Shortcut to Student Online Doc Creation

You have your third period class in Google Classroom and that really helps get Google Docs assigned to them quickly.  But you also have other non-Google Classroom classes and an advisory period that sees a rotation of different students throughout the week.  How can you assign them a document that you wish for them to edit and complete?

With one little trick, any Google user can make a shared Google Document automatically require the user to make a copy that they would then own.  This would be great for the PBL or Campus MakerSpace report template that students would be required to complete regardless of who their teacher is.

In any of the Google Apps, create your document that you want to be shared. Set the sharing permissions to have view rights for anyone who has access to the share link.

Use the Share icon for the document and select Advanced.

From the Advanced settings, select 'Change' link in the Who has access section.

Depending on how you are going to use this link, you can make it useable by the public or just people within your Google Apps For Education domain.  This example shows that anyone who has this link will be able to View the document.   Save this setting.

The Share window now shows your 'Link to share' at the top.  Copy this link and past it into the URL of your browser. 

Look for the word before the '?' at the end.  Replace 'view' (or 'edit') with 'copy'.

example:  https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1ep...2sICwxL2M/view?usp=sharing

URL changed for automatic copy:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1ep...2sICwxL2M/copy?usp=sharing

Now, you can share that entire link (or make a short URL using that link) with students. When the link is opened, Google Drive will prompt automatically for the user to Create a copy of the document. The user will be the owner of the new copy that now rests inside their Google Drive.

Try this working example:   http://goo.gl/f4GhLz   This link will open for any GAFE or personal Google ID and will create a copy of my short document into your Google Drive.

Google Classroom does this much better if you are working with a set group of students, but if you need to provide a template to an unknown group of people, this Google URL trick could be very helpful.

How would you use this in your classroom?  Could you use this as a formative assessment tool with your students?  Share your thoughts below!