Category: Tech tips

In these 169 tech-centric situations, you get an overview of pedagogy—the tech topics most important to your teaching—as well as practical strategies to address most classroom tech situations, how to scaffold these to learning, and where they provide the subtext to daily tech-infused education.

Today’s tip: Top 10 iPad Shortkeys

Category: iPads

Here’s a poster with the ten most popular iPad shortkeys found in classrooms:

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In these 169 tech-centric situations, you get an overview of pedagogy—the tech topics most important to your teaching—as well as practical strategies to address most classroom tech situations, how to scaffold these to learning, and where they provide the subtext to daily tech-infused education.

Today’s tip: 11 Great Typing Timesavers on iPads

Category: iPads

Q: Typing on the iPad keyboard is slow. How do I speed that up without buying (and installing) a separate QWERTY keyboard?

A: Here are eleven time-savers students will appreciate (as will colleagues) when using iPads. They make the strangeness of the native iPad keyboard a bit more tolerable:

• Double-tap the space bar to add a period.
• Double-tap the shift key to turn on CAPS LOCK.
• Double-tap the Home button to bring up all open apps.
• Place two fingers in the middle of the iPad keyboard and flick them to the side. This will split the keyboard making it easier to ‘thumb’ the keys (see inset—notice the half-keyboards on either side of the image).

• Shake the iPad to undo the last word you typed.
• Four-finger swipe in either direction to change apps.
• Five-finger pinch to return to the Home screen.
• Long-hold the period key to bring up extension options (.com, .net, and more). This doesn’t work in all applications.
• Long-hold many keys to get additional options. For example, long-hold the $ for other money symbols.
• Long-hold the Home button to bring up Siri.
• As you type, let the iPad correct your spelling and complete words.

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In these 169 tech-centric situations, you get an overview of pedagogy—the tech topics most important to your teaching—as well as practical strategies to address most classroom tech situations, how to scaffold these to learning, and where they provide the subtext to daily tech-infused education.

Today’s tip: 13 Tips for Using an iPad

Category: iPads

Here’s a poster with thirteen basics tips to share with students new to iPads:

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In these 169 tech-centric situations, you get an overview of pedagogy—the tech topics most important to your teaching—as well as practical strategies to address most classroom tech situations, how to scaffold these to learning, and where they provide the subtext to daily tech-infused education.

Today’s tip: Browser Problem? Switch Browsers

Category: Internet

Q: My browser doesn’t bring up stuff? What do I do?

A: The quick answer is: Switch browsers. Sometimes you load programs or system/operating files on your computer that conflict with your current browser. Or, the browser updated conflicts with your older computer set-up. Everything that had been working fine suddenly doesn’t.

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In these 169 tech-centric situations, you get an overview of pedagogy—the tech topics most important to your teaching—as well as practical strategies to address most classroom tech situations, how to scaffold these to learning, and where they provide the subtext to daily tech-infused education.

Today’s tip: How to Make a Small Window Big

Category: Internet

Sub-category: Problem-solving

Q:  When I open the internet (or a document), the window barely fills half the screen. What’s the quickest way to make it bigger?

A:  There are three easy solutions, each faster than the other:

• Click the maximize box in the upper right corner of the document.
• If you have youngers whose fine motor skills aren’t quite there and aiming/clicking that tiny box is a challenge, here’s a better way: Double click the blue title bar at the top of the document.
• Click-hold the bar at the top of the window and ‘throw’ it to the top of the screen. This automatically maximizes the window.

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In these 169 tech-centric situations, you get an overview of pedagogy—the tech topics most important to your teaching—as well as practical strategies to address most classroom tech situations, how to scaffold these to learning, and where they provide the subtext to daily tech-infused education.

Today’s tip: Quick Browser Fixes

Category: Internet

Sub-category: Problem-solving

Q: The browser I’m using is quirky. Sites I know should work don’t. Is there a quick way to fix that without a reboot?

A: Here are four ideas you can try before rebooting your computer:

1. Refresh the webpage with the ‘reload current page’ tool. About half the time, that works.
2. Try a different browser.
3. Next, close the internet down and re-open.
4. Unplug the modem (or router–or both), wait ten seconds, and replug

Sign up for a new tip each week or buy the entire 169 Real-world Ways to Put Tech into Your Classroom.

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In these 169 tech-centric situations, you get an overview of pedagogy—the tech topics most important to your teaching—as well as practical strategies to address most classroom tech situations, how to scaffold these to learning, and where they provide the subtext to daily tech-infused education.

Today’s tip: How to Open a Program Maximized

Category: Internet

Sub-category: MS Office, Keyboarding

Q: How do I open the internet maximized on my screen. For younger students, clicking that tiny square in the upper right corner is often one step too many. Anything I can do to make this easier is good.

A: Here’s how you program a browser, internet site, or many programs to open maximized rather than as that annoying small size that makes it difficult to maneuver:

• Right click on the program icon.
• Select Properties>Shortcuts.
• Select the dropdown menu by Run and choose Maximized.

That’s it. It doesn’t work with every shortcut but most. I like this one a lot not only because it fixes this problem but because it introduces me to a lot more settings to personalize my computing experience (in the Properties dialogue boxes).

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#techtips

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In these 169 tech-centric situations, you get an overview of pedagogy—the tech topics most important to your teaching—as well as practical strategies to address most classroom tech situations, how to scaffold these to learning, and where they provide the subtext to daily tech-infused education.

Today’s tip: How to Activate a Link

Category: Internet

Sub-category: Search/Research, Keyboarding

Q: Is there a shortkey to search a website?

A: Yes. It’s Ctrl+F.  This highlights all instances of the word or phrase on the page, PDF, or website (see inset). Usually, it includes a bar (like #4 in the inset below) that shows how many instances of the word and allows you to quickly scroll through them.

If you didn’t know about Ctrl+F, don’t feel bad. According to an article I read, 90% of folks don’t.

Sign up for a new tip each week or buy the entire 169 Real-world Ways to Put Tech into Your Classroom.

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In these 169 tech-centric situations, you get an overview of pedagogy—the tech topics most important to your teaching—as well as practical strategies to address most classroom tech situations, how to scaffold these to learning, and where they provide the subtext to daily tech-infused education.

Today’s tip: How to Auto-fill Internet Addresses

Category: Internet

Sub-category: MS Office, Keyboarding

Q: Is there a faster way to type internet addresses? All that h-t-t-p stuff–I keep making typos.

A: In fact, there is. Get the main part of the address in, press Ctrl+Enter and the browser will auto-fill the rest. What a time saver!

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More Tech Tips

Visit Foreign Language Google Search

Basics of Internet Safety

Transparent Backgrounds

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In these 169 tech-centric situations, you get an overview of pedagogy—the tech topics most important to your teaching—as well as practical strategies to address most classroom tech situations, how to scaffold these to learning, and where they provide the subtext to daily tech-infused education.

Today’s tip: Quickly Switch Between Windows

Category: Internet

Q: I have a lot of programs open but right now, I’m working only between two of them. It takes a lot of time to click down to the taskbar and find the correct doc. Is there an easier way?

A: Oh yes, Much easier. Use Alt+Tab. That takes you to the last window you visited. If you’re toggling between two windows, this is the perfect solution. I use it a lot for report cards.

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