Google Drawings: More Than Just An Art Application

Google has a lot of great, powerful resources for teachers to use with their students, with one in particular that can really help teachers to create learning experiences for students that are engaging and authentic.  Google Drawings can help teachers create digital assignments that enable students to focus in on and utilize the skills that are found in the levels 3 and 4 on Webb’s Depth of Knowledge chart.

Create Thinking Maps

Thinking maps are very easy way for students to organize and analyze data in a visual way, and Google Drawings makes the creation of these maps fun and engaging for both students and teachers.  First, start by opening a new Google Drawings document.

Next,  Click Insert > Shape > and choose the what type of shape you would like to insert into the document.  Now, you can add circles for Venn diagrams or bubble maps, squares for cause and effect or sequencing maps, or lines for classifying and tree maps.  Adding text boxes and words can make your map interactive.  Students can move the words to the appropriate portion of the map for an added was to demonstrate knowledge and application.

Interactive Journals

Getting students to journal about learning can be a quite difficult task in itself, and many students will rush through their work just to be “finished”.  Using Google Drawings for journals, students are not only writing about their learning, they are learning new ways to write and convey information to others.  Images can be inserted, and annotated over in order to label and modify them.  Students can use the scribble and color fill tools to free-draw and paint what they have created.  Using a digital journal not only excites and energizes students, it allows them to be creative and unique in their work.

Re-Purpose PDF Files

Even with all of the wonderful online tools that we have at our fingertips, there are still some awesome  “worksheets” that can enhance critical thinking and collaboration skills for our students.  Is there a way that these documents can be used in the online setting?  With a few steps, the answer is yes.

If you have access to documents in the form of PDFs, you must first convert them to images.  On a Mac, simply open the PDF in Preview, and click EXPORT > IMAGE.  Once the PDF is saved as an image, you can now insert it into a Google Drawings document, and add text boxes in the areas that you wish students to provide answers or feedback.  Another way that will work on a Mac or PC, is to upload PDF files to your Google drive, and use the Google app CloudConvert the file will be converted from a PDF into other different formats, including images for free and within your Google drive.

These are only a fraction of what can be done with Google Drawings.  I highly recommend you take a look at this application as another tool for you and your students to use in the classroom.