Issue link: http://educator.cta.org/i/1449741
Teach Organization With Interactive Checklists Checklists can help build students' organizational skills, allowing them to monitor multistep tasks or track progress on com- plex projects. Click on the Checklist icon in the toolbar or use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+Shift+9 (Command+Shift+9 on a Mac). Be sure to show students how to check off completed items or tasks by clicking the displayed box on the left, which updates the line with a strikethrough. (Tip courtesy of Jessica Adams.) 3 This story originally appeared on edutopia.org. Liven Up Google Forms With Audio Have a hunch your Google Forms could be a bit more engaging? The applica- tion Mote allows users to add audio to questions or answers. While you can use the app for free on a limited basis — there's a 20-motes-per-month cap and 30-second recording time limit for each entry when used for free — the ability to access additional features requires paying a fee. Once the app is installed, the Mote icon will appear when creating a new question. Tapping the icon once will begin recording audio instantly, and when you've com- pleted the message, click the Done button. You can then click anywhere else on the page and Mote will create a clickable voice note card that can be listened to immediately. (Tip courtesy of Lisa Nydick.) Eliminate Distractions From YouTube YouTube can be a powerful tool for teaching and learning, but using it in the classroom can be a bit of a gamble, with ads popping up and distracting video suggestions lining the page. Adding a simple hyphen to the You- Tube link, so that YouTube appears as yout-ube, solves this problem, allowing students to view content on the site without interruptions. (Tip courtesy of Tony Vincent.) 6 7 Quit Endless Scrolling No more scrolling down to page 158. A new feature in Google Chrome makes it possible to send readers directly to a specific section in a text. On a PC, highlight the section you want students to read within a text, right- click and select "copy link to highlight." On a Mac, click your trackpad and the Ctrl button on your keyboard at the same time, then select "copy link to highlight." This generates a URL ending in a # symbol, which you can then share with others. Upon visiting the new URL, readers are taken directly to the highlighted portion. (Tip courtesy of Dan Stitzel.) 4 Keep Your Documents Pristine Eliminate the possibility of students or colleagues inadvertently typing directly in your document by granting users access only after they make their own copy to work in. First, make sure you've shared your document as either "any- one with the link" or "public." Next, click the URL in the search bar and replace the word edit at the end of the URL with the word copy. Then click enter (or return on a Mac) and you're all set! Share this new URL and it will force users to make a copy of the document prior to opening it. (Tip courtesy of Tony Vincent.) 5 48 cta.org Teaching & Learning T E C H T I P S