We will explore embedding Google files within Canvas. When Google files—whether they're Slides, Docs, Sheets, or Forms—are embedded within Canvas, it is not necessary to send students out of Canvas through following links. Students can view the documents you want them to see directly in their Canvas window. This streamlines navigation and ensures the students are accessing the correct files.

Here are some examples: On this Canvas page, I have embedded some Google Slides that students can use these slide controls to click through directly within Canvas. Here, we have a Google Form that has been embedded within a Canvas page; students could respond directly within this Canvas page and have their responses recorded on the Google Form. This example shows a collaborative Google Doc that has been embedded. All students, because of the share settings, could go into this document directly from the Canvas interface and write their responses in a row that they've claimed.

Before you are able to embed Google files into your Canvas courses, you must establish a Canvas-Google integration. That integration is explained in another video in this series called "Integrating Canvas and Google." Be sure to check that out if needed.

To embed a Google file into Canvas, follow these steps: First, create the document you'd like to use within Google. Next, make sure that you have defined the share settings. If you are using this document with your students, you'll want to ensure that anyone in Knox Schools can access the document. This will allow users who are logged in with a KCS account to access the file, and it will deny access to anyone who tries to access it without a KCS login. You could also use the "Anyone with a link" option, depending on your needs.

Once you've determined who the audience should be, you'll need to decide what the audience can do. If you only want them to view it, as in the case of the Slides example, you'd select "Viewer." If you want them to edit, in the case of the document, you would select "Editor." If you're using a Form, the default interaction there is "Editor," so there's nothing to change with a Google Form.

Lastly, use the plugin feature in the Rich Content Editor in Canvas to pull the Google file into your Canvas page. Within the editor, click the plug icon and then select "Google Apps." You may need to select "View All" for the Google Apps option to appear. Once the Google Apps interface opens, navigate to the file you created for this particular task. Save your work in Canvas, and now your students will be able to easily access the Google files associated with the Canvas course.

Let's see this in action: I've created a page within my course, and I would like to insert a specific Google file. I've created a document that I'd like to use with my students; this is a document that all students would contribute to in a collaborative fashion. If I want my students to each have their own documents, that's a different process that we'll discuss in a separate video.

Now that I have my Google Document created, I want to make sure the share settings are correct. I open the share settings and have indicated that anyone with a Knox County Schools account should have access. Because I want them all to contribute, I need to make sure that it is set to "Editor." That way, anyone with a Knox County Schools Google account will have editing rights. So, I click "Done," and now my Google portion of this task is finished.

I toggle over to my Canvas course, and now I could add some additional text to the page to give some instructions or descriptions of expectations. But the main part of my page here is to add in that Google Document. By opening the set of apps that are available to you, if you do not see Google Apps, please hit "View All" so that you can see a larger list. Be careful not to get tangled up between Google Apps and Google Drive; Google Drive is used in a different context. We're using Google Apps when we want to display something directly from Google Drive into a Canvas page.

So, I click "Apps," and now it's going to ask me for the file I'd like to use. The name of my file begins with "September." Oh, there it is! I could also browse to find it. Then, I can either embed it directly in the page or generate a link to it. If I want students to see it on the Canvas page, I'll select "Embed," and now my document is available on my Canvas page for students to see and type on.

Embed Google files within Canvas to provide seamless and efficient access to materials for your students.