Many teachers use Google apps and we do not just mean documents and slides, but also forms, spreadsheets and as well, all the elements that we have in our Google Drive: pdfs, images, videos, audios, etc…
ClassInTheBox allows you to insert links in its progress bars (the upper one designated to put pins, the lower one to underline the video through tags), so we must be careful with inserting the correct link or we run the risk that the link we insert does not work. Here we leave you a series of tips and ideas so that everything flows…
1. If you want to insert links so that students can see or read the content as reference material (for example a document, a presentation, etc.) remember put them with the role of “viewer” (at the top right click on “Share” and in “General access” change the restricted one to “Anyone with the link”. (You could leave it for any user within your domain, but that will limit viewing by third parties).
There are some types of files (images, pdfs, audios and videos) where the share option is found in the menu with the three dots in the upper right.
A good option is to create a folder within Google Drive with all the items that you are going to share permission, so you give the folder itself “view” permission, and automatically all the items that are inside inherit the same permission, but we understand that you may already have to items arranged in different folders and then you prefer to give permission one by one.
2. If what you want is for the students to directly edit the content of the document itself (a presentation, a jamboard, etc.) follow the steps in the previous point but change the role to “editor” (when you change the access from restricted to “anyone with the link”). We want to warn you that in this way, the document can be edited by anyone who accesses the link. You have to be very clear about who you want to see the video, and in case your students are the ones who will see it (and therefore they will be able to edit the content of editable links like these) leave some clear instructions on what they should do.
3. Another option is to leave the document with a “force copy” link, so that when clicked the link of the document (presentation, sheet, etc.) itself, the system asks if you want to “copy” the document in the Google Drive of the user who clicks on it, thus generating a personal copy that you can edit as you please. For this, you have to follow these two steps: First, put the document on “view” permission (same as the instructions in 1 above) and second, copy the url of the document itself that you are going to paste as a link inside the corresponding pin or tag, paste it but substitute the word “edit” ( and everything that comes after) by copy… Yes, it’s a bit convoluted, Google has been suggested many times to allow this natively, but for now it’s the only viable option.
4. Finally, we want to warn you that when you paste the link of a Google Form, put the correct link, which is not the one for editing the form itself, but the one that allows you to view the questions and do it directly on the screen. To do this, first make sure that the form is accessible to everyone or only within your domain (in settings>responses), and then, get the link of the form (not from the edit view) by going to “send” button and copying the link that appears under the “link” icon. Inside you will have the option to shorten the link if you wish.
Finally, a recommendation. If you want to test if your links work correctly, one option is to copy the url of the pintagged video and paste it into an “incognito” tab, so you can check if all the links that you have been anchoring in your pintagged video work.
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