Google Slides is an incredibly versatile tool for teachers. With its wide range of features, ease of use, and seamless integration with other Google Workspace apps, Google Slides has become an essential part of many classrooms. Here are some tips on how to make the most of Google Slides for teaching and learning.
Collaborating with Students
One of the best features of Google Slides is the ability for multiple people to collaborate on presentations in real-time. As a teacher, you can:
- Share a blank presentation with students and have them work simultaneously to add slides
- Assign different slides or sections to individual students or groups
- Give feedback and suggestions directly within Slides using the comment feature
Allowing students to collaborate on presentations fosters teamwork, creativity, and higher-order thinking as they make decisions about content and design together.
Creating Interactive Lessons
With add-ons like Pear Deck, you can turn presentations into interactive lessons. Embed questions, polls, drawing canvases, and more to gauge student understanding and keep them engaged.
Other ideas for interactivity:
- Link slides to additional resources, videos, or sites for self-directed learning
- Use hyperdocs with links, images, and activities
- Embed formative assessments or exit tickets
Presenting Information Visually
One major benefit of Slides over static documents is the ability to communicate ideas visually using:
- Images
- Charts and graphs
- Video
- Animations and transitions
Visual elements enhance engagement, support different learning styles, and aid retention and transfer of concepts.
Formatting Slides for Accessibility
Make sure your Slides are accessible for all learners by:
- Using high contrast colors
- Ensuring text stands out clearly from backgrounds
- Adding alternative text descriptions for images, charts, etc.
- Enabling closed captioning for embedded videos
- Creating logical heading structure
Sharing Presentations
Once your presentation is ready, sharing it is simple. You can:
- Present directly from within Slides in class
- Share a link for students to view
- Export and upload to your LMS
- Embed the slides in a Google Site or other web page
- Print handouts of the slides
And if students have Google accounts, they can make their own copy of the Slides file to annotate slides, take notes, and review material.
Finding Inspiration
If you need some fresh ideas for presentations, use the Slides Explore feature. Just open a blank presentation, click Explore, and filter by category to discover new layouts and design elements.
The Slides templates gallery also contains thousands of pre-made templates on every topic you can imagine. Copy and customize templates to give your Slides a professional look in minutes.
With its flexibility, collaboration features, and ever-expanding set of capabilities, Google Slides is an essential tool for any teacher. Follow these tips to create interactive and engaging lessons that aid student understanding and reach learners of all types.
