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Kinder plc newsletter

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The long-awaited Google Slides audio feature has finally arrived!

We can now insert audio in Google Slides-this can be voice, music, narration, sound effects, any type of audio you have access to or want to create.

For many years, teachers have been asking me how to add audio-usually narration or background music-to Google Slides.

Google has heard our request and we now have a new menu option: Insert > Audio! Hooray!

There are so many ways that we can use this feature in our lesson plans and student projects.

If you are looking for project ideas, be sure you take a look at my previous post: 25 Ways to Use Audio in Google Slides.

Currently, this feature is only available on the desktop version of Google Slides.

Below is a YouTube video tutorial. Keep reading to see all the steps (and tips) in the blog post as well.

Keep in mind, this feature allows us to INSERT audio, not create the audio file itself.
The file must be an .mp3 or .wav file type.
You can insert audio clips, sound effects, or music if you own the file and have the rights to use it.

(Remember to respect copyright and fair use policies when using audio files created by someone else, and use this as an opportunity to talk with your students about good digital citizenship!)

Creating Your Own Audio Files

Since Google Slides doesn't provide you with a recording option, you will need to use a separate application to record the audio file and save it to your Google Drive.

Here are a few apps to try for audio recording: Online Voice Recorder (web-based, no sign-in), Audacity (Mac or PC), or GarageBand (Apple only).

A simple search in the Chrome Web Store will also help you find many other options, particularly for Chromebooks.

Once you have located or created your audio, you are ready for the next step.

STEP 1: Save your audio file to your Google Drive

If you already have an audio or music file you want to use, be sure it is saved to your Google Drive.

To upload and store files in Drive, go to Drive, click on the NEW button, and select FILE UPLOAD.

Don't forget! If you are sharing this slide deck with your students or anyone else that will need to play the audio file, the audio must be shared separately from Google Drive.

Right-click on the file from Google Drive, and click on Share.

Share this file so that at least anyone with the link can view. Learn more about sharing in the Guide to Google Drive Sharing.

If you forget to share the audio file, students will not be able to play it.
<
h3>STEP 2: Insert audio into your Google Slide

Open your Google Slides file or create a new one.

(Tip: Type in Slides.new to create a new slide deck quickly.)

Select the slide where you want to insert the audio file.

Then go to INSERT>AUDIO

Select the file from your Google Drive.

After you click SELECT, a speaker button will appear on your slide. Click on the icon to play the audio or move the button anywhere you like on the slide.

Audio Format Options

There are a few adjustments you can make to your audio file once it is inserted in the slide.

This is similar to the options you see with videos as well. ( CLICK HERE to learn more about video options in Google Slides.)

When the speaker icon is selected (has the blue bars), you can click and drag to place it where you want.

You can also click on FORMAT OPTIONS in the toolbar. (This contextual menu will only appear when the object is selected.)
Related: How to Record and Insert Audio in Google Slides with Mote
A sidebar menu will appear that will give you some playback options.

(The screenshot below are the default settings.)

You can choose to have it play "on click," or to play automatically when you present that slide.

If you choose to have it play automatically, you can also hide the icon because most likely, you won't need to see it on the screen.

You can also adjust the volume level of the audio.

You can choose to have the audio loop so that it plays over and over again.

And last, but not least, you can uncheck the box that says "Stop on slide change," and this will allow the audio to continue to play when you change slides.

How to Play Audio in Your Google Slides

You can preview the audio and play while you are in editing mode by hovering over the speaker icon or clicking on it to select it and then click play.

When you are in presentation mode, you can click on the speaker button to play the audio, or just hover and click the play button.

Learn More About Google Slides!

I frequently refer to Google Slides as the Swiss Army Knife of the G Suite tools because it is capable of being so much more than a presentation tool. In this course, you will learn how to use Slides in new and unexpected ways in your classroom that will engage your students and make learning more dynamic!

K-12 teachers are going to LOVE THIS COURSE!

This class is perfect for beginner to intermediate users to take their skills to the next level and become a Google Slides Master!

(Prerequisite: basic knowledge of slides, how to access and create new slides.)

Learn All About the Course

What's Included?

Self-paced

Video-based lessons

3 BONUS Lessons!!!

Bonus 1: Stop-Motion Animation

Bonus 2: How to Create Magnetic Poetry with Slides and Drawings

Bonus 3: 50 Google Slides Lesson and Project Ideas

Supporting Resources

Best Practices and Tips

6 hours of professional learning credit

Purchase orders are accepted (Just email Kasey[at]ShakeUpLearning.com (replace [at] with @.)

Bulk license discounts

Get your whole team, campus, or district on board

© Shake Up Learning 2021. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog's author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Kasey Bell and Shake Up Learning with appropriate and specific direction to the original content on ShakeUpLearning.com. See: Copyright Policy.
Click here to learn more and to ENROLL TODAY! Click here to learn more and to ENROLL TODAY!

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How to Insert Audio in Google Slides (Step-by-Step)

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The long-awaited Google Slides audio feature has finally arrived! We can now insert audio in Google Slides-this can be voice, music, narration, sound effects, any type of audio you have access to or want to create. For many years, teachers have been asking me how to add audio-usually narration or background music-to Google Slides.

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Technology Teaching Resources with Brittany Washburn

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This post is the beginning of a series on professional learning for Technology Teachers. My goal is to discuss how technology education is changing and how teachers can stay informed about the changes. I'm using the ISTE Educator Standards to guide the conversation.

Teachers as Lifelong Learners

There is always more information out there than there is time to read, am I right? Technology changes so quickly these days! I try to stay on top of the newest websites and apps that might be relevant to teaching technology, but it isn't always easy. One of my favorite resources for this is other technology teachers. I started a community on Facebook in January of 2016 and it has grown into the best professional learning communities out there. Want to join us? Request access at technologyteachertribe.com and learn from over 5,000 other educators!

One of the questions that comes up when thinking about being lifelong learners is how to take the knowledge from theory to practice. I have 5 tips to help with the transition.

1. Set clear and specific goals for applying new learning to your teaching practice. Would it be too much to ask yourself to find and try one new technology teaching tool each month? This might happen by reading instructional technology magazines or blogs to gather resources, choosing one tech tool you want to try, and then creating a lesson plan and activity to implement with your students.

2. Find a reliable online resource to search for new ideas for teaching with technology. I mentioned finding online magazines and blogs. Here are a few of my go-to resources.

a. www.brittanywashburn.com (yes that is this blog). I have several blog posts with curated digital resources that you could try with your students with very little prep. It is a good place to start.

b. http://www.techlearning.com/ has a great website with access to their current and archived digital magazines. They test and review new products that come into the technology teaching field and write about current instructional practices. Best of all is that it is free!

c. https://www.commonsensemedia.org/ gives you the ability to search for digital resources that are already reviewed for their educational value, positive messaging, and consumerism (ads). You can filter by websites and/or apps to find great teaching resources.

3. Engage in action research and reflect on how the outcomes apply to and reflect continuous improvement cycles related to learning and technology implementation. Whether you decide to do your own classroom research, or do something more formal, the important part of this tip is that you're reflective.

Did the activity enhance student learning via the use of technology, or was technology just a paperless replacement for a standard educational activity?

Would you do the activity differently in the future?

Are you going to share the digital tool and your results with others?

Were your students engaged?

4. Think of a topic you struggle teaching and explore using new pedagogical strategies that use technology. This is where being part of a professional learning community is really valuable. You can post your topic to the group and get dozens of different perspectives and tips. If multiple people have tried the same tool and it was effective, you can feel confident enough to try it with your students and expect similar results. A great example of this is classroom management. There are so many tools out there now that incorporate digital components like class dojo and classcraft. Gather information on the tools and choose one to try out in the classroom.

5. Play with something with your students and don't be afraid to fail; turn it into a learning opportunity. This is my favorite tip. I'm going to tell a personal story for this one. My 2nd year teaching in the tech lab we had a schedule change that meant that I would see 4th and 5th grade students twice a week for one quarter. I had to think of a special project for this second day because I didn't want it to mess up my regular tech lesson schedule. This was a few years ago before coding was the cool thing to teach in the classroom. I found a great workbook for teaching Scratch and decided to use it for these classes. I had no idea about coding, let alone using a visual programming tool like Scratch. I had to learn how to code right along with my students. We learned quickly what did NOT work, but that lead us in the direction to figure out what did work. It was such a great learning opportunity for both my students and myself when I wasn't really able to troubleshoot their problems any better than they could do themselves. You could hear a pin drop in my lab on the days we did Scratch. They were so into it! So the moral of the story is to play and learn right along with your students.

It might be time to also start thinking about how you can help the other educators at your school or in your district to embrace these ideas. Could you share classroom research you've completed? Show them new tech tools? Encourage your students to show their classroom teachers what they have learned in the lab? Share this blog post with them to get the conversation started.

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5 Tips for Staying Current with Technology Instructional Practices

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This post is the beginning of a series on professional learning for Technology Teachers. My goal is to discuss how technology education is changing and how teachers can stay informed about the changes. I'm using the ISTE Educator Standards to guide the conversation.

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Technology for kinder

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In my most recent post I shared a collection of web-based audio recording tools that you and your students can use to record and add your voice to Google Slides, or any project. There are many fun and engaging ways this new feature for Slides could be used for teaching and learning.

In the past I have had a lot of fun making drag and drop manipulative activities such as the Build a Snowman, Build a Jack-o-Lantern, and One Fish Two Fish templates. My plan was to combine that sort of activity with the new audio feature in Slides.

To try this out I created an interactive, audio-based activity in Google Slides for practicing short and long vowel sounds. In this slideshow, students are presented with clipart images that have attached audio files with each word spoken aloud. The students can then drag and drop the images to a box with the corresponding vowel sound. (Even if you are not a primary teacher, you can learn a lot about grouping items for any audio activities you might want to make.)

To make this work well, I had to take advantage of a neat option in Slides for grouping items. This allowed me to combine each piece of clipart with its associated audio file. In this blog post we will take a look at how this is done, so you can use this trick to create similar multimedia activities. You can also get a copy of the final template below for short and long vowel sounds to use with your students if you would like.

Podcast Version: (Subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, or your favorite podcast tool.)

Video Version: (subscribe on YouTube)

Short and Long Vowel Sounds Template

Below is a link to get your own copy of the Google Slides template for students to practice identifying short and long vowel sounds:

Here are the basic directions for doing the activity:

Each slide has a box for a short vowel sound and a box for a long vowel sound on the left side of the slide. You can click the audio button in each box to hear the the short and long vowels spoken out loud.

On the right side of each slide there are eight clipart images that represent words that use either the short or long vowel sound.

Click the audio button on each picture to hear the word read aloud. You may have to click the button twice to get it to play.

Then drag the picture to the box with the same vowel sound.

Note: You will need to do this activity in " edit" mode, not in " presentation" mode, so you will be able to drag and drop the clipart images into the correct boxes for their vowel sounds.

Extension #1 - Students add an image

As an optional extension for this activity, students can also add their own images that use the short and long vowel sounds. After each drag-and-drop slide, there is a challenge slide where students can insert images as follows:

Click "Insert"

Click "Image"

Click "Search the web"

Search for pictures for words with the short or long vowel sounds.

Choose a picture then click "Insert".

Drag the picture to the box for its short or long vowel sound.

To make the picture fit, you may need to drag its corner to make it smaller.

Extension #2 - Students write sentences

Another extension activity for students is to have them write sentences that use a word with the specific short or long vowel sound. After the first extension activity slide, there is a slide where students can write their sentences as follows:

Click in the text boxes on the left side of the slide.

In the top box, write a sentence that uses a word with the short vowel sound.

In the bottom box, write a sentence that uses a word with the long vowel sound.

Students can use the words in the word bank, which are the same as the clipart images they just sorted.

Or the students can use a word of their own with the correct vowel sound.

Grouping Items in Google Slides

To make this activity work, it was necessary to make sure each clipart image and its corresponding audio file stuck together so they would move as one item when the student drag and drop them. This can be done in Google Slides by using the "Group" option. Here is how you do that:

First, insert your images in the slideshow as normal. For example, click "Insert" then "Image" then add an image by uploading, searching, or such.

Next, insert the recorded audio file to go along with each image. To do this click "Insert" then "Audio" then select the recorded audio from your Google Drive.

Note: For several suggested web-based tools for recording the audio, see my earlier post " 4 Free and Easy Audio Recording Tools for Google Slides".

Now drag and drop the inserted audio icon on top of, or overlapping, its associated image.

With the image and the audio together, you now want to select both of them. You can do this by clicking on one on them first, then holding down the "Ctrl" or "Shift" key and clicking on the second item. Now both the image and the audio file will be selected simultaneously.

With both items selected, click "Arrange" in the top menu bar, then choose "Group" from the drop-down menu.

The image and the audio will now be grouped together as if they were one item. The students can still click on the audio file to play it, but when they drag and drop the image, the audio file will move with it.

This can be useful technique anytime you would like to add audio to an item in a slideshow. The audio could be directions, a description, a question, or simply a pronunciation such as in this activity.

Creating a drop-and-drop audio activity is just one example of using this new feature. There are many other creative ways that audio can be used in Google Slides. It will be exciting to see the wide variety of activities that people develop and share.

As always, if you make something, please consider sharing as a link in the comments below.

Post by Eric Curts. Bring me to your school, organization, or conference with over 50 PD sessions to choose from. Connect with me on Twitter at twitter.com/ericcurts

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Google Slides Short and Long Vowel Sounds Audio Activity

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In my most recent post I shared a collection of web-based audio recording tools that you and your students can use to record and add your voice to Google Slides, or any project. There are many fun and engaging ways this new feature for Slides could be used for teaching and learning.

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This was made for my Masters Program. Please feel free to check it out and give any feedback.

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Facebook Hyperdoc group

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Easily create beautiful interactive video lessons for your students you can integrate right into your LMS. Track students' progress with hassle-free analytics as you flip your classroom!

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Webtool

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International group of educat

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The Facebook Education Group is the interactive space linked to the official Facebook Education Page - a professional learning community for educators to come together to share, learn and inspire one...

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Google plus community for educators

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Chat every Sunday night at 8 pm. Pacific time for Education topics

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Elementary Education

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A variety of articles and videos on topics of education.

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George Lucas Educational Foundation

The benefits of movement in the classroom aren't limited to younger students. Pairing new words and concepts with gestures or dance moves locks in understanding-and active brain breaks prime students to learn even more.

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A free source of information, inspiration, and practical strategies for learning and teaching in preK-12 education.

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A variety of lessons, videos, training and opportunities to Skype with Experts

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Don't miss out! Points, badges and certificates are added to your profile as you complete courses and attend Skype in the Classroom activities.

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Full of training, tools, and resources for teachers and technology.

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Now more than ever your students deserve equitable access to technology. To help, Microsoft Education provides schools with solutions, technologies and education expertise to accelerate opportunities for all learners. Windows 11 devices work with or without an internet connection, protect against online threats, and have inclusive, built-in solutions that help each student achieve their potential

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Technology Solutions for Schools | Microsoft Education

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Now more than ever your students deserve equitable access to technology. To help, Microsoft Education provides schools with solutions, technologies and education expertise to accelerate opportunities for all learners.

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Website discussing Universal Design of Learning and opportunities to attend symposiums.

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Find out more about CAST. We’re busting barriers to learning, until learning has no limits®.

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Blogger I met through Twitter Chat

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Just because election day is over, doesn't mean conversations about voting and civics with our students need to end!