Thing 24: Google Drawings

I decided to try Google Drawing as I have rarely touched this Google resource despite the fact that, as the Thing says, it can be used to “create posters, graphic organizers, infographics, blog post graphics, NASA planet posters, sticky notes and so much more.”

I started with “Get Creative with Google Drawings.”

• I didn’t know that Openclipart.org existed.  I’ll have to look again because it said that the website was undergoing maintenance.
• I didn’t know you could change the Google Slides size so you can print them like a newsletter. That is terrific!
• I know about Screencastify and I always want to do it, but I don’t know how anyone finds the time.
• The Question Chart looks useful.
• I’m always looking for new paragraphing ideas, so the Sandwich Chart is interesting, but limiting as it only has 3 details. I wonder if it is actually on an 8 ½ x 11 size so it is printable. Frankly I’d feel guilty having students type into the chart before typing into a regular Google Doc or Google Slides.
• The Magazine Cover idea is interesting, but personally it seems like the People cover is the easiest to think of a project use for. It could easily work for a biography report project, perhaps even tied to a fake Facebook profile template.
• The 8 Great Infographic Templates for Google Drawings link didn’t thrill me much. Oddly, at least on my iPad, the templates are mostly not in English.
• Activity 1: Who are you seems just to be a time filler, not really for any educational or even class bonding purpose.
• The Comic Strip Template is something I’ve been interested in, but it doesn’t seem better than Make Beliefs Comix which has more built in features.
• I will tell our Math Interventionists about the Math Activities, nut they aren’t really relevant to my job.
• The Interactive Slide Show idea is fun, but after previewing the Dragon Quest sure looks time-consuming.
• The idea of using a screen recording button on an iPad seems like an advantage over screencastify because it might be easier.
• The icons on thenounproject.com look good but I’d be hesitant to sign up. Maybe if I used a lot of them on my job, but I don’t.
• I liked the Creating NASA Planet Posters Using Google Drawings YouTube video because it would be a great intro to use for Substitute plans on a sick day. The kids could follow along and make any kind of poster to get acquainted with the program.
  
  
  Regarding other graphic programs I have used, I used to buy one for my home computer, but, frankly, easy stuff can be done with Microsoft’s paint, or what is built into your word processor or presentation software.  For slightly more complex drawing or image editing, I use Paint.net which is free. I find it easy to use.

  
  
  

  Google Autodraw is soooo COOL! I am in love. Here are some things I found with it. I tried to draw a butterfly and it instantly recognized it. I tried to draw a chair and it had some trouble at first. Strangely, it mattered from what perspective I was drawing the chair. With the back toward me in a 3D drawing, Auto Draw realized that it was a chair, but when I tried to be looking at the seat with the back away from me, it couldn't recognize the chair at all. Odd.

  
  

  Well, I also have to say that it is limited.  I got to thinking that I could show it to my primary students.  I was specifically thinking about a no-tech lesson I do now with first grade in the fall after reading Henry and Mudge and the Long Weekend by Cynthia Rylant to introduce the Henry and Mudge series.  I have the students draw a castle that they like.  Then, they have to write at least two sentences to describe it using a word wall on my SMARTboard.  Thus, I tried to draw a castle on Auto Draw. (I should note I am drawing with my fingertip, not a mouse, on a Chromebook.)  Here is my result:

By the way, in case anyone else is having the trouble that I had trouble embedding the drawing, I had to PUBLISH TO THE WEB in order to embed the photo.

Anyway, in this case, Google AutoDraw did not figure out that I was drawing a castle. They did sort of realize that it was supposed to be a building, but not a castle.

Then, I started using Google Drawing to make the castle with basic shapes. Here is what I came up with:

This is going to sound nitpicky, but why does it default to blue instead of black? Why does it assume you want a colored opaque fill? And I can't believe a Google product can't follow the repeated copying and pasting I did to make the toothed top of the castle. Instead, I had to move the copied tooth from the middle of the page EVERY time. Annoying! (Update: Having just briefly checked out the Google Drawing cheat sheet, I guess I could have used Align to do this, but still...)

Still, I think that for a free program that is readily available to my students, it is fairly intuitive in comparison to the free Paint.net which would not work on our Chromebooks. I think it is probably best used with a template as others have or without a really specific expectation, at least until the students get the hang of it. (Update: I would definitely plan to share the Google Drawing Cheat Sheet with the students if I use the program.)

If I use it with the students, I will have to devote some time to the exploration of the program, which I don't usually feel like I have enough time in the library to do. Maybe other districts are in a different position in terms of the students prior experience, but many of my students (as I know I've said before) don't have high-speed internet access at home, unless you count phones which would hardly work for this purpose.

Finally, Auto Draw seems a little like an online version of Pictionary. Can they guess the drawing? Sometimes yes, sometimes, no.