29 August 2012

Use Google Docs to Create an Image Rotator

You can use a Google Slides presentation to create an image rotator for your course. For example, your students might submit photos to you and you want them to be displayed on your course homepage.

  1. Create a Google Docs presentation and place a picture (and caption if you are interested) on each slide
  2. Click on File and then Publish to the Web. Click on the link for Published content & settings.
    Note: Do not check in the box to require viewers to sign in with their Los Rios account as this places an unnecessary burden on the viewer.
  3. Click the Start Publishing button and click OK when prompted "Are you sure you want to publish this document?"
  4. Click the link to view the Embed options
    image of Link and Embed options.
  5. Choose the small Slide size and adjust the auto-advance frequency.
  6. Click the check boxes to start the slideshow as soon as the player loads and to restart the slideshow after the last slide.
    image of Embed options.
  7. Click in the embed code box to select the code generated based on the options you chose and copy it.
  8. In D2L, go to Edit Course. Click on the Widgets link and then click the button to Create Widget.
  9. Type in a Name for your image slideshow. Go to the Content tab. 
  10. Click on the Insert Stuff button.
    Insert Stuff button.
    Insert Stuff button
  11. Choose the option to Enter Embed Code and paste the embed code you copied from Google Slides.
  12. Click Next then Insert then Save and Close
  13. Click on Homepages.  
  14. Click on your current active home page name.
  15. Click on the Add Widgets button for the panel where you want to place the widget.
  16. Select your new widget and click the Add button.
    Note: You may want to click and drag the new widget to a preferred location within the panel or to another panel.
  17. Click Save and Close when done arranging widgets on your homepage and then click the Course Home link on the navbar.

Adding more pictures to your rotator is easy - just open your Google Slides presentation and add a new slide. Changes to Google Slides are saved automatically, and your published slide show will also be updated automatically.

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