This tutorial will show you how to teach lessons online by recording a Google slides lesson with audio and video.
Recording your Google Slides presentation is something you might want to do if you have to teach using distance learning and you want to create some digital resources for your students.
So, in this tutorial, I will show you
- How to record a video of you teaching a lesson using Google Slides.
- Some free software that you can use to record screencasts.
- How to upload the video to Google Drive
- How to get a link to share with your students (if you’re a teacher.)
NOTE: This video is also good if you’re a student:
- Instead of teaching a lesson, you’re probably recording a presentation for your teacher.
- At the end, you can use the link to share your video with your teacher to hand in your homework.
Resources you need for this tutorial
A couple of things to know before we start…
- You need a microphone. Maybe your laptop has a microphone, or maybe you want to wear a headset.
- The free software to record the screencast (I’ll show you how to get it in a second) and
- of course you need a Google account.
You do not need a webcam because we’re not doing any video of ourselves. So you can record in your pyjamas or with bed head, and no one will be the wiser.
What software can I use to record a Google Slides presentation (screencast)?
Free Screencast Software Option #1: Apowersoft Free Screen Recorder
I use something called Apowersoft Free Screen Recorder and I use the version from CNET – it’s a very specific download that I use.
I like it because…
- it’s free (it’s not a trial version.)
- There is no time limit to how long of a Google Slideshow video that you can record.
- There’s no watermark.
Of course, because it’s free, it’s a basic version with zero editing features.
(This means you have to record everything in one cut… or use another program or the premium version to edit together your video.)
PRO TEACHER TIP:
- If you record short teacher videos, it’s easier for you to record and maybe less intimidating for your students to watch (i.e. it’s not too long.)
- Also, shorter videos with good titles might make it easier for students to find what they’re looking for later on if they want to review a lesson.
Free Screencast Software Option #2: FlashBack Express
I’m going to show you how to get the Apowersoft download from CNET but of course I’m also recording this screencast of me doing a tutorial of a screencast, so the second screen recorder I’m exploring right now is called FlashBack Express.
SIDE NOTE: It seems like it’s a little easier to trim the beginning and end of a video using FlashBack express, but I find it takes longer to save the video, and I have to go in and set the resolution of the recording myself or the video looks kind of pixelated.)
Video Tutorial:
How to record a Google Slide Presentation for Distance Learning
Click here to watch the tutorial on YouTube
Okay so let’s go to Google. If I Google Apowersoft Free screen recorder, I get a couple of options.
The first few are from the official website – they’ve updated the software, which is great, but now this version is a free trial version and so it doesn’t have all of the features that the old version used to have.
I want to go to this CNET link which has an old version of the software, and I know this is the one I want because it has a blue camera icon with a red dot. I just click download here to get it from CNET.
I have already installed this, so I’m going to do a demo screencast of this slideshow about critical thinking.
When the software opens up, it’s going to right away show me a region that I can record. I probably want to record just my screen, so present the slideshow and change the bounding area (the recording area) so it just records the size of the slides in my Google slides.
A couple of things:
You want to wait for your Google slides to completely load. There is a loading bar at the bottom of the screens. You can start your slideshow before the loading bar is completely done, but your animations and transitions may look a little bit choppy. I recommend waiting until the Google slides was completely loaded so that your animations look great.
This is the recording toolbar from the screenshot software I’m using.
- I could go fullscreen and record everything or
- I can just record a region.
There’s an option for video – you can choose between your WebCam or your screen.
There’s an option for audio – right now I’m just recording my microphone.
You may want to choose the system sound and microphone setting if you have a video playing on your computer (in your lesson) and you want to record the sound from the video and your lesson.
Just be aware, the system sound also includes things like “bing” sound effects – like when your windows open.
Couple of other things on the side here.
- I have options and I could turn off the recording toolbar once I start recording if I don’t want it in. If you leave it on the screen, it will be part of your slideshow. (Unless you drag it to the side offscreen.)
- If I click on record (I can see there is) no watermark and the microphone is on.
- I’m going to click okay and so it counts down and then I can start my lesson.
- Once it starts recording, I’m going to make sure that I click on the window with the slideshow to make sure that I’m in the slideshow and then I can use the right and left cursor buttons on my keyboard so that I can slide through the slideshow and that way I don’t have to worry about accidentally moving my mouse when I click on the screen to move forwards.
When I stop recording on this video…
- it will automatically start playing back what it recorded.
- There’s a save button here.
- Even though there’s an option here to change and trim out the beginning and the end to get the exact section I want to record, I find that this older version of the software is a little bit glitchy, and sometimes I’ll set it to record a certain part and then it won’t actually record that part it. (It won’t actually trim to that spot.)
- So, I find it’s best in this free software just to start a presentation right away and then at the end leave a few seconds (of silence) as I end it.
So I’m going to close this – I’m not going to say that version.
I can see my slideshow here. My Google slides is here and the toolbar here is ready to record so I’m gonna hit record and then I’m going to move the toolbar out of the way and I’m gonna start this lesson.
Am I ready yes move that all the way…
SAMPLE LESSON ON CRITICAL THINKING:
Okay, today we’re going to start a unit on critical thinking and before we can talk about critical thinking, I’m just going to ask you a few questions to get your minds on and ready for this lesson.
So, the first “minds on” question is this: What is thinking and what does it mean to think?
So I’m going to get you to pause the video and I’m going to have you jot down on paper or in a Google Docs, what is thinking what does it mean to think?
So, pause the video and jot down some ideas.
Okay, we’re back. So, I’m going to ask you a second “minds on” question and it’s this:
What is critical thinking, and how is critical thinking different from regular thinking?
So, on your jot notes page, jot down a few ideas and pause the video. How is critical thinking, different from regular thinking? Pause the video.
Here is the third, final “minds on” question: How is critical thinking different from being critical of someone else’s ideas?
So, sometimes you might say, oh, that person is criticizing someone. Well, what’s the difference between critical thinking and being critical of someone or someone else’s ideas?
Pause the video and jot down some ideas about how is critical thinking different from criticizing someone.
Pause the video.
Okay, so now that you’ve had a chance to think about critical thinking, I’m going to have you write a paragraph response and I’m going to give you two options.
The first paragraph question is this: Why do we need to think critically?
So, if you choose this option, you look at your jot notes and you write a paragraph. Why do we need to think critically?
Or, option number two: What might happen when we don’t think critically?
So, if you choose the second option, you look at your jot notes from the previous “minds on” questions and you write a paragraph. What might happen when we don’t think critically?
To recap… You’re going to write a paragraph to one of these two questions:
- Option #1. Why do we need to think critically?
- Option #2. What might happen when we don’t think critically?
Once you write your paragraph, hand it in and tomorrow in our next lesson, we’re going to be looking at critical thinking.
End lesson
So I paused this video. Apowersoft is automatically playing back what I had.
I can see that the lesson started around seven seconds.
If I move this scrubber to seven seconds, I can see the time at the beginning.
So if I move my mouse over the blue triangle – It changes into a white line with two arrows. That’s how I know I can move it backwards and forwards.
If I jump to the end of the video – I can see that even though I jumped forwards, the software is a little bit glitchy and it got rid of my blue timeline area.
So what I do is, on a separate piece of paper, I just write down when I want the video lesson to end (in this case at 242)
I know that because at the bottom here in white, it says 242 in the timeline.
At the beginning, I think I want to start around seven seconds. Maybe, I will start it at five.
Click and drag from around five seconds to three minutes.
(It automatically starts playing back my voice so just pause it.)
I’m just going to move my mouse – hover over the blue triangle
I’m gonna move it to around seven seconds to begin with and then at the other and I’m to move it to around 242 (and I know this because I watched the video and then I just wrote down sometimes.)
So now I have this blue area where I’m going to save.
I’m going to hit the save button… save as a video …file and I can play the video
(I’m not entirely sure that cropped any sounds – and I’ve found, sometimes in the past, this software is not great at trimming at the beginning.)
I’m just going to go to the end of the video…
Okay, so that looks pretty good. I’m pretty happy with that.
… If I open the folder to see where it saved it. It shows me this place where it saves all the videos.
It automatically records
- the first file was just a trial that we had
- the second one is once it records, it saves the file right away.
- this top file here – This is the one I want to upload.
So, I’m just going to rename the file. I’m going to call it Minds On Critical Thinking.
I’m going to play it just to double check this is the video I want.
If I go back to the recording software, I have to click done. If I click anywhere else, it will just beep at me. But, if I click done, there’s a couple of options here:
- this one is to save the file to the cloud. I’m not going to use it. It uploads it to a service that they have here ShowMore. That’s what they’re using. I don’t want to use.
- I could click this button over here that says share. But, I find I don’t actually use these options. It just opens up the Google Drive and I can do that manually myself.
Okay, so I’m going to hit cancel. So I have saved this. I’m going to close the recording. it automatically goes back to recorder. I’m going to close that software.
I’m going to go to my Google drive.
This is the folder where I want to upload my video.
What I’m gonna do is just drag the video file from the folder where it was saved into Google Drive.
Now it is uploading the file into Google Drive.
I find initially, it may take a few minutes for Google to process the video.
So, if I try to watch it right now, I’ll get this message that says, “hey, we’re processing the video. Check it out later” and later on, it will be fine.
I’m going to just escape and get out of that.
But now that it’s up here in my Google folder, I can get the link to share with somebody.
So if I right–click here on the file name, I can click on share and I can choose some options.
I can get a shareable link up here.
- I might change it so that only the people in my school can see it.
- I might change it so that anyone can see it.
If I click on more, I have…
- the option to make the video link either public on the Internet or
- I can make it so that anyone who has the the specific link can find it.
If I choose the top two versions, it means they don’t have to sign in. They can just watch it and that might be what works for you.
Or, you may choose it so that only people at your school or organization can view this.
Or, you might decide, hey, I don’t want that it all. I don’t want to link share and what I can do is then type in people’s names directly and share the video like a normal Google doc.
I’m going to copy this link. And now if I open a new window, if I pasted the link in here, the video will show.
This was the link that I would share with my students or with my teacher.
So that was a tutorial on how to record a Google slide presentation that includes audio and video.