Use Los Rios Google Apps to Create an Image Gallery and Share via Desire2Learn

This is cross-posted on Greg's Google Blog

The Google Drive application can be used to create an online image gallery with thumbnails that link to higher-quality images.

Use Los Rios Google Apps to View PowerPoint

This is cross-posted on Greg's Google Blog

Though Desire2Learn includes an inline file viewer that displays PowerPoint presentations within the browser, there are still situations where students will need or want to download the presentation file to a local computer. For those who are off campus and do not have access to Microsoft Office, one option is to use Los Rios Gmail and Google Apps. A PowerPoint file can be uploaded to Drive and Docs, and Google will convert it to the Google Presentation format. It can then be viewed within the browser and downloaded as a PDF file for printing.

Student Editors on a Los Rios Google Apps Site

This is cross-posted on Greg's Google Blog
The Los Rios Google Sites tool can support a group assignment wherein create a web site together. This video shows how to add students' Los Rios Google user accounts as editors to a Los Rios Google Site. The names are taken from the classlist on a Desire2Learn course offering.

Sharing Los Rios GaGA Documents

This is cross-posted on Greg's Google Blog
You can use a Los Rios Google Apps (GaGA) document to collect data from students, say for a sign-up sheet. Here are the steps, starting in your GaGA document:

1. In your GaGA document click the blue Share button to open the Sharing settings dialog box.
2. Paste the list of your students' GaGA usernames separated by commas to the Add people box (be sure to append @apps.losrios.edu after each student's Los Rios username)
3. Because not all students have yet upgraded to Los Rios Gmail, do not check the box to notify people via email (you will do this via D2L)
4. Copy the "Link to share" at the top of the Sharing settings dialog box (this includes a very long string of characters)

Then tell your students the following in D2L:

---

1. Log in to the Los Rios Google Apps domain (http://apps.losrios.edu) using your Los Rios username and password
2. Click on [insert a url quicklink to the "Link to share" you copied from your GaGA document]

If that second step does not work for you, do the following after logging in to Los Rios Google Apps:

1. Click on the link to "Other Google Apps"
2. Click on the link to "Drive and Docs"
3. Click on the link to "Shared with me"
4. Click on the link to "[name of your shared document]"

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.

Use a Google Form to Collect Student Data

NOTE: The instructions in this blog entry may differ if applied for use with Los Rios Google Apps.
Besides using the survey or quiz tools, you can create a form in Google Docs to collect student data. [VIDEO DEMO]

Shared Google Docs and D2L and Internet Explorer

Adding the domains *.losrios.edu and https://docs.google.com to the trusted sites in Internet Explorer will ease the display of shared Google Docs within D2L. However, the shared Google Doc must be set up as a content topic (quicklink) to open in a new browser window. This should not affect when a Google Doc is embedded within a content topic (new file).

Thanks to Jena Bills for sharing her discovery.

PowerPoint Options

NOTE: The instructions in this blog entry may differ if applied for use with Los Rios Google Apps.
A PowerPoint presentation can be uploaded into the Manage Files area and linked to like any other file type. However, this assumes that students have PowerPoint installed on whatever computer they are using to view the presentation. To help students overcome the need to purchase additional software, instructors have six options:

1. Limit students to on-campus access to your presentations
   Since all of the computers on campus have Microsoft Office installed, you can tell students who do not have this software on their home computers that they must come to a computer lab on campus to view those files.
   
2. Share information about free alternatives to Microsoft Office
   There are several free alternatives to Microsoft Office available, and these programs can open and create PowerPoint-compatible files. They also can open and create files in Word and Excel format, so installing this free software will give students a lot of flexibility. For a Windows computer, OpenOffice.org works as an alternative. On the Macintosh, NeoOffice is available. Both of these options assume students have the time, ability, and administrative privileges necessary to install software on their local computers.
   
3. Give students access to the free PowerPoint viewer
   If you are only concerned about whether students can see PowerPoint presentations, another way to do this is the free PowerPoint viewer, available from Microsoft. You can direct students to search the Microsoft.com web site and have them search for “PowerPoint viewer” or “PowerPoint viewer Macintosh.” This also assumes that students have the time, ability, and administrative privileges necessary to install software on their local computers.
   
4. Convert the PowerPoint presentation to PDF format
   Adobe Acrobat Reader is a free program that is nearly ubiquitous, so sharing documents (including PowerPoint presentation) in PDF format is an effective way to provide material to students without worrying whether they have the correct software installed. Free software to create PDF files on a Windows computer is available from CutePDF.com, but you will need the full version of Adobe Acrobat if you want to add features like forcing the file to open in full-screen mode. You can get the full version of Adobe Acrobat for your on-campus computer, and it is available on the computers in L125. All Macintosh computers can create PDF files from any document. Google Docs (see next option) and the free alternatives to MS Office all have the ability to create PDF files.
   
   Once a presentation has been converted to PDF format, you can upload it to your Manage Files area and then add a quicklink to it from the content area. You should also include a link to the free Adobe Acrobat Reader software for those few students whose computers do not already have this software installed.
   
5. Make a Google Docs Presentation
   Making a web page out of your PowerPoint file provides the easiest access to students. Google Docs is a free alternative to Microsoft Office that you can use to create and share online documents that are compatible with Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. You can upload a PowerPoint file directly into your Google Docs account and then share that file via a quicklink in your content area. Google Docs is free, and you can use your Los Rios email address as your username. Documents that you create (including uploaded PowerPoint files) can be shared with anyone. Students do not have to have an account with Google to view these documents. A shared Google Docs Presentation becomes a web page that anyone can view. To get started, go to docs.google.com. You can also watch a video demonstration.
   
6. Save the PowerPoint presentation as a web page
   Making a web page out of your PowerPoint file provides the easiest access to students. They do not have to have any additional software on their computers, and they will have one-click access to the presentation itself. You can also save your PowerPoint file as a web page and then upload that to your course offering.
   
   Here are the steps:
   1. Save your PowerPoint presentation as a web page, but not the option for a “single file web page” (this option is only viewable by someone using Internet Explorer)
   2. This process creates two items on your computer: a web page and an associated folder (the name of the folder is the same as the web page with “_files” appended)
   3. Select both of these items and create an archive file (right-click and choose Send to Compressed (zipped) Folder
   4. Upload the archive (it will have a .zip extension) to the Manage Files area of your Desire2Learn course offering
   5. Click the Unzip file button and Desire2Learn will extract all of the files into your Manage Files area
   6. Now you can link to that presentation by selecting the web page file you created in step 2 above
   This must be done on a Windows computer, but the results can be viewed on any computer. Viewers who are not using Internet Explorer for Windows will get a message warning them that this web page has been optimized for Internet Explorer, but they will be able to click through that warning and view the presentation.