Windows Short Cut Tips

I LOVE computer shortcuts and recently came across a blog with awesome shortcut tips for educators.  Check them out, you won't be sorry!

12 Windows shortcuts every educator should know

URL Shorteners and Single Link

"Time keeps on slipping into the future" (a high school flashback to Steve Miller Band-sorry couldn't resist) as you wait for students to type in a long website address correctly.  A simply solution is shortening the URL.  There are many sites that will shorten a website address it all comes down to user preference when deciding on a site.  There are also many sites that allow you to create a list of sites and create a single link to share the list.

Example 1:

If I wanted to transport you back to my high school days I could have you check out https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6a6lAwbE1J4.  Now Would you like trying to type this out if copying and pasting wasn't an option?  How many mistakes would be made in attempting to type this?  What if the link was http://bit.ly/smbflash, would it be easier?  Would there be less mistakes?

I used bitly https://bitly.com one of my favorites.  Logging into the accounts allows you to create customized shortened urls as well as computer generated shortened ones.

Other popular URL shorteners are:

• Bitly
• Google
• TinyURL

Example 2:
Let's say I want to share a list of songs that were played at my high school dances and are stilled played at high school dances today.  If you didn't have a website to link these one... how long do you think it would take individuals to successfully type these addresses out?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lo2qQmj0_h4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Q7Vr3yQYWQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3p4MZJsexEs

Using the site fav7.com, I copied and pasted the links to fav7.com and it generated a single address to share all the links. http://fav7.com/Z2949053

Other popular URL shortener sites that allow users to share multiple links with one URL.

• Brief.ly
• Fav7 

On the FLIP side, there are sites that allow you to unshorten the shortened links.  I use these sites because often our school server blocks shortened URLs accessed on social media sites.  I can simply enter the the shortened URL on the site and find out the original source.

• Unshorten.It!
• URL Expander

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The Endless Activities in Google Draw

I have to be honest, I have never seen the worth of Google Draw until recently.  Now.... I LOVE it.  Following are a few reasons why and how Google Draw can be used in your classroom.