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[Update 2/27/2012 :  Grab is a similar utility for Mac users.  Go to Applications and look in the Utilities folder. — Thanks, Steve!] Well, you already have this screen capture tool if you’re a Windows 7 user. Click the start button, select “all programs”, and in your accessories folder you’ll find “Snipping Tool”. Now that you’ve found it, right-click on it, and select “pin to start menu” so it will be easily accessible. When you run Snipping Tool, this little window pops up. Click the little down arrow next to “New” to decide how you’d like to take a snapshot of your computer’s desktop. WhateverRead More →

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I’m a fan of keyboard shortcuts, so here’s another one. (Okay. I confess. My wife asked me to find this one for her.) Let’s say you’re reading a webpage, and in the process, your cursor gets moved out of the address bar. You now want to type in another web address, so you reach for your mouse to move the cursor into the address bar ready to highlight the URL so you can replace it with a new one. But wait! You don’t need your mouse. In Firefox and Chrome, CTRL-L not only places the cursor in the address bar, but it also highlights theRead More →

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[Update 2/29/2012: The folks at Fiesta.cc announced that someone else will be taking over maintenance of the service.] In this earlier blog post, I recommended using Fiesta.cc as a tool for collaboration. It was a quick and easy way to create email distribution lists. Unfortunately Fiesta.cc just announced that they’re closing down effective March 1st, 2012. They are open to a buyer, so if someone is looking for a business opportunity… Looking for an alternative? Try Google Groups. You can create a private group just for your class. I’ll write more about how Google Groups work in a future blog post.Read More →

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A couple weeks ago I was sitting in our psychology lab when a student wandered in. Me: Can I help you? Student: <locating the clock on the wall> I was wondering what time it is. The student is visually impaired, judging by how close he was standing to the clock and how he was squinting. Me: It’s 20 ’til 11. Student: What? Thinking the student is also partially deaf, I speak up. Me: IT’S 20 ‘TIL 11. Student looks at the clock, clearly baffled. Another student in the lab chimes in. Student #2: It’s 10:40. Student: Oh! I’m late! Finally it dawns on me. TheRead More →

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My students submit their assignments to me primarily as an email attachment. I have ways of quickly filing the email messages in Outlook (see the SimplyFile blog post), and then quickly saving the attachments all at once to my “student papers” folder while appending the students’ names and email addresses to the filename (see the EZDetach blog post). Once the papers are graded, I move them to my “graded” folder. Once I send them back to students, I move them to my “sent” folder where they sit until the end of the term when I move them into a folder named for that quarter. AndRead More →

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During winter break I spent most of my computer time on my personal laptop. When I got back on my (older) work laptop this week, I found that it was moving at a crawl. The sensation was undoubtedly amplified by the, by comparison, rocket ship I had been using. After some trial and error, I identified the culprit: Chrome. Or more specifically, one webpage I had open in Chrome. Chrome is designed in such a way that each tab is essentially another instance of the program running. The advantage is that if a web page causes a crash, only that tab crashes; the rest ofRead More →

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In July 2011 I wrote about Socrative, a web-based student response system. (See the blog post here.) The brief version: The instructor logs into the Socrative website and gets a room number (change to whatever you’d like). Students visit the website on whatever web-enabled device they have (smartphone, iPod, tablet, laptop), and enter the room number. The instructor can ask multiple choice, true/false, or short answer questions. Ask them on the fly or create quizzes in advance. These quizzes can be teacher-paced or student-paced. Responses are collated into a spreadsheet and emailed to the instructor. Socrative has added several very useful features to begin 2012.Read More →

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Scientific American asked their “board of advisers to choose the technologies that they could not live without.” Read their answers here. Having recently read Unbroken, Louis Zamperini’s surviving 47 days on a raft in the Pacific followed by a couple years in a Japanese POW camp, and currently reading The Unconquered, an expedition to find the last uncontacted Indians of the Amazon, I’ve concluded that there is a lot of stuff one can live without. People around the world, not just deep in the Amazon, live without a lot of what we have here in the States. And you know, our ancestors did just fineRead More →

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12/15/2011 11:46am The presentation has moved into the Q&A session, so I’m going to wrap up here. Be sure to check out the report and the 2011 study infographic. As we slide into the winter break, I hope to have time to read the report myself and write about some of their findings in this blog. ___________ 11:41am PT Where do students say they learn the most? Source: EDUCAUSE Live Presentation, 12/15/2011 ___________ 11:34am PT Basically, students don’t think instructors are using technology effectively. How can we make better use of the technology we have? Source: EDUCAUSE Live Presentation, 12/15/2011 ___________ 11:29am PT What doRead More →

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As the term comes to a close and you slide into the break for a bit of a breather, consider checking out these tech tools. I know you probably don’t have time now to look at these, although if you’re looking for a good excuse to do something besides grade papers… If you don’t want to take the time now, bookmark this webpage, and take a look at these when you need a break from your visiting in-laws. (Yes, I know you love them, but that doesn’t mean that you have to spend the entire week with them.) Here they are (the tools, not yourRead More →