Jam Slides - Google Slides Replacement Template for Jamboard

Last year Google announced that they would be shutting down Jamboard, which was a collaborative digital whiteboarding tool. According to Google's timeline, as of October 1, 2024, Jamboard will become view-only, and as of December 31, 2024, the tool will shut down entirely.

This announcement was a great disappointment to many educators who have come to rely on Jamboard for teaching and learning.

Since then many other tools have been explored as potential replacements for Jamboard including Figjam, Lucidspark, Miro, Padlet Sandboxes, Canva, and more. I have even hosted an intro and advanced webinar on moving from Jamboard to Figjam.

All of these are excellent tools and I encourage you to test them out. However, I would like to suggest one other option to consider … Google Slides.

Although no tool is an exact replacement for Jamboard, Google Slides is actually very similar. In addition, it is a Google tool, so you and your students already have access to it and are probably pretty familiar with how it works.

To make this transition even easier, I have created a free Google Slides template that you can copy and use. This "Jam Slides" template is designed to help you mimic all of the features from Jamboard in Google Slides.

See below to get your own copy of the template, and to watch a tutorial video where I use this template and go through each Jamboard feature one by one and show how they can all be done in Google Slides.

▶️ Tutorial Video (25 minutes)

🔗 Get the Template

If you would like a copy of the template, you can get a copy using the link below:

bit.ly/jam-slides

If Bitly links are blocked for you, you can use this direct Google Slides link.

Now that we have a copy of the Google Slides template, let's go through each Jamboard feature one at a time and see how we can do the same thing in Google Slides.

🔲 Frames

Jamboard:

• In Jamboard the canvas that you work on was called a frame.
• You were allowed to have up to 20 frames in one Jamboard file.
• To make a new frame you would use the arrows or pluses in the frame bar at the top of the screen.

Google Slides:

• In Google Slides the canvas that you work on is simply called a Slide.
• One of the benefits of Slides is that you are not limited to 20, but can have as many slides as you want.
• In the template I have provided you with five slides to get started., which can be accessed in the "filmstrip" area on the left.
• On each slide I have added some resources on each side to help replicate Jamboard features, which we will explore.

If you want more slides, just duplicate one of the blank slides in the template.

• Either right-click on a slide in the filmstrip area and choose "Duplicate"
• Or click on a slide in the filmstrip area, then press "Ctrl" and "D" (or a Windows computer or one  a Chromebook) or "⌘" and "D" (on a Mac).
• By duplicating the slide you will also get the resources I have added to the sides of the slide.

🖼️ Set Background

Jamboard:

• In Jamboard you could change the background for a frame by clicking the "Set background" button.
• You could choose from six premade backgrounds including dots, blue line, blue graph, gray graph, blueboard, and chalkboard.
• You could also add your own background image by clicking on the "Image" button and then uploading or searching for a picture.

Google Slides:

• In Google Slides you can also change the background for each slide.
• If you want to use the six backgrounds from Jamboard, I have added them to the template.
• Simply click on the "Layout" button at the top and choose from the options including dots, blue line, blue graph, gray graph, blueboard, and chalkboard.
• If you would like to choose your own background you can click on the "Background" button.
• From here you can select a solid color or click the "Choose image" button to upload or search for a picture.

🟨 Sticky Note Tool

Jamboard:

• In Jamboard you had a toolbar on the left side with lots of tools to choose from.
• One of the tools on the Jamboard toolbar was a sticky note feature to make it easy to add notes with text to the frame.
• You would click on the "Sticky Note" tool, then type in your text, choose the color for the note, and click "Save".
• You could then drag the note around, resize it, and rotate it as needed.

Google Slides:

• With Google Slides we can replicate sticky notes by using the "Shapes" tool.
• On the right side of the slide I have created some sticky notes from the shapes tool that have the exact same color as the sticky notes from Jamboard.
• Simply select the color of sticky note that you want.
• Press Ctrl-D or ⌘-D to duplicate it.
• Drag and drop the copy onto the slide.
• If you want to add text, just double click on it and type inside.
• If you need to resize it, just click and drag the corner.
• If you need to rotate it, just click and drag the circle dot.

Note: You are not limited to the colors and font from Jamboard. You can click on the sticky note and use the formatting buttons in the top toolbar to change the color, text size, font and more.

It is also worth noting that you don't have to use the sticky notes I have placed on the right side. Those are just there to make this as easy as possible and as close to Jamboard as possible. The sticky notes are nothing more than a rectangle from the "Shapes" menu, which you can add on your own if you want.

📷 Add Image Tool

Jamboard:

• Next on the Jamboard toolbar was the "Add image" button.
• You could click on this and then upload, select, or search for an image to drop onto the frame.

Google Slides:

• We can do the exact same thing in Slide by using the "Insert image" button in the top toolbar.
• Simply click the "Insert image" button, and then upload, select, or search for an image to drop onto the slide.

🔷 Shapes Tool

Jamboard:

• Next on the Jamboard toolbar was the shapes button that allowed you to add eight different shapes to the frame.
• After adding a shape you could change the fill color and line color.

Google Slides:

• We can do the same thing in Slides with the "Shapes" menu.
• Simply click on the "Shapes" menu.
• Then choose the category you want and the shape that you want.
• You can now add that shape to the slide.
• You can then change the fill color and line color if needed by using the formatting buttons in the top toolbar.
• Note that Google Slides has many more shapes to choose from than Jamboard offered.

🅰️ Text Box Tool

Jamboard:

• Next on the Jamboard toolbar was the text box tool.
• You could click the text box tool, then click anywhere on the frame to type your text.
• Afterwards you could change the size, color, and alignment of the text.

Google Slides:

• We can do the same thing in Slides with the "Text box" menu.
• Simply click on the "Text box" button in the top toolbar.
• Then drag a box where you want to add your text.
• Then type in your text.
• You can then use the formatting options in the top toolbar to change the font, text size, color, formatting, and alignment as needed.

🖊️ Pen Tools

Jamboard:

• The final tool we are going to look at from the Jamboard toolbar is the pen tool.
• Here you could pick from four different writing tools including the pen, marker, highlighter, and brush.
• Each tool had a different thickness.
• You could also choose from six different colors, including black, blue, green, yellow, red, and white.

Google Slides:

• In Google Slides there is not an actual pen tool, but there is something called the "Scribble" tool, which is very similar and which is hidden in the "Line" button menu.
• To help you mimic the pen tools from Jamboard I have added a section to the left of the slides with presets for each thickness and color.
• Simply click on the thickness and color you want.
• Then click on the "Select line" arrow and choose "Scribble" from the dropdown list.
• You can now write or draw with that pen.
• You can then click on other thicknesses and colors as needed and click on the "Scribble" tool to draw some more.

Note: You are not actually limited to the colors and thickness from Jamboard. You can select anything you have scribbled and then change the line color and thickness and style using the buttons in the top toolbar.

🖍️ Highlighters

Unfortunately one thing that Slides cannot easily replicate from Jamboard is the transparency for the highlighter and brush tools.

• With those tools in Jamboard you could draw lines that were partially see-through so you could use them to highlight words and other items.
• Slides unfortunately does not allow for transparency for lines.
• It does however allow for transparency for shapes.

I have added a "Highlighters" section to the left of the slide with some preset shapes for this.

• Simply click on the highlighter color you want.
• Then duplicate the highlighter by pressing Ctrl-D or ⌘-D.
• Then drag and drop the highlighter where you want it, resizing if needed.

✅ Other Features

Beyond those key tools, Google Slides also replicates the other features of Jamboard.

• Zoom - Slides has a zoom feature just like Jamboard
• Sharing - Slides lets you share your file with others just like Jamboard. This can be done through the "Share" button or in Google Classroom as well.
• Downloading - Slides allows you to download the entire slideshow or just an individual slide, just like Jamboard. Simply click "File" and then "Download" to see the options.
• Version History - Slides also records a history of all changes made to the slideshow, who made the changes, and when they were made, just like Jamboard.

🏁Conclusion

So in conclusion, no tool is going to exactly replicate Jamboard. However, Google Slides is able to do pretty much everything that Jamboard did. In fact Google Slides has lots more features, such as the ability to insert videos and audio and hyperlinks. Now I certainly understand this could be seen as a drawback if you appreciated the simplified toolset in Jamboard, but it does also open the door to many more learning activities.

Nevertheless I would encourage you to test out Google Slides as a possible replacement for Jamboard. And hopefully my template will help that transition be a little easier. As always, feel free to share with others, and let me know your thoughts and suggestions.

Post by Eric Curts

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