Take Your Presentations to the Next Level

Have you ever been in one of these situations?

• You're teaching a lesson that students are struggling with and they ask so many questions that you can't keep up.
• You're teaching a lesson and the kids ask you questions you're not sure of answers for so you tell them you'll look them up later but then forget what the questions are.
• You're teaching a lesson and at the end you ask if there are any questions; you're sure some students must have questions but they're just not speaking up because they're too shy to ask in front of everyone.
• You're teaching a lesson and the questions are coming in fast and furious and you can't keep up with all of them.

Chances are, you've experienced at least one of these scenarios if you're a teacher. And chances are, you've also wished for a way to corral all those questions. After all, kids asking questions is a good thing -- it means they're involved in their learning, they're trying to make meaning out of what they are hearing. It just doesn't sit right to leave questions unanswered.

Here's some good news: you CAN manage all those questions! When sharing a lesson using Google Slides, you can enable your audience to ask questions in a back channel during the presentation! What happens is a link appears at the top of the screen for participants to type in so they can ask questions.

First, just click the arrow next to Present and choose Presenter View.

Click Start New to start a new Q & A session.

The participants see a link they can go to at the top of the screen.

Here is what they see when they go to that link:

A person can ask a question anonymously, and participants can give a thumbs up or a thumbs down (why that option is available baffles me, personally) to a question. A good way to encourage students to use the thumbs up option would be to click that if they think that is a good question or if they have the same question. You can use that as a gauge for how important it is to get that question answered -- the more thumbs ups, the more urgent.

Here is what you as the presenter see when a question comes in:

This is a great way to engage your students in your lessons and give them a way to participate. It is also great for you to have a record of what kinds of questions students asked about the lesson to help you prepare for the next time you teach it.

Give it a try! Share your experience with this in the comments! Or, better yet, can you maybe invite me in to observe your class when you use this? 

Want this information in a step by step format? Check out this page from the Help Forum!