Elearning Tips for Teachers

• Engage with students both synchronously and asynchronously.
  • Synchronous. Schedule time to have live discussions and screencasts – if possible using video technology. One of the things to consider in a virtual learning community is connection and visual connection is really important. If possible, use technology to set up “live” class times where students can not only see you as well as your screen or content but also you can see them and they can see you and each other. Zoom is now free for schools and has some really cool capabilities allowing video to switch to each student speaking.
  • Asynchronous. Setup “office hours” time where you are online and can respond to questions via text/chat. Microsoft Teams works really well for this. It gives students a way to feel connected but that may not want to ask in the group/live setting.
• Provide a sample or recommended schedule for students. Ideally, this would include an amount of time they should sche
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Working Remotely with Microsoft Teams

These are crazy times we are living in where as a country we are being asked to self-quarantine and work from home as much as possible. With some of the most recent technology, this is even more feasible than it was just a few years ago. There are a lot of amazing apps that allow us to do this more effectively. Teams is one of them. Not only does Teams allow for a more virtual workplace but it also has features that allow us to still feel connected to our colleagues.

What is Microsoft Teams?

By now you've probably heard about Microsoft Teams - if not - this is a great place to start. If you use the current version of Microsoft Office (O365) it is most likely part of your subscription. Teams is replacing Skype for Business.

This weeks tip is best if you view the video so you can see the screens and hear the tips while you watch my screen. Check it out!

Teams Features 

With Microsoft Teams you can use any of the following features:

• Phone and
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Applying Tags in OneNote is Life Changing if you're a List Lover like Me

Confession: I am addicted to lists.

I mean actually, I am pretty sure I've never had a day I didn't make multiple lists. My mom even found a list I had made when I was in elementary school and it had "play" on it. I am SERIOUS about my lists. Now even if you're not as addicted to lists as I am, you will LOVE Tags in OneNote. It practically creates lists for you.

As you learn more and more about OneNote and start to use it in different parts of your life, I know you will love it. This feature is one of the best in my opinion. It allows you to have hundreds or even thousands of pages but to be able to tag things and find them easily, no matter what notebook or section you might have put them in.

Tags are a way to "flag" things and group things. It makes it easy to find them later without having to search specifically for them.

This is one feature you will DEFINITELY want to use the full OneNote version - not th...

OneNote: Cool Colors, Lines and Adding Files and Pics to your Pages

Since OneNote is a digital note taking app, you're not only going to take new notes, but you want them to be easy on the eyes as well as organized.  One really easy cool way to do that is by using page colors, page lines and page grids.  This is ESPECIALLY helpful if you are using a touchscreen and/or stylus.  This can help make the digital note taking experience more like the paper note taking one.

Change Page Color

1. In OneNote, click on the View tab and then the Page Color button.
   
   
   
2. In the Page Color menu, pick a color for the background of your page.
   
3. The color you choose will be the background for the entire page.

Add Page Lines or Grid Lines

1. In OneNote, click on the View tab and then the Rule Lines button.
   
   
   
2. Under Rule Lines, pick a specified line or grid for the page.
   

Once you LOVE the look of your page whether that be color, lines, grids or some combination of these - you need to get information on...

You've Heard of OneNote - but do you REALLY know what it is????

AND MORE importantly - should you learn it and use it??

OneNote has been around for a while - it's been popping up on people's computer's with new versions of Windows, Microsoft Office, free downloads etc. If you're like me - sometimes you just don't have time to learn one more thing - I mean really - if you needed it - wouldn't you know? Spoiler alert: No!.

A comment from one of the user's that attended one of my most recent onsite OneNote classes is my favorite thing to challenge people to give OneNote a try.

At the beginning of my class - I have everyone introduce themselves and let me know what they'd like to learn or what they already know about the topic I'm teaching. In her intro she told me - she was required to attend and that she'd been using paper notebooks and non-digital way of keep tracking of things for many years and that she liked it and it worked great for her. She went on to say, so if you want me to...

Outlook: Delay Delivery

One of the things most of us do in Outlook is follow up on things via email. The Delay Delivery feature allows you to send a follow up email anytime, at the moment you're thinking about it - not have to remember (or worse yet forget) to do it later. This is a REALLY simple but extremely powerful time-saving tip. You can save time 2 ways, 1 - by remembering to do the follow up while you're thinking about what you want to say and 2 - because you so you don't have to remember and take time to do it later.

My scenario looks like this: I help someone with a solution to a software problem. I want to give them a couple of days or weeks to use the solution to see if it works. I know I want to follow up with them maybe in a few days, maybe a week but this becomes another "to-do" for me, something else I need to remember to do. Instead of scheduling something on my to-do list or putting something on my calendar, I setup an email and "delay-delivery" of it. There's a mil...

Setup These Outlook Rules if You Send Mass Emails or Setup Meetings

There are tons of rules and if you've been around the block and used Outlook for a while - you've maybe had some rules setup - like rules to file certain messages. I'm pretty sure you haven't heard of these. These couple of Outlook rules I'm going to show you are so helpful when it comes to decluttering your inbox and being efficient in Outlook.

Rule #1: Automatically File your Out Of Office Replies

Depending on how many emails you send and if you send emails to large groups of people - this can be life changing. Lots of people send mass emails inside their company and get 100's of our of office replies but even if you only send to groups of 5-10 you probably get a handful of Out of Office replies. They can be helpful when sending to an individual but when you receive large amounts, they can really clutter up your inbox. You can either file them and look at them at set intervals or just have them deleted.

1. On your
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Search Folders in Outlook

Have you ever used a Search Folder in Outlook? Maybe you haven't even heard of a search folder?

What's a Search Folder?

A search folder has been a round for a few version of Outlook but the idea is to essentially create a saved search. It's a search folder, because it saves all your search results and basically combs your mailbox (all folders, inbox, sent items etc) to find messages that meet the search criteria you defined.

Why Should you Use a Search Folder?

Why should you care? Because this is an AWESOME, new way to "file" your messages. I say "file" in quotes because the best part about it is - you don't have to file messages between hundreds of folders, instead you use the "5 Folder" concept we discussed last week. If you didn't see that tip - check it out: Using ONLY 5 Folder in Outlook

So the cool part is you use the De-Cluttering method we discussed using the 4 D's. So when you file you don't need to scroll through hundreds of folders, instead yo...

Tuesday's Outlook Tip: Declutter your Inbox with ONLY 5 Folders...REALLY!!!

I know...I know....you're thinking "NO WAY, Kari doesn't understand. I literally have more than 7000 emails in my inbox and probably 250 folders." Oh but I do know. I've seen it all. Admins I've worked with that say things like - I know I have too many items in my inbox (15,000) no lie, executives that say, I don't like to file things because then I can't find them. Also true.  So stay with me....

Is one of your New Year's resolutions or goals to get organized? Mine is. Almost every year - this tip will help you get your email organized once and for all with a system that you can actually keep up.

Let me set this up and tell me if you can relate to either of these scenarios....

Scenario 1 - You can't ever find the messages you're looking for fast enough

You know you just saw that messages, you can't find it, you can't remember what folder you filed it in, you're clicking through folders, sorting and re-sor...

How many items are in your Inbox?

Truth be told - part of why I'm excited about this new Outlook Tip series I'm doing right now is - I need it. Do you have more than you should have? 

Experts say - your inbox should really have less than 100 items in it - and those 100 items should only be things you are either 1 - waiting on a response , 2 - actively working on, 3 - pending a reply that can't be done in a few minutes or more time to read 4 - following up on something delegated. If they don't belong in one of these categories - get them out of your inbox. Where?? That's for next week.

I'm guilty too - just like you - I let my inbox get away from me - but if you adopt some of these tips and the folder system (which I'll explain next week )- I promise it will be SO MUCH EASIER to get caught back up and get your inbox to a more manageable size.

The 4 D’s

During the time you have set aside to read your emails, you should process your messages by using the Four D's. Every NEW messages ...