Google Slides to the rescue

I had a 41 slide presentation on photosynthesis and I was on slide 9 when the SmartBoard lost power. A loss of power in a single phase had taken out the wall and table outlets. The WiFi hub was still energized and my students were already trained to come to class equipped with their cell phone. Google Slides would save the presentation. 


I pulled out my own cell phone and opened the Google Slides app. The three button vertical ellipsis menu on the slide deck in this first screen allowed me to access sharing. 


I tapped on Share.


I quickly entered the student's names. I was helped in this by Google's autocomplete suggestions. In this screen multiple names can be added.


I switched the students from being editors to being viewers using the dropdown menu and left Notify people active. I then sent this Share using the send icon which looks like a paper airplane at the upper right. The students picked the link up in their college[.]edu email, and opened the presentation on their phones. I then walked them through the presentation screen by screen on their own device. 


The switchover took all of two minutes. The use of Google Slides made this possible, the tech agility of my students made this happen quickly and smoothly. 

For more on how I use apps in my courses, see my Google Slides presentation on Mobile apps in the curriculum.

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