Skills Update C

This week is all about discovering Google Drawings. I was a person that loved using Microsoft Publisher with my students to create pamphlets, posters, brochures, etc.  Drawings seems like a nice alternative and it seems pretty easy to navigate as well. You can draw text boxes, insert images, link items to other documents, utilize fonts in numerous ways, and continue to collaborate with teachers or peers on a project. However, I wanted to create something that could work a little differently and act as a culminating project for our Edgar Allan Poe unit. 

The image that I want to create for the Poe Project is what it referred to as an interactive image.  I often use the website ThingLink for a very similar object. On the website you upload an image, insert "tags" and then link those "tags" to other websites, videos, images, etc. 

I had heard someone talking at the Google Summit in Columbus this spring about how they were doing a similar activity...only using Google Drawing. So, I decided to try it out!

Edgar Allan Poe Culminating Project

This project would work very well as an end of unit project. It could serve somewhat as a portfolio for what they have learned and the projects they have completed throughout the unit. I was thinking that they could basically create the drawing and then download the drawing as an image and turn that in...  Well, I found out THAT doesn't work because then their links do not work (try to click on the "tags" above in the Poe Project image...FAIL! So, they would have to turn in the actual Google Drawing...which will be okay since we are using Google Classroom. However, if I wanted them to embed it into their writing portfolios (via Google Sites) as an image it's not going to work...I'm going to figure this out. You can download it as a JPEG, PNG, SVG (have no idea what this is), or a PDF. So, I need to do some more research as to what I need to do in order to embed it as an interactive image onto out mediums. This will be a process I will continue...

Now, when it came to working on the project it worked out quite well! I would greatly appreciate it if, when you click on the purple link "Edgar Allan Poe Culminating Project", you could tell me if the icons worked. Each icon should open up a new tab and go out to either a document, image, video, etc.

These are the steps I took when creating this Poe interactive image....

1. Opened up Google Drawings

2. Named the Drawing "Poe Project"

3. Filled in the background color as purple

4. Went to "Insert" then "Image" then selected "Search" - after that I searched for an image of Poe that I liked best. Then I selected it and modified the size of the image to my liking. 

5. I then searched and selected the following image icons: YouTube, Google Drawings, Google Slides, Google Docs, Image, Blogger, and Link.

6. I put those images as small icons on top of the Poe image. 

7. I then clicked on one of the icons at a time and clicked Ctrl+K. This allowed me to connect a link to the small icon image. (I had to have the link ahead of time so I could copy and paste it into the box provided when you clicked on the image.)

8. I would have students create linkable icons to the following: a YouTube video concerning Poe's life, a Google Drawing they did concerning color and symbolism from one of Poe's short stories, a Google Slideshow concerning the plot triangle and one of his short stories, a biography of Poe that they would have written using Google Docs, a comic representing the climax of one of his short stories and explanation, a link to a blog they would create concerning Poe websites, and a link to a credible website about Poe.

I have never created an activity quite like this before - but I think it might be useful and fun! I'm mulling over multiple ways to use this new tool throughout the year!

UPDATE: I have now figured out that by downloading the file as an SVG file it will open up within a webpage and the person viewing can click on the links appropriately. I still don't know how to embed that interactive image though...still working...