10 Top Time-Saving Tech Tips

I love sharing tech tips, and I also happen to love reading (and listening to) David Pogue! Don't miss this 5(ish) minute tech talk. I promise you'll learn something new!

Tech columnist David Pogue shares 10 simple, clever tips for computer, web, smartphone and camera users. And yes, you may know a few of these already -- but there's probably at least one you don't.

Clean Print

I generally do NOT print things from the internet. I save interesting sites, blog posts, recipes, etc. into my Google bookmarks or I copy the information into OneNote. However, from time to time, I do need to print something. Clean Print is a free browser add-on for Chrome, Firefox, Internet Explorer, and Safari that can help you save toner and paper when printing. I learned about this new tool on one of my favorite bloggers, Richard Byrne (Free Technology for Teachers).

This short video explains how to use Clean Print:

What I like the best about Clean Print:

• It's FREE
• It works on any of the internet browsers I typically use (including Safari on my iPad!)
• Instead of printing to actual paper, I can use Clean Print to save the "cleaned up" version as a PDF on my computer or email it to a friend
• I can decrease the font size to save toner and paper OR, I can increase the font size to print something for a student
• I can even add my own text on the document before saving or printing it

Please Explain!

Are you looking for ways to help your students understand basic (or even complex!) concepts? I've recently come across a couple of sites that create and publish animated explanations of all sorts of topics.

C.G.P. Grey is a YouTube video creator. He is known for creating witty and entertaining educational videos. His tagline is "Complex things explained." He has created and shared many videos like Daylight Saving Time Explained, Are Daddy Longlegs Spiders (8 Animal Misconceptions Rundown), and Copyright: Forever Less One Day. Be warned: he's a fast talker, and sometimes his humor might be a little confusing for our younger students. Be sure to watch the video completely first and be sure it's appropriate for your students.

The first video I ever saw from this YouTube channel absolutely fascinated this good ole Texas girl ... check it out!

Explania provides hundreds of animated explanations, interactive tutorials, and instructional videos for a variety of topics including health, money, sports, and even TECHNOLOGY! (Can you guess which subject I've spent the most time exploring?) Some of my favorites are What is Twitter?, How to Choose a Safe Password, and How Does Cloud Computing Work?

What do you think? Do you think some of these explanations would be helpful to you or your students? And seriously, did you know all of that about Texas? Fascinating! =)

Technology Academy 2012

EM-S ISD Faculty and Staff are invited to the second annual Technology Academy.
June 5-6 @ Hollenstein Career & Technology Center

• Sign up in Eduphoria today.
• Don't miss Keynote Speakers Darrell Brown and Dr. Jim Chadwell! (Be sure to sign up for the Opening and Closing sessions too.)
• Smart phones and mobile devices are welcome, but not required.
• Door prizes ... really good ones!

See you then ... at the movies!

A Few of My Favorite Tips and Tricks

One of my favorite trainings to present is "Tech Tips." Today I will share a few of my favorite tips. There's nothing earth-shattering here, folks, but there might be something here you haven't used before!

• F11 (top of your keyboard) will maximize your web browser to full screen, eliminating all of the menu text, URL bar, toolbars, etc. Go ahead, try it now! Hit F11 again to return to the standard browser view.
• F6 (or ALT+D) will highlight the URL of a webpage. To enter a new address, simply type over it (you don't even need to erase the highlighted address!)
• Need help in an application or in your browser? F1 will bring up the Help menu for your current application.
• When completing online forms, use the tab key to move between fields instead of clicking them with your mouse.
• Just for TEXANS ... When filling in address information in an online form, type TT in the state field to bring up Texas. (One T brings up Tennessee, TT is for Texas!)
• On a webpage, hitting the Space bar will scroll down one screenful. This might be helpful for those wonderfully wordy blog posts full of tips and tricks! To move back up a screenful, try Shift+Space. Go ahead, try this one now too.
• CTRL+F will open a "Find" option in all web browsers (and many applications like Word, Excel, etc.) Looking for a specific word or name? Just type it in and it will highlight every place on the page where that term occurs. (In Office applications, the Find tool can also be accessed from the Editing group of the Home tab in the ribbon.)
• There's also a "Replace" feature in many applications (Office Applications for sure!). Enter the text you would like to find in the first field and enter the replacement text in the second field. Choose either Replace or Replace All. This is an easy way to update dates, names, etc. in previously used documents without having to retype the entire thing!

Of course, these old standby's may be the most important keyboard shortcuts of all ...

• CTRL+C = copy
• CTRL+X = cut
• CTRL+V = paste
• CTRL+Z = undo (oh, if only LIFE could have a CTRL+Z!)

If you're not exactly sure how to use Cut, Copy, and Paste, check out this thorough explanation from Simple K12:

These are just a few of my favorite tech tips ... leave a comment or email me back with your favorite tip!