techieMusings

Pear Deck has released a super exciting update that I’m so excited to share — integration with Google Slides! All you have to do is install the Pear Deck add-on and then you’ll be able to add in the interactive question types available through Pear Deck right within Google Slides!

This is brand new. As in, Google just released Add-ons within Google Slides this afternoon (you’ve been able to use Add-ons with Docs & Spreadsheets, but not Slides… until now).

Those of you who are used to importing a Google Slides presentation into Pear Deck are going to be most excited about this update. Because it means that you can now edit your slides as you’re building in the interactivity (instead of importing your Google Slides as picture slides in Pear Deck, thus making them uneditable).

For now, you’ll be limited to the following Slide types when using Pear Deck in Google Slides:

• Drawing Response
• Number Response
• Text Response

You might notice that you cannot add the draggable slide types (except by using the Temperature Slide Check, which is a thumbs up/down). So if you want to access these, you will still need to create in Pear Deck as you were doing before. (I have a feeling Pear Deck will get us those features given some more time.)

But what’s been added is a Warm-up Slide and Exit Ticket Slide template:

And a Reflection Slide and Temperature Check Slide:

To me, the easy access to a warm-up/exit ticket template & pre-made reflection slide right within Google Slides is one of the most exciting aspects of this rollout. It provides an easy way for us all to ask ourselves how we add these elements to each and every lesson we build. With just a click, you can add in that reflective pause or opportunity for students to think deeper. It’s elements like these that help us, as teachers, do a rethink of how we’re building activities and lessons.

Now to some technical detail…

To Install the Add-on: Open Google Slides, click the Add-ons menu, and choose Get add-ons…

Then, choose Pear Deck:

To Present: you can do that right from Google Slides now. You will go up to the Add-ons menu and choose “Present with Pear Deck”.

This will open the presentation up in Pear Deck, with the same screen you always have been brought to when you hit Present in Pear Deck. Thus, you will still have all of the same controls (ie: open dashboard, turn on student-paced, end & publish takeaways).

To Access: you can obviously find everything in Google Drive. But once you present, you will also see the presentation show up in your peardeck.com dashboard. What’s cool is that when you go to edit, even if you’re accessing from you Pear Deck dashboard, it will open up in Google Slides.

For Students: students will still access Pear Deck exactly as they were before, by going to peardeck.com/join and typing in the join code.

Overall, the editing process is what has changed. Presenting, viewing student work during the presentation, accessing after the fact, and publishing takeaways are all the same.

Those of you who follow my blog know how much I love and rely on Pear Deck. So this news in majorly exciting! I couldn’t wait even one day to blog about it :)