PDFs vs the Color Yellow (and Light Blue)

I don't understand why, but whenever I convert a Google Slide, Power Point, Word file with graphics, Mind Map etc. to pdf, anything with a yellow or light blue background comes out with no color. If the text is colored, then that too disappears.

This is the original Mind Map on mindmup.com

But this is what happened when I downloaded it as a pdf. Notice the light blue squares are now without color.

The solution is to download the file as a jpeg or png and then upload the graphic into Adobe Acrobat (best professional purchase of my career) or an online graphic-to-pdf converter like smallpdf, and convert it to a pdf. This way, the original colors are preserved.

The same thing happened when I tried downloading a Google Slide as a pdf, and it was crucial that the colors be preserved. I tried downloading it as a PowerPoint, but regardless of what I did (I even tried changing the shades slightly, using gradients, etc.) the pdf was missing the yellow on the yellow slide. I had to download the problematic slide as a jpeg and convert it to a pdf and delete the problematic page from the pdf presentation and insert the jpeg to pdf slide in its place.

Save a file in 2 different folders in Google Drive

For Capstone research I have Google folders with material for over 70 topics which I happily share with students if they need some help.

Not surprisingly, there's a great deal of overlap, and some articles are appropriate for several different topics.

If you'd like to share the files among several folders without having to make multiple copies, here's how to do it.

Navigate to the file you wish to share in Google Drive; highlight it and click Shift + Z

Click on the arrow at the end of My Drive.

Navigate to the folder in which you also wish to save the file.

Click Add.

Done!

Doc Hub - One Minor Plus over Kami

Although I enthused recently over Kami, the Chrome app Doc Hub has some features to recommend it. The free version is fine for having students fill in pdfs.

You still need to direct it to save in Google Drive; it will not do so automatically. It also saves its own copy of the edited document, so if a student forgets to save it to Google Drive, it is not irretrievably lost.

The one feature it has that I really like is a silly one, but it makes my life easier.

You can insert all sorts of symbols on the document, like check marks and exes.

You can change the size of the symbol and its fill color.

True, you could use the Draw feature on Kami (and as I use a pen stylus instead of a mouse, I can actually drawing something that looks pretty decent - wouldn't want to try that with a mouse). But I like being able to insert those symbols directly on to the students' filled out pdf "papers."

Kami - Fill out pdfs online

Several teachers have asked me about making the switch to Google Docs. They are concerned about converting their documents from Word or other text editors (especially some of the Judaics teachers who cling tenaciously to Davka Writer).
 They are also concerned with the problem of formatting - when you start typing on a Google doc, it pushes the blank space between questions forward.

Kami is a Chrome app and extension that opens in your browser and allows you (or the students) to write in blank space in a pdf. (And remember, you can use Share to Classroom to shoot Kami out to your students on the first day of class!)

So if you have a worksheet that in the past was printed out and filled in by hand in class, you can convert them to pdfs (just 'Save As... pdf' in most word processors) and then you can upload them to Google Classroom as Assignments (not Announcements) and have the students fill them out on the Chromebooks. Imagine - no more reading difficult handwriting! Reminder: Make sure to choose 'Make a copy for each student' before assigning.

Installing Kami

Just have the students install the Kami app as well as the extension (which allows for offline work) and when they open the assigned document in Chrome, they should select Open ... Kami.

The first time you (or your students) open a document in Kami, it will ask for access to your Google Drive. 

IT IS CRUCIAL THAT YOU ALLOW THIS ACCESS! Otherwise it will not work with Google Classroom properly, and work will get messed up or lost. (I know, I have a few "tinfoil hat" kids who are paranoid about granting access online, but trust Google and Kami. I've met the designer. He's cool.)

Using Kami

Most features of Kami work without paying for the Pro account. (There's one important exception, as we shall see.) Click on the T to add text anywhere within the blank space.  Kami gives a pretty bright choice of colors for text, but you can click the Settings gear and choose a more subdued, darker, legible color for text.

Begin typing

You just click on the Text button (the T in the circle) and then you can then begin typing normally in whichever language you choose. 

(English has spell-check; Hebrew does not.) And you can go back to your answer later and edit it, which is a feature missing from similar programs.

Saving and Google Classroom

Assuming you have signed in to Kami, the program will automatically save your work as you type.  However, it will not automatically save back to Google Drive unless you are running the Pro version. (Currently $99/teacher/year.)

  This is very important, because if you are assigning the document through Google Classroom the work needs to be saved there as well.

When you click the Sync button on the top right, you can MANUALLY save the file in Google Drive as well. (I say 'as well' because Kami will also keep a copy of it. Which is all the good, because things sometimes get lost.)

 

However, for this to work properly, the student will have to re-direct Kami to save the document in its Google Classroom folder. (They could move it after they're done and before they're ready to submit their assignment, but I think in the long run it's easier to train them to do it from the start every time.) 

In each student's Google Drive, there is a folder called "Classroom." Within that folder are folders for each of their classes. Within those folders are the files (Google Docs, pdfs, etc.) for each GC Assignment.

The student must first click >→ Move, and then maneuver to the appropriate folder.

 This only needs to be done once per document. But it is crucial for submitting the finished work to the teacher in Google Classroom. If they do not, they will end up returning the original blank document instead of the copy with all their answers in it.

When the student is finished working in the pdf document, they should save it one more time, and then they can head back to Google Classroom. The document in their folder is now the filled-in pdf. Like any other Google Classroom assignment, when they're ready, they can just click TURN IN.

That's it. The teacher gets the completed pdf the same way s/he gets any document through Google Classroom.  And if the teacher uses Kami, s/he can grade and comment on the pdf as well. Postscript: Just in case you were worried, once the pdf is submitted to the teacher, Kami will not allow it to be edited directly by the student.

Create a Sitemap of a Talmud page (or Chumash, or a Frog) Using Thinglink

Building a Clickable Sitemap of an Image

You can do what I am about to demonstrate with a picture of anything, like the Periodic Table, a political cartoon, or the internal organs of a frog, but since some on the Jewish Studies staff seem to be at a loss for using tech in the classroom, I thought I'd offer some ideas. :-)

Let's obtain a picture of a page of Talmud (or a page from a Mikra'ot Gedolot). To make it harder, let's look for a page that we're actually going to be teaching this year.

Quick & Dirty Method of Getting a Picture File

Life is always better if you can avoid unnecessary steps. If you can find a picture file (.jpg, .gif, .png) of what you want, you're hafway home. Skip to the section title Now we have an image file.

There are picture files (jpegs) of every page of Talmud on e-daf.com. Find your page and right-click and select Save image as...  
They aren't the clearest in the world, but they will do the job for this exercise.

Fancy-Shmancy Method for the Best Copy Possible

If you can't find an image file, you may be forced to convert a .pdf. Without doubt, the clearest .pdf copy of a Talmud page can be found at the Daf Yomi Portal. Seriously. Download a page and enlarge it to 300% in Adobe Reader and compare for yourself.

(To download, put the cursor over the picture of the daf and then click on צורת הדף.) 

This method I am describing will also work for any pdf you want to use, like grabbing a page of Chumash from Hebrewbooks.org. 

Once you have your .pdf, you can convert it to an image file.

The best conversion of .pdf to .jpg I've found is online at this multi-faceted site. (I've blogged in praise of it previously.) Upload your .pdf and turn it into a .jpg.

Now we have an image file

Go to Thinglink, register or sign in, and upload your picture.

Here is a quick tutorial (not mine) on using Thinglink.

I decided to mix it up and linked to web pages (do your students know that Ein Mishpat and Masoret HaShas were written by the same guy? They will after they finish their research!), pictures, videos, a gematria calculator (for the daf number) and an old encyclopedia page. You can also encourage (or demand) that your students create their own sources to link to.

Here is what I came up with.

One Stop Shopping for all your pdf Needs

I just found this wonderful site, smallpdf , which combines 14 (!) different functions to work with pdf files.

Find it all at

Getting creative with pdf files - Part One

The pdf - it's not just for viewing anymore!

I'm going to run through a series on things you can do - how to make a pdf online, how to convert it to something else, how to collate separate pdfs together and separate pages from within a large one, among many other things.

The best piece of freeware out there (one I have been using several times a week for the last 5 years is PDFTK Builder. Get it HERE. (Scroll down to the bottom for the installation file. The main screen looks like this:

To collate, begin by clicking Add and navigating to your pdf files and click Open. In the example below they are all together in one file, but you can keep clicking Add until you have all the files you wish to bind together.

You can re-position the files with the Move up / down buttons, or remove a file in the middle, etc. When you are ready, click Save As, and name the file (and make sure it's going to the folder you wish).

When it's done collating, the file path will appear at the bottom of the screen.