Do you use Google products in your classroom? Google added a new feature last spring and I think it's worth exploring whether you're teaching remotely or in person.
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There's
an easy fix for this, and the five minutes it takes to insert directions into
Google Slides will make your life and that of your students so much easier!
Students can self-pace, they're helped if they didn't catch all of your
directions the first time, and the kid who was in the bathroom when you were
talking will know what to do.
Recording Yourself
Use the voice recorder on your laptop. From my PC, I just clicked on the Windows pane in the lower left-hand corner and typed in "voice recorder." It took me to a page that looked like this (I have previously saved recordings.)
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Click the blue microphone and start talking. That's it! When you're finished,
click stop and your recording will automatically be saved. Rename it so you
don't forget what you did!
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When you right-click on the file name, it'll show you the file location so you
can find it.
Change
the Format
DO
NOT skip this step. If you do, you'll spend at least an hour grumbling at your
laptop. Not that I'm speaking from experience!)
- Voice Recorder saves
audios as mp4's
- Google wants mp3's
Go to a free online audio converter like this one, insert your file and click convert. It's that simple.
Save that file.
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Insert into Google Slides
Open the Google Slides you're planning to use and go to the Slide where you
want to insert your audio file. Click on Insert and Audio.
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Upload
the file you want to use. It takes seconds to upload and then you'll see a
little icon that looks like this on the slide:
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You can move it around anywhere on the slide that you want. |
Why You Might Want to Adjust the Settings
If
you leave everything alone, students have to click on the icon to hear your
instructions. Sometimes that's a good thing, other times, not so much.
To make sure that students hear the instructions, click on Format
Options; that takes you to the right side of the screen. Scroll down to
Audio Playback and change "on click" to "automatically."
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And that, my friends, is how it's done.
It'll take you no more than a few minutes to do, and save you a lot of time!
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Thanks for sharing. It's been fun following your journey online from afar. This is something I wish Google would make easier and surprised they haven't yet. Perhaps it's a Mac thing, but don't audio files need to be uploaded to your drive first to add them to Google Slides?
ReplyDeleteHi Drew,
ReplyDeleteWhen you go to insert the audio files, you upload them as part of the insertion, but that's a pretty seamless process. I just read this morning, about a Chrome extension for audio called Mote. I want to check that out, especially if it makes the process easier!