Tom Mullaney

Author’s Note: This blog post is an update and extension of my September 2021 post, 7 Tips for Teachers Using Google Docs.

Students and teachers at Google Workspace schools use Google Docs every day. As Docs adds more features, teachers should keep students’ needs centered. I hope this guide helps teachers create student-friendly Google Docs.

Headings

Start each section of a Google Doc with a heading to break up long text passages and help students know where they are in a document. Headings enable students to use the outline on the left side of the screen to navigate the document.

Hyperlinked Checklists

If a document lays out multiple tasks for students, create a hyperlinked checklist using headings at the top.

For documents shared with a small group of students, the teacher can assign individual students tasks in the checklist to give students a visual representation of who is responsible for each.

Back to the Top Bookmark and Links

Insert a bookmark at the start of long documents. Copy the bookmark link and use that link with the words “Back to the top” or “Back home” after each section.

Student-Friendly Fonts

For headings – get creative. Social Studies teachers can try a font that depicts the era the class is learning about.

For body text, go simple. Emphasize readability by avoiding ornate fonts or fonts that mimic handwriting.  My preference is the user-friendly Lexend font family. Figtree and Poppins are simple modern fonts. This post strongly argues that teachers should stick to Times New Roman.

Color Contrast

Teachers usually use black type on a white background. This default is student-friendly because of the perfect contrast between black and white. Sometimes teachers use colors to match a school’s colors or a lesson content theme. Customizing color in Google Docs is easy – there is even a color picker. Teachers can use this to grab a color from an image in a document.

Be careful when changing the text or background color. Copy the six-character hex code of any color and paste it into the WebAIM Color Contrast Checker to ensure enough contrast for readability.

Anchor Text

Pasting a URL in a Google Doc instead of hyperlinking anchor text that links to that URL can cause confusion and disengagement. Do you like seeing long URLs in emails and documents you read? Your students don’t either.

Instead, paste the URL into a Google Doc. Click the 🔗 button in the toolbar to make sure it hyperlinks. Then click the URL once. Google Docs suggests you replace the URL with its title. Edit the anchor text to ensure it explicitly explains what it links to.

Noto Emoji for Engagement and Fun

When using emoji, change the font to Noto Emoji. Advantages of using Noto Emoji instead of regular emoji in Google Docs include:

• Inclusivity: Noto Emojis deemphasize gender and skin color so no one is excluded. 
• Noto Emoji render uniformly across devices. No matter the device, all students see the same emoji. 
• Noto Emojis are a single color. You can customize the color to match any theme.

Noto Emoji font works best when set to bold.

This video demonstrates how to add emojis to Google Docs and convert them to Noto Emoji.

Noto Emoji Notes:

1. Noto Emojis in headings render as conventional emojis in the left-side document outline.
2. Noto Emojis for flags render as letters. Conventional emojis are better if you need flag emojis.

Use Bulleted Text and Numbered Lists

Bullets and lists are more student-friendly than long sentences that list details. Try this example to see for yourself. Which of these is easier to read?

Early events of the French Revolution include the Estates-General, the Tennis Court Oath, the Storming of the Bastille, and the Women’s March.

Or…

Early events of the French Revolution include:

• The Estates-General
• The Tennis Court Oath
• The Storming of the Bastille
• The Women’s March.

Boundaries are Good

Google added a pageless document feature to emphasize collaboration over printing documents. An infinite canvas seems good for collaboration. However, navigating pageless documents takes a lot of work. Use the typical 8.5×11 format so students can easily navigate Google Docs. If you need to create more room on a page, adjust the margins under File…Page setup. 

If you want students to collaborate on an infinite canvas, try FigJam, which has much better tools to navigate an infinite canvas.

Be Conspicuous with Smart Chips

Smart Chips are very conspicuous links in Google Docs. They work for linked Google Docs, Google Slides, YouTube videos, Google Maps locations, and even some non-Google apps such as FigJam.

Compare Smart Chips to hyperlinked text. Which links are more conspicuous for students?

ALT Text for Images

When adding images to Google Docs, add ALT text to them. That helps students using screen readers understand what the image conveys. The easiest way to add ALT text to images is to click the image, click Image options, and add ALT text in the right-side panel.

Dropdowns for Student Voice

Insert dropdowns so students can share their feedback on an assignment with you. Students can choose dropdown options that reflect how they feel about the ease and value of assignments or any prompt that makes them feel heard.

If a small group of students is collaborating in a Doc, create a feedback dropdown, copy and paste one for each student, and label each with students’ names.

Pin Table Header Rows

When using tables for layout instead of data in Google Docs, please keep the table simple for accessibility. Avoid things such as nesting tables in each other. Pin header rows so that when tables bleed from one page to another, students see the header.

External Tools

There are two external tools I use to make Docs multi-modal.

The Mote Chrome extention adds audio to Google Docs. This works best if students have the extension installed.

The Stickity Google Docs extention adds helpful graphics to Docs. The graphics automatically have ALT text when you add them to Docs. That takes some work off teachers’ plates.

Conclusion

I hope these tips help you design student-friendly Google Docs. I use these practices in this Google Doc as an example:

• French Revolution Study Guide

What do you think? What practices do you use to make Google Docs student-friendly?

Does your school need professional development that helps teachers design engaging lessons with Google Docs and educational technology? Look at some of my offerings and connect with me on Twitter.

Blog Post Image: Educational Technology and Teens by Sumala in Adobe Stock.

AI Disclosure:

I wrote this blog post without the use of any generative AI. That means:

• I developed the idea for the post without using generative AI.
• I wrote an outline for this post without the assistance of generative AI.
• I wrote the post from the outline without the use of generative AI.
• I edited this post without the assistance of any generative AI. I used Grammarly to assist in editing the post. I have Grammarly GO turned off.