Teacher Tech blog with Alice Keeler

Paperless Is Not a Pedagogy

Alice Keeler

Paper List to Slides

paper list to slides
Paper List to Slides
paper list to slides

Paper List to Slides

I was given… No joke… A 7 page packet of papers with short phrases on it. Carrying around a packet of paper is not something that is going to work for me… So how do I get this into Google Slides?




Google Keep

My first step to getting paper into a useable digital format is Google Keep. The Keep app not only allows me to take short notes (and it works offline) but it will extract text from an image to make it editable text.

  • Open the Keep app
  • Add a new note
  • Add a picture of text to the note (either directly into the note or from your camera roll)
  • Tap on the picture
  • Find the 3 dots icon and choose to “extract text”
  • Wait for it to come to space and come back as text. (sometimes it’s really fast)

Note: you can also extract text on the Chrome browser for Google Keep.








If you are using the Chrome browser to extract the text, click on the 3 dots at the bottom of the note and choosing “Grab image text.”
Click the 3 dots and grab image text

Keep Integration

Google Keep now integrates with Google Slides on the Chrome browser (sorry not on the mobile app). Go to the Tools menu and choose Keep notepad. A sidebar will appear with all your Google Keep notes. You can literally drag the note from the sidebar to a slide. All of the text you extracted is now on a slide. However, you probably now have too much text on a slide. ??
Tools menu in Google Slides choose Keep notepad




Drag Google Keep note into Slides

Share to Google Doc

Instead of dragging too much text onto a slide, perhaps the better place to start is by putting that text into a Google Doc. It will be easier to clean up. In the Google Keep note on mobile, click on the horizontal 3 dots icon in the bottom right and choose “Send.” Choose the option “Copy to Google Docs.” You can also share to a Google doc from the Chrome browser.

Copy and Paste

Okay, so the bad news is… You’ll need to copy and paste all that text into Google Slides. From the Chrome browser, use side by side windows and then highlight the word or phrase you want on the slide. Copy and paste from the Google Doc onto the slide.

Code

Uhhhh I’m personally not going to copy and paste all of the text. This is why God invented coding; to reduce the number of repetitive tasks I have to do. Google Apps Script allows you to customize Google Apps. I highly recommend you learn to code. It’s way easier than you think it is and the time you invest in learning to code Google Apps Script will pay back 10 fold in the time you save doing repetitive tasks.

Alice Code it For Me

alicekeeler.com/doctoslides

Okay, I got you on this but I’m telling you, learning Google Apps Script will save you many more hours than you spend learning it. Here is the rub… The code for Doc to Slides is in my template. You need to start with alicekeeler.com/doctoslides and make a copy so that the code shows up in the Add-on menu. So you will want to Control A select all of the text from your Google Doc you created from Google Keep and paste it into my blank Google Doc template. If you would like the Doc to Slides Add on permanently in your menu you will need to join my Beta testers group. Choose from the Add-on menu “Docs to Slides” and authorize the script. You will be prompted to provide a link to a Google Slides. If you do not provide a valid link a Google Slides will be created for you.
Doc to Slides Add onyour

Okay, How Do I Learn to Code?

Google Apps Script is based on JavaScript. How I learned was I did a very basic intro course to JavaScript just to learn the basics. Suggestion to get a book designed for kids. You don’t need to know much. Also, you can Google search JavaScript as part of a search and pretty much anything you need to know is easy to find in a tutorial. For example, if I want to add a date to my code I Google search: JavaScript date. Google provides free getting started projects on the Google Apps Script website. I read through the methods list on the developer website so I can get an idea of what I am able to accomplish in Apps Script. The methods (code) are really easy to understand. “insertSheet()”… I KNOW WHAT THAT DOES! If I come across a method and I don’t know what it does intuitively I’m pretty sure it’s not something I even need to know!! I have some tutorials that assume you know zero JavaScript to get you started.

alicekeeler.com/scripts/apps-script-tutorials

Online Workshop

If you’d like a little more support than an online tutorial I do offer an intro to coding Google Apps Script online Go Slow workshop. We just started one this week and since it’s Go Slow you’re not behind!

alicekeeler.com/this-week




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