Use Control W to Close Tabs Now that we are doing more digital grading that is a lot of mouse clicks. Increase your efficiency in going through student work by using Control W (Command W on a Mac). Stop making the long trek to the top of the computer screen. I am solidly in the habit of using the keyboard… Read More »Control W – Stop Making The Long Trek to the Top
Pin Tab: Google Classroom, Email, Gradebook Google Chrome allows you to pin a tab in the browser. The moves the tab to the front and locks it to the front. This can be really helpful for websites you visit a lot. Pin Tab To pin a tab, right click on the Chrome browser tab and choose “Pin Tab.” For websites… Read More »Pin Tab: Google Classroom, Email, Gradebook, Drive
Get That One Character You Missed When Highlighting This morning I was highlighting, selecting, a URL. I missed it by one character (always!). This is an easy fix!! Hold down the Shift key and use the arrow keys to highlight one character at a time. Shift Left Arrow Shift left arrow will select one character to the left at a… Read More »Get That One Character You Missed When Highlighting
Use N to Rename a Google Doc In Google Drive you can easily rename files using the keyboard shortcut N. Single Click Click one time on a file in Google Drive. Press N to prompt a box to rename. Mass Rename One time I accidentally attached the wrong document in Google Classroom. I had to delete the assignment in Google Classroom.… Read More »Google Drive: Press N to Rename
Find Your Keyboard Shortcuts This trick will work for you if you are a user of Google Apps: Drive, Sheets, Slides, Docs, Drawing or Forms Control Slash Hold down the Control key and press the slash (question mark) key on the keyboard to reveal a list of keyboard shortcuts. Note this works in most Google Apps (not Google Classroom, there… Read More »Control Slash: Find Your Keyboard Shortcuts
Zoom in On Your Screen When showing your screen, and especially when recording your screen, you want to zoom in. These keyboard shortcuts work on your browser window (ie: when you’re using Chrome). Control Plus Hold down the Control key (Command on a Mac) and press the plus key repeatedly to zoom in. Control Minus Control Minus zooms out. Control… Read More »ZOOM – Control Plus, Minus, Zero
Be a Keyboard Shortcut Ninja Learn one keyboard shortcut a week and you’ll be a ninja of the computer by the end of the school year! Put your keyboard shortcut on a Post-It note on your computer. When you have that one mastered, learn another one. Sharing in Google Drive What makes Google Apps truly innovative, besides the elimination of… Read More »Google Drive: Share with a Period
Google Forms Settings With the new Google Forms you want to make sure that you click on the settings wheel. The Google Form settings allow you to set who can take the form, provide a confirmation message, automatically collect username (email) or allow students to submit another response. Control E Since you want to check the Google Form settings with… Read More »Google Forms: Control E
Alice’s Quick Way to Make a Google Form I am a ninja with keyboard shortcuts and using the Tab key. I try to avoid touching the mouse whenever possible. I am getting pretty good with the keyboard shortcuts to create a Google Form with the new Google Forms, but it’s still too slow for me. I created an Add-on to… Read More »Alice’s Quick Way to Make a Google Form
When creating Google Forms, sometimes you have a need to change the question order. One method is to select a question. a 2×3 grid of dots will appear at the top center of the question. Notice when you hover over the “grippy dots,” the cursor changes to a 4 way arrow. This indicates you can hold down the mouse and drag… Read More »Google Forms: No Joke – Use JK to Move Items
Quickly add a new question to the new Google Forms layout by holding down the Control and Shift key, press Enter.
When I first saw that the new Google Forms only has one option for multiple choice I was disappointed. Using the mouse is something I try to avoid. Tab and keyboard shortcuts can help me be super productive when creating. Happily a few tricks makes it a snap to create a Google Form. Tab and Type When adding a question… Read More »Google Forms: Tab Tab Type
Control F lets you find keywords on a web page or within a document. Command F on a Mac. This keyboard shortcut is handy in a gradebook to jump quickly to a student’s name in the roster. Research Technique As we shift towards asking students complex questions, we need to help students filter through the “One Million” page results Google… Read More »Control F – Find
Learning keyboard shortcuts and using them consistently helps you to feel like a ninja at the computer. Look up keyboard shortcuts on a Google search and the length of the list may feel overwhelming. An easy way to help students to increase their digital literacy skills is to integrate keyboard shortcuts into instruction. Include keyboard shortcuts in your activity directions or… Read More »Be a Ninja: Learn Keyboard Shortcuts
Start with Google Drive. Instead of using the “New” button to create a Google Sheets spreadsheet, hold down the Shift key and press S to magically launch a new Sheets in a new tab.
