Chrome logo

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For those of us who like to—or least tend to—have a lot of browser tabs open at once, Chrome’s new “tab groups” along with the previous ability to pin tabs can help bring order to the chaos. Below, you can see what I currently have open in Chrome. The six tabs on the left are “pinned.” These are tabs that I frequently use, so I’ve pinned them. I have easy access to them without them taking up so much real estate. To pin a tab, right-click on it, and select “Pin”. [Extra credit: how many of my pinned tabs can you identify based on theirRead More →

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My college has been with the Canvas learning management system for a few years now. There are many things I like about it, but the cumbersome number of clicks it takes to delete a bunch of pages is not one of them. And I wanted to delete a bunch of pages. We recently turned on “Atomic Search” within Canvas that allows instructors and students to search within a course. If a page is published, it’s fair game to be returned in search results. As I copied courses from quarter to quarter to quarter, I never had to worry about those unused pages. They weren’t linkedRead More →

Book cover

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Several years ago, I moved away from using presentation slides in my courses. They just didn’t work with the interteaching model I had started using. Instead, I returned to where I started my career: writing on the board. My current board is digital (interactive short-throw projector with whiteboard software), so my “markers” never run out of ink. For my conference presentations –except for my tech talks—I still use presentation slides, specifically PowerPoint. I know some of you really love Prezi. As my colleague Steve Chew has observed, Prezi is the only presentation software that requires the audience to take Dramamine first. I’ll attend your PreziRead More →

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Some instructors and students like to use a Jeopardy! format to review course content. I’ve learned that it’s not my thing, but I’m happy to support those of you who are into it. First, you need a Jeopardy! board. I wrote about Jeopardy Labs in 2011, and that is still a solid board creation tool. Next, you need a way for students to buzz in. The easiest is the free BuzzIn.live website. (Shout out to the developer, Logan Sinclair!) Visit the BuzzIn.live website and click the “Host” button. That brings up your host dashboard. Tell your students to use their web-enabled device to visit theRead More →

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Each of us sees color differently. Download the free Color Blind Pal app to your phone or tablet. Open the app, tap “inspecting color” to change it to “filtering colors,” then tap the at the top of the screen. If it is difficult for you to see the color differences in the pie chart below, under “color blindness type” select your form of color blindness and click the ← at the top of the screen. Point your camera at this pie chart to see the colors shifted making the colors easier to tell apart.         If you have typical color vision, underRead More →

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When someone knocks on your office door, you may have a sensitive email or student work on your screen. Rather than figuring out if what is on your screen can be safely seen, use a keyboard shortcut to minimize everything so only your desktop shows. Windows Windows key + D (“D” is for desktop). When your visitor leaves, that same key combination will bring back everything where it was. Mac Command + F3 (“F3” is for F3). When your visitor leaves, that same key combination or just F3 will bring back everything where it was.  Read More →

Windows 10 emoji menu

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Windows 10* has a built-in emoji menu. Go into any program where you can type, like Word or a new email message. Press Windows key + semicolon. Choose an emoji from the menu. The first page (clock icon) shows your most recently used emoji. The magnifying glass is for search. Type what you’re looking for, like “smile.” You’ll see all of the emoji tagged with that word. Click on the other icons to browse emoji by categories. To close the menu, click the X in the top right corner, press the ESC key, or click anywhere that is not the menu. Choose a skin toneRead More →

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Select the entire web address Mouse fans: single click on the web address Keyboard shortcut fans: CTRL-L Click and drag into your Windows folder Double-click on the bookmark in your folder to launch the page in your web browser “Can I rename the link?” Yes. The default name for the link is whatever that website’s webmaster called the page. Just as you can rename a file in your folder, you can rename your bookmarks. In your folder, right-click on the link, select “Rename,” and, well, rename it. “I use Dropbox/Google Drive/OneDrive. Will my bookmark links synchronize across my devices?” Yes. “That means that when IRead More →

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I first wrote about PhraseExpress in 2009. My new policy: if I’m still using a particular technology 10 years later, it deserves a new blog post. PhraseExpress is a text expander (and more) for Windows, Mac, Android, and iPhone. The reviews for the mobile versions are mixed, so I’m going to limit the post to Windows. (Mac functionality is similar, I just don’t have a Mac.) PhraseExpress is free for non-commercial use. The pay-for upgrades give you more functionality that may or may not be useful to you. They’re a one-time fee – not annual subscription – for that version. For significant version upgrades whichRead More →

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In my last post, I wrote about how I use the news feed reader Inoreader to keep up with what’s new. I promised at the end of that post to write about how I use Inoreader in combination with the free task management tool Trello to track the content I want to add to my psychology courses the following term. This is my Trello board as it currently stands for my Psych 100: General Psychology course. (Create as many Trello boards as you have courses.) Notice that I have a list for changes I want to make to my “Syllabus and Canvas quiz” (currently empty),Read More →