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Saturday, November 10, 2018

Five ways to use Pop-ups



A couple of days ago, @JakeMillerTech posted a way to create a pop-up window on Google Docs.
I was intrigued by the idea, especially after a couple of messages back and forth with Jake and @dyerksjr1 revealed that even with the "must be editor of the document" limitation, it could work via Google Classroom using the create a copy for each student and insert "from Drive" options (link). So I set about finding out whether you could include links, change fonts, add images (not just emojis), etc. Two frustrating days later, it dawned on me that I've never seen these kinds of adjustments on Google's actual pop-ups, so while I still have hope that it perhaps can be done, I instead changed my focus to what I could use the pop-up idea for.

So let's start by referencing Jake's original post "Add a Popup Message to your Google Docs", where he provides step by step instructions on how to add the code to your document.

The code for a Google doc is:
function onOpen() {DocumentApp.getUi().alert(<head> "insert your message here" </head>)}
If you would like to add to Slides instead, you would use:
function onOpen() {SlidesApp.getUi().alert(<head> "insert your message here" </head>)}
and for Sheets, well:
function onOpen() {SpreadsheetApp.getUi().alert(<head> "insert your message here" </head>)}
With that out of the way, it is time to have some fun and think of ways of using it:

1. Reminders:


2. Provide links: Although the link itself will not work, students can always copy/paste it:

3. Give words of encouragement:
If you do not mind a little extra work, you can even provide individual pop-ups or even chose only a couple of random or carefully selected students for whom the pop-up appears.

4. Provide hints in a Break-out Edu activity:

5. In a gamified environment, perhaps even provide some hints about Easter Eggs. 

I'm sure you can think of some other awesome uses, and if so inclined tell us about them in the comments.

Thank you @JakeMillerTech and @dyerksjr1 for teaching me about this fun addition to my teaching arsenal.

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