Using Google Slides to Make an Image Rotator

[ProfessorBeyrer]

I work with an instructor who has her students take pictures of themselves doing course activities, and she wants to share those pictures with the rest of her class. Without a learning management system, she would create a PowerPoint presentation and show it during class. Since she started teaching that class online, she would love to put those images online in a rotating slideshow that appears inside her course home page.

Google Slides has options for auto-advance and looping presentations using easily created embed code, so it is a natural choice to use for this purpose.

In the embedded video I demonstrate the following:

1. Clicking the File menu in Google Slides and selecting Publish to the web...
2. Selecting and then copying the Embed options for an auto-advance and looping slide show.
3. Editing a page in Canvas and paste the embed code into the Insert/Embed media dialog box.

I find this works pretty well. The Google Slides presentation does not have to be shared, and the viewer cannot copy or download the presentation unless it is shared. New slides can be added at any time to the Google Slides presentation without needing to upload new files or change the embed code. Since PowerPoint files import directly into Google Drive, using extant presentations is easy. However, the slideshow controls do appear so the viewer could arbitrarily advance to the next slide, see the speaker notes, etc. That opens up the possibilities to add notes to students about each slide or image that could be used for all kinds of possibilities.

EDIT: This post (and video) updated to reflect the easily visible Insert/embed media button.

EDIT (7/31/21): In a reply to a question I added a video showing the (new) Rich Content Editor and adding a hyperlink to one of the Google Slides.

[laurakgibbs]

Oh, thank you so much for sharing this,  @ProfessorBeyrer ‌... I used to use Google Slides for collaborative projects, but have not done so in a long time. With all the new improvements to Google Slides, that sounds even better than it did in the past. Especially with the poor support for images and multimedia in the Canvas Discussion Boards, having an option like this looks great.

Another good one is Padlet, which also allows students to share media in a way that is really fun and with a spirit of "togetherness" that the discussion board seriously lacks.

Is the instructor doing this as a collaborative document where the students are adding their own slides? I was not quite sure about that from your post. That was how I used the Slide option in the past, for student introductions at the start of the semester. Since I opened it to collaborators by means of a shared link, I never had any trouble with spam or anything, and it was fun to let the students add their own slides.

Thanks again for this very nice idea... I've gotten interested in Google Slides again from using the super-nice Canvas template for CanvasLIVE. Maybe I can think up some fun Orientation Week thing to do with students again like I used to!

[ProfessorBeyrer]

Thank you laurakgibbs‌ for your question. In the example I shared the instructor had her students email the pictures to her, as she wanted to add a caption with the student's name and activity. The students are dispersed so each is in a unique location, and she includes that information as well. Giving students edit access to the presentation could work but I would worry about accidental changes or slide deletions. It would be great if Google had a way to randomize slide order, as each time the page is loaded it starts with the first slide.

[laurakgibbs]

Ha ha, you know me: I love the power of random. One of the most user-friendly sites that has good randomizing tools is Tumblr. Lots of Tumblr themes have a random post option! 🙂

[kljaia]

@ProfessorBeyrer Do you know if it is possible to have hyperlinks embedded into the google slide? I am looking for a way to have an image gallery or rotator with cards for each module that students can click on and navigate to the modules section in canvas. Thank you in advance!

[ProfessorBeyrer]

Thank you @kljaia for your question. It prompted me to re-record the video using the (formerly known as) New Rich Content Editor. It turns out that the answer is yes. In the embedded video I show adding a hyperlink to a website outside of Canvas, but the link could be an internal course link. The trick with that would be to remember to change that link if you reuse the Google Slides in another Canvas class.

[kljaia]

Thank you @ProfessorBeyrer for the update!

I experimented with doing this same embed using a Microsoft 365 PowerPoint file. There are a few issues I have experienced with this process and if you have any suggestions I am all ears! 

1. It appears students must be signed into their Microsoft365 account to view the PowerPoint when embedded into a page. In fact, I also need to sign in before accessing Canvas in order for the content to display. 
2. The mobile application does not display the content. An error is listed instead and there isn't a way to sign into Microsoft365 to display it. 

Do you think there is a permission or setup that needs to be done from an administrator to make this work seamlessly? 

[ProfessorBeyrer]

Thanks for asking me about this. I'm not familiar with Microsoft365 outside of Outlook but I assume that there are permission settings that parallel what's available in Google Drive. When I publish a Google Drive item as a web page, its sharing settings are not relevant. In other words, I can make a web page (or embed in Canvas) a Google Slides presentation that is private to me. In my community college district's Google Workspace account I see that the publish settings do have an option to limit access to other users in my district. 

Given your students' experience, I hope that Microsoft365 has similar options so you can remove the barrier of having to log in. However, it might be that your district's account do not allow this. For example, that my kids are unable to share their Google Drive things with anyone who is not another student or employee in their K12 district.

I bet that if you are able to make the PowerPoint presentation available without requiring sign in, it will be visible on a mobile device.