Google Photos for Teachers
If you have ever spent hours and hours putting together a photo slideshow with music, you will scream with joy when you see how easily you can make that same video in Photos. No kidding, you can make a video in about 3 minutes, including music and timing! This Google App is ideal for sharing classroom photos and videos with parents. It works on all mobile devices and it is also web based for access on desktops and Chromebooks. Get the app in the iTunes store or Google Play store. On a Chromebook, go to photos.google.com.
Why I love Google Photos:
An Assistant
Hey, who doesn’t need an assistant? With the assistant in Photos you can make a photo album, video, animation, or collage. You can make and order a photobook, if that’s your thing. But, sometimes, my assistant makes something for me ...without me asking. I love to get that Photos notification and see what my assistant has whipped up in the Photos’ kitchen! I save what I like and delete what I don't. My assistant’s most laudable skill, though, is helping me to create videos of classroom fun. Here is an example of a video I made of a hike in the Blue Ridge.
Unlimited storage space
As long as you agree to Google’s resolution size of 16 megapixels, you can store as many photos and videos as you like. The quality level is great for anyone but a professional photographer. This means you can upload your pictures to Google Photos and save all that space on your phone or device by deleting photos from your camera roll.
Searchability
As with all things Google, Photos is made to be searched. Search by location, time, subject, etc. (“water” or “selfies” or “Richmond”).
Sharing
For teachers, this is a real time saver. Once you have a user group created—say a group with all of your parents/guardians in it—you can share creations and photos directly to that group via the app. No need to download, move, or save anything. Parents who choose to install the app can view everything you share right on their smartphones. This means that on the day of a field trip or an exciting science experiment, parents can see the pictures before their kids even get off of the bus.
PhotoScan App
PhotoScan by Google Photos is great app that allows you take good quality pictures of pictures (yes, that’s what I meant) with your smartphone or iPad, rather than using a scanner. When I made a slideshow about my mother, I found old pictures, scattered them on the kitchen floor, and then used the PhotoScan app. The app reduces glare from shiny photos and corrects for shape and color. The photos are automatically synced to Google Photos so I could quickly make my slideshow after that. This app also works with documents that I want to save as pictures. Get PhotoScan by Google Photos in your friendly neighborhood app store.
Using Two Accounts with Photos :-(
Okay, here’s the bad news...switching accounts in this app is a real struggle. If you are using a smartphone that you want to use both personally and professionally, you have to be prepared to keep your camera roll cleared out. However, if you have access to an iPad, iPad mini or other mobile phone or device that you can leave signed into your school Google account, this is clearly the way to go. If not, read on.
Here are the steps I follow to use Google Photos on my phone and switch between my personal photos and my professional photos.
1. Open the app, go to the pancakes (three bars), Settings gear, select Backup & sync, and then turn it off. When that switch is on, everything on the camera roll automatically uploads to Photos. *Actually, if you don’t have anything on your camera roll, you don’t need to turn Backup & sync off, but keeping this switch in the off position helps me make sure I am being careful about what items sync to what account.
2. When you are at school and ready to take pictures, be sure your camera roll is empty. Of course, you can always delete photos that get saved to the wrong cloud account. But thinking ahead saves time.
3. Switch to your school account by going to the pancakes (three bars) and looking near the bottom. Now, you are ready to turn sync back on. Go to the Settings gear, select Backup & sync, select the account, and turn sync on.
At the end of the day, check to be sure everything has synced to Photos. Opening the app triggers the sync. ( Also, syncing happens only when you are on WiFi, unless you select otherwise.)
Once you know it’s all there, clear your camera roll. You can do this from within the app by choosing Free Up Space. Photos knows what it has synced, and it will not upload a picture twice.
4. Now you are ready to switch accounts and take personal pictures at home. The algorithm goes...turn off sync, empty the camera roll, switch accounts, turn sync back on, etc.
The FUN Part š: How to make a movie
1. Open the Google Photos app. Currently, you can only make a movie on a mobile device, not a desktop or a Chromebook. You can make everything else (photo album, video, animation, or collage) on a Chromebook, desktop, or laptop.
2. Select Assistant at the bottom of your screen.
3. Start a new movie by clicking the plus sign. (If you have a lot of pictures of your pets, I highly recommend the Meow Movie and the Doggie Movie...they are ridiculously adorable.)
4. Select the photos and videos you want to be in the movie (if you want more than 50, you can add them to the project later). Select Create.
5. Your assistant will do its (his/her?) very best to order your selections and crop the time on the videos. You can drag items to re-order them or change the time length on any photo or video by adjusting the gray bar next to the photo. The assistant also picks the music. Don’t like it? Choose another from their library of copyright free songs, or use one from your own music collection. The wide variety of music available inside the app will allow you to find just the right mood for your movie. Keep in mind, if you want to share your video on social media, you can not choose copyrighted music, even if you own it.
6. Once you are happy with your creation, click Save and you’re ready to share.
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