Four Great Online School/Meeting Hacks

Clearly, this online thing is not going away anytime soon. C'est la vie.

So let’s share some quick hacks to make online school and work a little easier.

Take A Screenshot

Never miss on-screen notes again with this one-button solution for Windows users. Here’s the scenario: the meeting host/teacher/presenter/whatever shares a slide with oodles of information you need to copy off. Instead of frantically writing or fumbling for your smartphone to take a picture, just tap ‘PrtScr’. This one button instantly captures an image of everything you can see on your monitor. Just like that.

The image is copied to the clipboard just waiting for you to paste it into a programme like Word or Paint. From there you can save it or share it if you like.

Want to get fancy? Tap and hold the Windows key, Ctrl or Alt along with PrtScr for added features. For example, Windows + PrtScr automatically saves the image to your Pictures folder so you don’t accidentally copy something else to the clipboard and lose your screenshot.

Taking a screenshot is super easy on mobile too. For Android users, press and hold your Power and Volume button simultaneously and listen to the satisfying camera shutter sound effect. The screenshot is automatically saved to your gallery.

You tried it on mobile and it didn’t work? Ugh. Android. No problem, press and hold your Power button for a few seconds and then when the menu comes up, tap Screenshot.

Edit PDFs

PDFs (Portable Document Format) are great … when they work. But they don’t always work the way they are supposed to. We can figure out who is to blame later. For now, let’s fix the problem.

Perhaps you got a quiz or a form to complete, but the PDF isn’t fillable or editable. Instead of opening the file in Adobe Reader (or some similar programme) open the PDF in the ubiquitous Microsoft Word or the free Google Docs.

You can make basic edits or additions (read as: complete form) and save as PDF for submission.

By the way, my party line is, unless otherwise directed, always submit your work as a PDF or JPG.

Hotspot Your Smartphone

No wifi? No problem. If you have a smartphone with data access that is.

Most smartphones and most data plans allow you to create your own, personal little wifi network by tethering to your phone. For Android users, go into Settings or swipe down to bring up the Control Panel; you may need to swipe down twice.

Tap Network and Internet, tap Hotspot and Tethering, then toggle on wifi hotspot. It is that easy … well almost.

Ideally, you should create a name for your hotspot. Get creative or super simple (mine is: Carlette’s iPhone), just don’t use the generic name. You, and anyone you are sharing your hotspot with, need to know that they are making the right connection.

Next, set a password. Stay away from the 12345 or password type passwords, but stick to letters and numbers which are easier to type in on a phone.

You only need to set up the wifi name and password once (or you can change your password to keep your nephew from accessing your hotspot).

Turn on your hotspot when you are away from your usual internet connection, but need wifi for your laptop or tablet to keep the class or session going. You can hotspot in the car, at the bus stop, at grandma’s house, practically anywhere really.

And when you are done, turn off your hotspot. You don’t want to be surprised with a big data bill at the end of the month.

Do Not Disturb

Easily my fav feature is Do Not Disturb (DND). DND is like having a personal secretary field your calls, messages, notifications and alerts so you can stay focused on what’s important.

Take a moment to configure this feature and turn it on when in class or in a meeting. DND will prevent your phone from ringing, alternately it can let through only certain calls such as calls from a significant other, from family or work. It can even be configured to let through “urgent” calls defined as the same number calling twice within a minute for example.

You can set DND to let through specific alerts, like Google Classroom, and block others, like Instagram. You can train it to turn on or off at specific times and even set up custom text responses to let callers know why you are not available. #SoCool

To access DND on Android, swipe down from the top to access the Control Centre and toggle DND on. Tap and hold DND to configure to your heart’s delight.

Hopefully, these four cool hacks will help you master your online session.