Interactive Slides

Interactive Slides Background

This week I worked on creating an interactive resource using Google Slides. This was the first time I really created something interactive via Google Slides, so it took me a while to get everything set up. My first step was to mentally come up with a game plan on how I wanted my interactive slides to work. After I knew what I wanted, I created my slides and added the content (this week my topic was the three branches of US government). Once I had my content, I started to create links between my slides. One of my goals was that my users would be able to go back and forth between the necessary slides with ease. Below is an example:

Users can click on "Lesson" to go straight to the lesson, "Review" to jump to the review, and "Next Class" to see what the topic of the next class will be. I also set my links up so that students can have a choice in the order that they want to go over the content. 
Students can decide which branch of the government that they want to start at. They just click on the word or image and it jumps to that section of the Slides. This function is also useful for review. A student might not need to review the executive branch, but might want to brush up on the legislative and judicial branches. This allows them to go through only what they need to. 




There are also places in the Slides presentation for student input. Using Google Classrooms, I could create a copy of the Slides for each student so they can answer the discussion questions and do the review. Here are two examples from my Slides that are designed for the students to interact:

This slide is meant for students to drag over the attributes to the correct branch.
The slide is for students to write down their thoughts about the discussion question.










What I struggled with

I tried locking the screen on my Quick Review page so that the only thing students could move were the attributes and qualifications. I looked up several videos on how to do this. I tried taking a screen shot of what I wanted locked and then creating a background layout using that image. For whatever reason, Slides wouldn't take the image. I will probably go back and try again later!

I don't want to say that I struggled with linking my slides, but it was very time consuming. Getting everything linked up probably took a little over an hour. I had to go through my presentation several times to make sure everything was linked to the correct slide. However, I'm sure the more that I use linking, the easier it will be!

Final Thoughts

Like most things, I'm sure my Slides can be improved upon. I'm already brainstorming things that I can add to differentiate the presentation for my students. Even though this was a lot of work, I actually enjoyed playing around with the different features that I can use. Overall, I'm proud of my creation!

Link to my Slides



Comments

  1. UnknownSeptember 26, 2018 at 7:16 AM

    Katie, I love the way your Google Slides look. I can tell it wasn't an easy project to do. I "struggled" with it too so you are definitely NOT the only one. I can't wait to see what you do for next week!

    ReplyDelete
  2. UnknownSeptember 28, 2018 at 10:44 AM

    Thanks Elisabeth! Honestly, it was a lot of work. I'm not sure I would do it again for such basic content. This week I'm working on a much smaller resource!

    ReplyDelete
  3. UnknownSeptember 30, 2018 at 12:38 AM

    This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  4. UnknownSeptember 30, 2018 at 12:39 AM

    There is a function to add something to the theme when you right click on the object. That is kind of like freezing. It makes the object part of the background. Maybe that would help with your Quick Review page.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. UnknownSeptember 30, 2018 at 11:10 AM

      I tried doing it that way but my computer was acting up. I was able to do that for another presentation though so I'm going to try and go back and do it for my Quick Review page, like you suggested. Thanks for the advice!

      Delete
  5. AnonymousSeptember 30, 2018 at 6:29 AM

    Wow! Your presentation is so interactive and engaging. I actually learned a lot! I like the way you created a home page to start off the lesson. By doing that, it makes the presentation seem more like a lesson or even a flipped lecture. I think I'll incorporate that into my projects from now on.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. UnknownSeptember 30, 2018 at 12:33 PM

      Thanks Robin! I was kind of thinking of the presentation design like a website, which led me to create a lesson, review, and next class "tab". Thanks for your comment!

      Delete
  6. Amanda BaumgartenSeptember 30, 2018 at 8:41 AM

    Oh wow, that is quite the presentation! You obviously put a lot of time and effort into it and it shows!

    ReplyDelete

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