Articles tagged "PDF"

Three things to check out

Changing your password(s)

How long have you had the same password? How many of your digital accounts have the same password?

The regular changing key passwords should be part of your 'digital hygiene' routine. As educators we should be modelling such practices to the students we support.

Locking your laptop

It is bad practice to leave your laptop (or any digital device) unlocked in spaces where there are are many others - such as a staffroom or classroom.

If you are moving away from your laptop for any period of time - it is really easy to lock it. Just press the Windows key and L together and your laptop is locked until you enter your password again.

If you are using a Chromebook - either use the lock key (it has a padlock on it) or press the Magnifying Glass key + L on your keyboard.

Kami - web based PDF annotation and manipulation

Kami is a great web based app for the annotation and manipulation of PDF documents and the like. It works really well with the stylus on the Yoga style devices that a lot of you use.

The is a free Basic Plan but we currently have access to a trail of the Teacher Plan - just create an account using your @ecolint.ch account.

Kami has huge potential as a digital whiteboard. Try using your laptop in tablet/Yoga mode, protecting to the classroom screen via the Windows Wireless Adapter (HDMI 2) and see how well writing your laptop's stylus is in Kami. Open a PDF document in Kami and then try annotating/highlighting etc using Kami and your stylus. Feedback welcomed about Kami as we consider a possible future subscription.

Weekly post #16 - Read&Write, converting PDFs to Google Docs and what's new in Docs and Chat

December 3, 2020 · 9:48 am

Richard Allaway

Four things to check out

Read&Write for Google Chrome quick reference guide

Read-Write-for-Google-Chrome-Quick-Reference-Card

EDU in 90: What's New in Docs

Converting PDFs to Google Docs

You can convert image and PDF files to text with Google Drive!

On your computer, go to Google Drive.
Right-click on the desired file.
Click Open with → Google Docs.
The image file will be converted to a Google Doc, but some formatting might not transfer:
- Bold, italics, font size, font type, and line breaks are most likely to be retained.
- Lists, tables, columns, footnotes, and endnotes are likely not be detected.

Read more here → Improvements to PDFs imported to Google Docs

Group conversations in Hangouts will begin to appear in Google Chat

Starting December 3, 2020, Google are making changes to how group conversations work in Google Chat.

One of of the key changes for us is the compatibility with classic Hangouts. Group conversations in Hangouts will begin to appear in Google Chat over the coming weeks. This will allow your users to move from Hangouts to Chat without losing context. In addition, 1:1 messages, updated group conversations, and unthreaded rooms from Chat will begin to appear in Hangouts - however I would recommend moving your focus to Chat.