On the frontlines – teaching students; teaching teachers. A source for EdTech tips, tricks, and solutions.

Thursday, September 11, 2014

Keyboard Shortcuts in iOS



Typing things out on a full size QWERTY keyboard is so much easier than on a smaller touch screen. You can set up easy keyboard shortcuts to type the more difficult things like email addresses which require different punctuation.


If you are frequently putting your email address into forms, emails, or log in screens, this tip can save you a lot of time.




Keyboard shortcuts are the new shorthand!


Shortcut your email address

  • Go to your settings app
  • Select General
  • Scroll down to Keyboard
  • Scroll down to Add New Shortcut...
  • Enter the phrase you want to shortcut
    •  I demo my email address
  • Enter the shortcut you want to use (I like using @@ for my primary email; @@@ for my secondary email)
  • Click save in the upper right corner

You're all good to go - keep your thumbs happy by not having to type so much! 

Tuesday, September 9, 2014

Make Goobric Count for You

I have been using Doctopus and Goobric (click link to see the walkthrough) extensively this semester already. One of the things that I was struggling with was that Goobric doesn't automatically add up the scores from a rubric so that I can easily enter the grade into a gradebook.

I was trying forever to figure this out, but then I realized how silly I was being. You can simply set up a SUM formula for the columns of the rubric so that it will automatically add up all of the elements of the graded rubric.

Create the formula:


  • Go to the column that says grade (create when you run Doctopus)
  • Goobric adds columns based on the categories of a rubric you assign to the document
  • In the grade column, enter the formula (or change based on the needs of your rubric):     
    •  =SUM (l2:r2) - I typed in each cell, just so you can see the range that this formula will do
  • Since my rubric is scored on columns l, m, n, o, p, q, r, I need to add those columns together **or however many columns you have for your rubric**
    • My rubric has 6 categories, so there are 6 cells that I am adding together
    • If your Goobric has 4 categories, your formula will look like: =SUM (l2:o2)


Even more magic:

Now, instead of entering this formula for every row (changing l2 to l3 etc.), there is a great trick to replicate that formula for every row. 

In the lower right hand corner of the cell with the grade, you have a blue box. Click the blue box and drag it down the column till the last student on your roster, and it will replicate that formula for every row. You'll see in the illustration that each row that has grades from the rubric will be added up in the grade column (J).  


This will save you time trying to add up each element of the rubric. And if you set up the formula before you grade it, your grade (sum) will show up even if you aren't in the spreadsheet.