Why am I writing this personal entry? Well, it is not an attempt to gain any sympathy. It attempts to show what is possible if a clear intention and goal serve the learner's needs. In May of 2022 just near the end of another fantastic school year, I do not remember what happened. But, I was unable to finish the school year and was unable to teach the following year. Why? On May 21st, 2022, I fell down a flight of 16 stairs (luckily carpeted) from the 2nd to 1st story of our home. I was found at the bottom of the stairs. I was found foaming at the mouth. This would lead to a 2-month hospital stay which included an induced coma because my seizures would not stop, several rounds of lumbar punctures, and relearning basic physical movements like something as simple as being able to roll in the hospital bed. Simply put, when I was admitted to the hospital, I was diagnosed as being “critically ill.” Please take a moment and read those words: critically ill. They are not terms...
I was listening to the newest episode of the Shukes and Giff Podcast when they mentioned a new Chrome extension from the EdTech Team called AudioPlayer for Slides from EdTech Team. I was super excited to check it out as it allows users to record new audio and add it to a slide.
I teach physics in a co-taught classroom in which many of the students have difficulty demonstrating their understanding by composing written text. Many times they are able to successfully demonstrate their understanding verbally, though. This new extension will allow students to record their own audio explanations and add them to a slide to be played when viewed in presentation mode.
Last school year, we converted all of our lab reports from Google Docs to Google Slides as it allows for more robust creations and creates manageable chunking of tasks for learners who can easily get lost in long scrolling documents. In addition, it allows us to provide prompts and directions in the speaker notes leaving the majority of the canvas blank for learners to create. So, this new extension is a perfect fit for allowing all of our learners the ability to demonstrate understanding in the mode that suits them best. For example, a student may have a graph on a slide of their report in which they are expected to provide a detailed explanation for.
For some learners, describing the graph verbally may remove some barriers to demonstrating mastery that typing out a complete answer would present.
Below is a short video walkthrough of the app I created. I do a voice recording at one point so watch your audio level.
As you can see, it is not just for recording new audio. Existing audio can be added right from drive to the slide. It can be played on one slide or over multiple slides! So get the extension here. Then enable it and you'll be ready to go! Thank you EdTech Team for the great extension!
My only wish is that it didn't sit in the center of the screen when recording, or that it could be moved, as it blocks the current slide from being viewed. But, that is a minor complaint for a major leap forward in slide creation!
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