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Tag: Google Slides

Three Things I Wish Google Would Copy From PowerPoint

Dale

As a longtime user of both Google Slides and PowerPoint, there are some key features in Microsoft’s presentation software that I really wish Google would add to Slides.

Wipe Animation – This is the one I miss the most! I used this animation extensively when I taught physics because vectors, diagrams, and graphs are a core part of the subject. With the wipe animation in PowerPoint, you can make objects look like they are being drawn on the screen. This creates a fluid, natural motion like you’re illustrating on a whiteboard. It allowed me to break down concepts step-by-step, revealing each part of a diagram or graph sequentially.

PowerPoint: Use the WIPE animation to draw objects on the screen

Add Sections – Another useful feature in PowerPoint that I wish Google Slides would adopt is the ability to divide a presentation into sections. PowerPoint allows you to break up your slides into logical subgroups by using the Add Section option. This provides a clear visual outline of your presentation flow. You can collapse and expand the sections to get a high-level view or quickly navigate to a particular part. The section feature helps organize complex presentations with many slides. Without sections, long presentations in Google Slides just turn into an endless grid of thumbnails that are difficult to manage. The section functionality is a real time-saver and keeps things tidy even in lengthy presentations.

PowerPoint: Add Sections

Timing Controls – PowerPoint also provides superior timing controls over Google Slides. In Slides, you can only adjust the animation and transition duration using a slider, making it hard to precisely review or enter times.

Why does Google Slides hide the duration?

PowerPoint lets you directly type in a custom duration and even add delays before animations and transitions begin. Another limitation in Slides is the maximum 5 second duration for animations and transitions. PowerPoint has no limits – you can add any duration. This is helpful for creating countdown timers that can run for minutes while your audience is completing an activity. Google Slides unfortunately lags behind in enabling such fine-tuned timing editing and flexibility.

PowerPoint: Easily review and enter times

While Google Slides offers simplicity, I think its shortcomings have limited our presentations. Without the robust controls and capabilities present in PowerPoint, more and more Google Slides presentations are becoming static pages that deprive presenters the opportunity to ease an audience toward an idea or to tell a story. I hope Google Slides adds more presentation-centric features soon. If it doesn’t, our Google Slides are slipping closer and closer to resembling PDFs.

Cells to Slides

Script copies data from Sheets to titles in Slides

Dale

A few times each year, I need a Google Slides presentation where every student in a class has their name set as the title of each slide. This is usually done so we can share the presentation with the class, and each student can contribute to their respective slide.

I always have the list of student names in Google Sheets, so why not automate the slide creation!

After an exchange with ChatGPT, I settled on the following script to get the job done:

To use the script, follow these steps:

  1. Use this template to get your own copy of the spreadsheet.
  2. Change the data in column A to your own or use the example class list.
    (Note: A1 is the header. It will not be copied to a slide.)
  3. Click the Extensions -> App Scripts menu item.
  4. Click the Run button.
  5. Follow the steps to authorize the app starting with selecting your account.
  • Click “Review permissions” button.
  • Choose an account.
  • Click the “Advanced” link.
  • Click “Go to CellsToSlides (unsafe)” link.
  • Click the “Allow” button.

After I made this script, I had an exciting realization! It became clear to me that its potential goes far beyond just class lists. This script can be utilized for ANY type of presentation!

Trading Cards Template in Google Slides

Dale

I’ve used different trading cards with students for many years. Famous physicist, astronomers, and even Springfield residents from a deck of Simpsons cards were all in rotation at one point.

galileo_card | CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

Usually, I would shuffle the cards and pass them out as an easy way to create groups.

“All the Galileo cards please go to lab table three.”

Earlier this month, I stumbled upon an article in an email from PBS titled, Ten Black Scientists that Science Teachers Should Know About. I thought these would make great trading cards.

After a little searching, I found several great looking trading card templates from John R. Sowash. (He’s got some great stuff; you should check it out.)

I used John’s Google Slides template and the information from the PBS post to make my new trading cards. For my cards, I’ve added the option to place content on the back. I used the back for a QR code that takes you a short video for each person.

To get the front and back of the cards to match up, you need to tinker with the printer options and the order of the slides a bit. Below is a video I made that explains it all.

I gave the new trading cards to my neighbor – she’s a forth grader. She has read through all the cards, scanned the QR codes to watch the videos, and now taken them to school to share with her class. Mission accomplished!

Use my template to make your own trading cards.

ChatGPT Makes Greeting Cards!

Dale

Was there ever a time when greeting cards were looked at as a form of cheating?

While shopping at Target, this thought came to me as I noticed several people browsing through greeting cards. My guess is that they were looking for the perfect words that they can use as their own to say things like: thank you, happy birthday, congratulations, I love you and many other other personal and heartfelt messages.

Companies like Hallmark and American Greetings have been helping us find the right words for decades. However, I discovered there is a new option – ChatGPT. You can ask ChatGPT to create a greeting card for any occasion.

For my example, I chose to have an all-AI creation. First, I asked DALL·E for an image to use on the front of the card.

DALL-E used to create image of a thankful elephant

Next, I asked ChatGPT to create the card and told it about the image I wanted to use.

Asked ChatGPT to create a thank you card with an elephant

ChatGPT gives you text that is labeled for the front and inside of the card. More importantly, you can collaborate with the AI to modify your card to address the specifics that you are looking for.

make it shorter

can you add a joke?

this card is for my brother

Once you are happy with the greeting card elements that you created, then you can drop them into a greeting card template and print.

I asked ChatGPT if it could create a printable document for me that I can fold into a card. It cannot do this – for now. Therefore, I created some greeting card templates in Google Slides that you can use to get started.

Enjoy!