Tomorrow I’m headed home from Barcelona where I gave the closing keynote at ITworldEdu. It was such a privilege to share meaningful, sustainable and scalable ways to create engaging learning experiences in the digital world. I shared stories from my time as a one-to-one iPad classroom teacher and my work with teachers across the country to thoughtfully integrate technology into teaching and learning.
Of course I highlighted my favorite, totally free, BYOD-friendly Adobe Spark tools. Sharing how this web-browser based tool and iOS app can be used to honor student voice and connect them with authentic audiences was the inspiration for today’s post. I’m a huge fan of all three Adobe Spark tools – Spark Video for movie-making, Spark Page for website creation, and Spark Post for quick and powerful graphics. The list below highlights different ways to use Adobe Spark with Google Classroom so you can take advantage of the power of both of these awesome tools.
Access Adobe Spark on the web or find out more information about their iPad and iPhone apps by clicking here.
Adobe Spark with Google Classroom
Create a plan in Google Docs.
Whether you’re making a movie with students or helping them outline the content on a website created with Spark Page, use Google Docs for student planning. This could include a teacher-created template shared as a copy for each student in Google Classroom or a planning page students create themselves and share with their teacher before opening up Spark to create their final product.
Drag-and-drop text into Spark Page.
When students use Spark Page to create their website they can plan the content in a Google Doc and drag-and-drop the text straight into Spark Page with a simple copy and paste. This makes it super easy for teachers to check in on progress and leave comments in a Google Doc before students jump into Spark to organize their text, images and multimedia on their website.
Collaborate with peers.
Creating a plan for a Spark Video or Spark Page can be a collaborative process. Students can work together side-by-side or use Google Docs at home to check in on their progress. As they conduct research for persuasive or call-to-action Spark Videos, or snap pictures to embed in their Spark Page about a special school event, they can check in with one another virtually.
Google logins for Adobe Spark.
Student and teacher users can login to Adobe Spark using their Google accounts. This means you don’t have to take the extra step to create a new username and password and verify your email.
Share student creations in Google Classroom.
Both teachers and students can post their own Spark Video, Spark Page or Spark Post creations in Google Classroom. This makes it easy to view and share content students have created so that your class has an audience for their work. You might decide to have students watch a certain number of videos created by their peers at the end of a project or share an exemplar in Google Classroom for students to view before starting a project.
Add links to Google Forms for surveys in Spark Page.
One of my favorite features of Spark Page is the ability to add a button that links to an outside source. This feature makes connecting to another website really easy and is also a great way to integrate Google Forms. For example, if you create a Google Form for parents or students to complete you can add the link to the Google Form as a button on your Spark Page. When users submit the form you’ll be able to see all of the results in your Google Drive.
Adobe Spark is free! You can access it on the web or find more information about their iPad and iPhone apps by clicking here.
Have you used Adobe Spark with Google Classroom? Share your tips, favorite activity or questions in the comments below!
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Having trouble loading my Adobe Spark Video to a Google Classroom. I’m able to select the class, but I can’t select an assignment. Any insight?
Hi Audrey, thanks for letting me know – are you logged into your Google account to access Spark? Feel free to send an email if you’d like to share a screenshot: monica@classtechtips.com
I am having the same problem. When my student clicks on share to classroom it shows his class but it says please select a class that has upcoming assignments. I have put adobe assignments in the classroom but nothing seems to work.
Hi Alicia, thanks for letting me know – I’m going to see what’s going and get back to you :)
I have used Spark Video with Google Classroom for projects. The students loved it and it was easy to submit on Classroom. I have not tried the other two, but plan to try them.
That’s fantastic Madelyn, I love the Spark tools too!
This is great. I love Adobe!
I love this app…just wish Adobe would open it to ages younger than 13!
Hi Ann! I love it too :) Stay tuned for updates on this… classtechtips.com/signup
Any update on the terms? I asked some of my students to try using their Google accounts, but Adobe would not allow them to sign up because they were not 13. Are (or will) students under 13 (be) able to sign up?
Hi Ms. Rowe, great question! No update that I’ve seen yet – keep checking on their social pages, they are quick to respond to inquiries :)
twitter.com/adobespark