne’s post about this topic for further clarification).
• Canva is a web-based tool but there are also apps for Android and iOS.
• The free plan allows you to make unlimited creations and download them in high quality without watermarks. This sets Canva apart from some similar tools.
• The paid ‘Canva for Work‘ plan gives you access to more templates, images, and icons etc. It also allows you to resize your design without starting again (e.g. you might make something in A4 size then want a smaller version to share on social media). Additionally, you can download your designs with a transparent background (handy for logos, badges, buttons etc.).
• Canva uses a drag and drop interface which is very simple to use but like all tools, does require a little bit of playing around to develop fluency. It’s worth the investment in time!
• In December 2019, Canva introduced a video editor to its range of tools. Read more about the 2020 updates here.

Great news! As of December 2019, the paid premium version of Canva is now free for teachers and students. Read more here. 

Getting Started With Canva

The first thing you’ll need to do is sign up for a free Canva account.

Head to https://www.canva.com. From here you’ll be asked to enter your name and select your purpose for using Canva.

You can then sign up with your Facebook account, Google account, or email.

There are a number of ways you can learn how to use Canva. Like any tool, spending some time ‘playing around’ can be helpful.

Canva Starter Challenge

This tutorial for beginners walks you through some of the basics of Canva. You’ll learn how to use color, images, objects, templates, and more.

This challenge would be ideal to set for students too.

Video

Get an idea of how to use Canva in less than two minutes in this video. 

Check out Canva’s YouTube channel for more helpful video tutorials.

Quick Start Guide

Canva’s Quick Start Guide goes through:

• How to use the Canva homepage
• Finding your way around the Canva editor
• Creating your first design
• Publishing your design
• Design tips and tricks

Canva’s Design School

This is a resource hub for learning the basics of designing with Canva. The teaching section has workshops, lessons, and ideas from a community of education experts.

10 Designs You Can Create With Canva

You can create pretty much any graphic design you can think of using Canva.

Visit Canva’s template library to browse the templates you can adapt.

Let’s take a look at 10 sorts of designs that might be helpful in the classroom or wider school community.

1. Posters
2. Presentations
3. Infographics
4. Business cards
5. Certificates
6. Labels
7. Newsletters
8. Social graphics
9. Class logo
10. Blog header

1) Posters

Posters are staples for school communication and are a great way for students to demonstrate their learning.

You or your students can choose from pages and pages full of poster templates. There’s everything from inspirational quotes (like the one below), classroom rules or procedures, upcoming events, and so on.

2) Presentations

You might give presentations to staff, students, or parents, or perhaps your students present to the class from time to time.

There are options beyond PowerPoint and Google Slides; Canva offers lots of professional-looking templates that can blow your audience away!

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3) Infographics

All sorts of infographics, charts, timelines, or graphs can be created with Canva to clearly present information. Infographics not only serve as a great visual aid for teaching but can also spice up blog posts.

This post walks you through the process of creating your own effective infographic.

4) Business Cards

A business card can be a handy way to display your contact information and links to your virtual spaces, including your blog.

You could display a ‘business card’ as an image on the sidebar of your blog, or print some out, laminate them, attach a magnet to the back, and send them home!

Including both the URL and including a QR code offers your community choice. Many people love using QR codes because they can simply use their phone’s camera to scan the code and they’ll be on the website in seconds.

Tips on QR codes:

• You can create a QR code for your blog with a transparent background using a tool like this one from Pinetools.
• You can then upload the QR code as an image and add it to your design.
• Show students and families how to scan a QR code using the camera of their phone or tablet to go straight to the blog.

5) Certificates

Create professional looking certificates with just a few clicks using Canva templates. These might be useful for student awards, graduation, sports, or certificates of appreciation for members of the school community.

6) Labels

What teacher doesn’t like a nicely labeled classroom? Clear and attractive labels can help you and your student get organized while brightening up the learning environment.

Tip on size: With Canva, you can create labels for equipment, books, and stationery that are a perfect fit. From your Canva homepage, click on ‘Custom dimensions’ on the right-hand side.

You can enter your required width and height in pixels, inches, millimeters, or centimeters.

You can also explore Canva’s label hub that makes it easy to design all sorts of labels that you can print yourself or order professional prints.

7) Newsletters

Whether you’re designing a newsletter to print or distribute digitally, a clear and attractive design can really help engage your readers and get your message across.

Once you decide on a template that works well, you can re-use the design to build the consistent ‘brand’ of your class or school.

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Download

8) Social Graphics For Your Blog

Have you got a class blog or teacher blog? Adding images or graphics to your posts is really going to add impact and make your content easier to read.

Bloggers also often create a graphic to accompany their blog post which makes a social media post stand out.

The graphic is generally just the title of the blog post with an image and the blog URL — perhaps with blogger’s name or social media handle too.

Whenever we create a new post on The Edublogger, we create a simple graphic to go with it. For example:

9) Class Logo

Build community and morale by coming up with a class name and logo. Perhaps students could have a go at designing a logo and then put it to a vote!

You could display your logo on your blog, on your bulletin board, on notes home, and use it as an avatar if you have class Twitter or Instagram accounts etc.

10) Blog Header

Many teachers and students like to give their blog a personal touch by using a custom header image. It’s easy to make your own custom blog header using Canva.

The first thing you’ll need to do is go Appearance > Customize in your blog dashboard. If you don’t see the Header Image section in the Customizer, it means your theme doesn’t support the use of a custom header image.

When you click on Header Image in the Customizer, it will show you the dimensions of your header image. Make a note of this. For example:

You’ll then go to Canva and click on ‘Custom dimensions’. You’ll need to input your required dimensions (e.g. 1000 x 150 pixels as per the example above).

You’ll then have a blank canvas to work from. The first thing you might want to do is drag across a simple rectangular grid.

This will allow you to then find a free image to drag over and it will fill the space of your design.

Next, you can add text and other elements to complete your design.

When you’re done, download your design as JPEG or PNG and follow these instructions to upload it to your blog. Easy!

Design Tips

I’m no design expert but it’s something I really enjoy learning about. Here are my 5 top tips for designing with Canva! I’d love to hear yours too.

1. Less is more. Cliche but true. It’s easy to ‘over-design’ when there are SO many images, shapes, fonts, patterns etc. to use. Try not to use too many colors, keep text minimal, don’t use too many different fonts, and generally avoid clutter.
2. Be consistent. You don’t need to reinvent the wheel every time you start a new design. In fact, consistency helps to create your ‘brand’. Consider sticking with the same sorts of fonts and colors etc.
3. Can you read it? If you’re using text, make sure it can be read easily. Sometimes you need to change the colors of your design. Or if you’re putting text over an image, place it over a solid or semi-transparent shape. Alternatively, putting a filter over the image might help make the text stand out.
4. Keep it neat. You want all the elements in your design to line up nicely. Canva shows you grid lines to make alignment easy, although it can sometimes take a little playing around to get your design just right!
5. Look around. Once you start designing, it can be helpful to look around you for examples of designs you like. Canva’s template library is a great place to start! You can easily adapt your favorite designs to make them your own.

How Did Canva Come About?

The story of Canva began when 19 year old Australian Melanie Perkins found that students were struggling to learn the basics of graphic design.

Melanie partnered with Cliff Obrecht to launch Fusion Books, an online design tool that made it easy for students and teachers to create their own yearbooks.

Realizing this technology could be used more broadly, they launched Canva.

There is a lot written about the story of Canva. You can follow the timeline of events on their website or listen to this interesting interview with Melanie on NPR’s popular How I Built This podcast.

If you’re using Canva with students it could be interesting to share the story of how the company came about.

Melanie and Cliff were not long out of high school themselves when they dived into their entrepreneurial journey. No doubt they could offer inspiration for young people everywhere!

Show Us Your Designs!

Have you tried using Canva? We’d love to see your creations. Pop a link in the comment box below.

Do you have any other favorite tools for graphic design? Tell us about them.

We’d also love to know if you have any other Canva tips or tricks.

Happy designing!