Through our year of pandemic teaching, I found the Record to Slides Chrome extension the most usable extension/tool/feature. Created by ClayCodes, this FREE extension is perfect for those of us who rely on Google Slides for the majority of our presentations, lessons, activities, and anything else you find helpful when using Slides. If you are not familiar, Record to Slides allows you to quickly record a video of yourself on-the-spot and it automatically populates to the Slide you are on in your presentation. This means there is no need for any 3rd party tools or applications to record a video. See the video below for a tutorial on installing the extension and using the recording feature.
The fantastic news I want to share now is that Record to Slides has a new update. You can now screencast (share your screen) via the extension. Now I can really do away with some of the 3rd party tools – think Screencastify and Loom – and just use Record to Slides. With that being said, this only works in Google Slides and the much needed editing tools are not available. But, if I want to just quickly record myself giving directions to students or record my screen to give an overview of a project, I can quickly and easily do that while I’m in my Slides presentation. I do not have to jump from tab to tab or worry about saving and downloading videos.
Speaking of saving and downloading the recorded videos or screencasts, Record to Slides is set up to save all recordings in a folder in your Google Drive. You can then set your Share settings for the videos just like you would with any other product in your Google Drive. If your students have the ability to install extensions (talk to your IT department), this opens you up to so many options for how you assess student work or have students create projects and give feedback. See the video below to learn how to use the new record your screen feature in Record to Slides.
Some ways I envision using this extension is to:
- give directions to my students during independent learning opportunities (think Playlists, Pathways).
- leave directions with students directly when I have a substitute in the classroom.
- have students leave video responses to question prompts.
- have students video record their presentations for gallery walks.
There are definitely many options you can use Record to Slides for and I think the new update opens up even more creative opportunities. Feel free to leave a comment describing ways you use this extension in class or plan to in the future.
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Cotten Tech Coach 