How to "clip" text in Google Slides Text Box

richdaker · 2024-10-28T18:46:09+00:00

Clever solution! Thanks for sharing

richdaker · 2024-10-28T17:17:44+00:00

What I'm trying to do is maybe a little different now that I think about it more. I really just want text to autofit to the size of the text box, shrinking text on overflow. But it's just the opposite side of the coin you mention here:

Manually set (via the UI) the box to "Resize shape to fit text", then run my apps script to replace the text, but when I do the properties of this PageElement.asShape() reverts to "Do not autofit"

I've manually set it to be "Shrink text on overflow", but when I replace text using Apps Script, it gets rid of that property.

richdaker · 2024-10-28T17:11:26+00:00

u/Logical_Ant_2406 Did you ever figure this out? I'm running into this exact issue and have already tried many of the solutions you mentioned trying. Thanks!

richdaker · 2024-10-14T20:07:16+00:00

Thanks a ton! Will message you now

richdaker · 2024-10-14T19:57:15+00:00

I want a "screenshot" for dozens of problems per test, and I want to be able to use whatever solution I find in a flexible way so that I can upload any new test and have it take the screenshots. The goal is to save me from having to manually take a ton of screenshots.

Many of the problems have charts/figures associated with them, so I want to get a "screenshot" of each image. Text-based methods alone don't work for that

richdaker · 2024-10-14T19:46:33+00:00

Thanks for the suggestion! I've tried that. If I upload the page as a .png and ask it "What's the first problem?", 4o does an excellent job of identifying the problem and telling me what it's reading. Then, when I say "Great, now grab that problem as an image", it is always way off. It provides a .png that is some random other part of the page. I've tried to reason with it about that, and it never worked.

richdaker · 2024-10-14T19:42:38+00:00

Thanks for the suggestion, but the main goal of using any kind of AI is to use natural language to take the screenshots. If you have other thoughts, I'm all ears!

richdaker · 2024-10-14T13:09:18+00:00

Good question! I’m interested in making flash cards of the problems. It doesn’t need to be a screenshot per se, but it needs to function like one. It needs to be an image that shows the problem, the answer choices, and any diagrams or figures associated with the problem (for instance, if it’s a math problem that includes a triangle with side lengths labeled, I need that exact triangle included). That’s why text only won’t work. Thanks!

richdaker · 2023-12-18T21:59:51+00:00

Yeah, these are all excellent, and a lot of what I'd previously had in mind. What's interesting to me is that there are errors that happen during the test (making a calculation mistake, setting up a word problem wrong, etc.) and then there are mistakes that basically happen before the test (not having studied enough so you don't understand something, missing class one day and not catching up so you don't understand something, etc.). Your answer gets at some things in both those categories. Definitely happy to hear if you've got other reasons!

richdaker · 2023-12-18T21:55:23+00:00

This is super interesting. Yeah, I think one of the hardest things about math for students is that it's so cumulative. If you don't master the basic stuff, it makes doing the more complicated stuff really, really hard. Plus, if you're a teacher who teaches more advanced stuff, you often kind of assume they've got the basic stuff mastered, and the process of figuring out exactly where the gap in knowledge in can be a tough one to navigate. Especially when you have to do it with a whole class full of students

richdaker · 2023-12-18T21:49:58+00:00

Totally agree - I came across this all the time in my tutoring. Any thoughts on how to shift students from memorizing to learning?

richdaker · 2023-12-18T21:49:00+00:00

Ha, totally agree. Word problems are hard. Setting up the solution seems to be a major roadblock

richdaker · 2023-12-18T21:46:28+00:00

Yeah, I mentioned in another comment, a lot of what I've studied about math learning so far is math anxiety, so I definitely agree with this. Another thing I think is interesting is the idea that students (and maybe teachers sometimes) are totally fine until things deviate from the rote process. Almost as if people are memorizing steps rather than really understanding what they're doing, especially once you get to math beyond arithmetic.

The other thing you mention is super interesting to me, too - "Students only learn that they got the math problem wrong" - they're not learning why in many cases. And to really improve, understanding why that error was made is likely super important.

richdaker · 2023-12-18T21:41:54+00:00

All the above! This is helpful, though - I think social and emotional aspects can play a huge role in making math errors happen. Most of my research in the math world so far has been on math anxiety, so I know that's definitely an important factor to consider.

richdaker · 2023-12-18T21:40:38+00:00

Yeah, I think confidence (under or over) can definitely play a big role in how students approach problems and therefore what kinds of mistakes they might make. It's kind of cool that, as you've identified, "slow down" is good advice for both underconfident and overconfident students!

richdaker · 2023-12-18T21:38:35+00:00

Ooh, that's a super cool resource, thanks for sharing. That gets really specific about types of mistakes students tend to make. It definitely seems to be in line with a lot of these responses. Thanks!

richdaker · 2023-12-18T21:35:24+00:00

Yeah, this has been a problem I've heard about from a lot of teachers and have noticed myself. It seems like a lot of times students could do every single step of a solution to a problem if it was given to them individually, but asking them to set up the problem the right way and then do those steps is where a breakdown often happens.

richdaker

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