Paste Link to Collaborative Google Slides in the Private Comments

One of my favorite activities is to have ONE Google Slides that all students contribute to. Feedback can be immediate, peer feedback is a snap, and we can take advantage of social learning theory. Additionally, that is fewer documents to open, making a teachers work easier. Students can work together but turn in their individual work on the Google Slides.

Unique Slides URL

Each slide in Google Slides has a unique URL. When looking at, for example, slide 12 use Control L to highlight the URL and Control C to copy. This copies the direct link to slide 12. Even if the slide number changes the link still links to that slide.

Students who are collaborating on the same document can link to their slide and submit their individual contribution.

Notice if you click here that it opens to slide 8.

Google Classroom Requires Ownership

A group work/collaboration killer is Google Classroom’s requirement that you can only turn in documents that you own. In a collaborative Google Slides the teacher is the owner and shares the one Google Slides with students as “Students can edit file.” Giving all students edit access to the same document. Since the teacher is the owner, students are unable to “Add” the link to their slide into the Google Classroom assignment.

Private Comments

An easy workaround to not being able to submit links to collaborative documents is to paste the link into the Private Comments in Google Classroom instead.

For the teacher the difference is negligible. The link is slightly lower than if the student had submitted the link via the “Add” button in the assignment.

Clicking on the link in the Private Comments will open up the slide for that student.

No Feedback Tool

This year Google Classroom introduced a new Feedback tool that when you click on a document a student has submitted it shows a sidebar to give Private Comments back to the student. With collaborative documents, where the link is pasted into the Private Comments, the Feedback tool is not engaged.

Providing feedback and a rubric score to a student is old school. This has to be done back in the Google Classroom tab.