Bloom into EdTech: The Blog

Today during an ISTE Certified Teacher virtual meeting, I used a “newsroom” animated virtual background for Zoom that I created using Screencastify and Canva. I was asked how I made this possible. Below are the directions: First, here is my example so you have some context as to how to make this work: Okay, the steps…. I personally recorded my screen using Screencastify and exported the recording into an animated Gif. Then on to Canva …. In Canva, I started by Creating a Design using Custom Dimensions and setting the dimensions just below the recommended 1920px by 1080px (16:9 aspect ratio) from Zoom. (I originally had it set at the recommended ratio but was advised by Zoom that it was too large of a file when I went to upload it). I went to work creating my virtual background. Once content, I then uploaded the animated gif that I recorded and downloaded from Screencastify into Canva and added it as part of my background. Then download it as an MP4. You can also download as animated

As part of an effort to incorporate more mind breaks into my day, I have been creating and editing the following Google Slide document that I would like to share with you. I have a feeling that I will continuously be adding so please check back.  You can grab your free copy by clicking here. Upon opening the document, you will notice that there are many slides that have pre-made themes for you to use with your students. You can easily delete any slide you wish not to use in the template by clicking on the unwanted slide on the left hand side and going to Edit in the menu then Delete :   Furthermore, you can edit any of the following tables to meet your needs. You and/or your students can type and change the format of the font or color within each editable table.  The document is completely editable. Please feel free to use the created backgrounds to create a  Learning Menus, HyperDocs, Choice Boards, Play Lists based on your needs. You can easily customize this by completing the fol