Google Docs Fundamentals

Google Docs Fundamentals
Image Placeholders
We just went through something a little complicated so
I thought we’d do something fun. Let’s put some pictures
into our document. Google Docs provides several
ways to place images into a document. We’ll explore
each option and talk about what that means for teachers
and students.
As a teacher I recommend students write out content
before they go through the process of inserting any
images into the document. Placing images in the document
should be the very last thing they do before
publishing. If you don’t do this, students will spend
more time getting pictures and putting them into place
and almost no time creating content. I recommend they
write out the content, edit and revise for publishing.
Once the content is ready and polished, students can
begin looking for pictures and placing them into the
document.
This does not mean they should not think about where
to place images in the document. As they write out the
content of the document the location for images will
be very easy to figure out. I go through this every time I
write this magazine. The content is first and it leads me
to the images and where they should go.
It’s important to keep this teachable moment in mind.
Make your students aware of copyright and citing
their sources for media they plan to use in documents.
Whenever possible try to use images and media that is
in the public domain or part of the creative commons.
The first option we have for inserting images into our
document is the option to upload an image from the
computer. This option requires you to plan ahead a little
and gives you the opportunity to prepare the image.
Thinking of where images go is a big part of publishing
anything that contains images. The placement and size
of images is very important. Documents have a finite
amount of space. Digital documents we create still
conform to their physical counter parts. Documents are
typically 8.5 inches wide and 11 inches tall in the United
States. This is often a balancing act between the space
for content and the space for images. Images have as
much to say as content and vise versa.
Once the content is created, placing images on the document
can be a decision made by students as they work
either individually or as a group. I will give you some
ideas to help students decide where to place images.
Providing a guide to students that is visual and easy to
manipulate can be very helpful.
It might seem that the easiest thing to do is to click the
insert option in the menu and select image. I’m going to
recommend you resist that temptation and follow me
through a process you might find more useful.
As I produce this magazine I use an application called
InDesign to layout my content. This application helps
me see where I can place images and what they might
look like. Before I place an image in the document I set
placeholders for the images. These placeholders are
rectangular boxes that represent the eventual location
of my images. The rectangular boxes represent not only
the location but the width and height of the image.
We can do the same thing right here inside of Google
Docs. This will make students work look more polished
and teach them a few more things in the process. This
process has an added advantage is that it will give you
a little more control over the images you place onto the
document.
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Digital Maestro