Category Archives: Students

Anything relating to student devices

Essentials, Faculty, Faculty/Staff, iPads, Student, Students

iPad Tips and Tricks

Gestures, Split View, and More make the iPad even more useful.

Most of this information covers IOS 13 – so if you have not updated, GET IT DONE tonight at home. Some of it also applies to IOS 12 and 11, which is as far as some of the older iPads on campus can go. In any case, give these features a try – they just might work!

VIEW APP DOCK

Swipe up from the bottom of the screen, roughly an inch. The dock will appear – and then you can switch apps. You can also drag app icons to either side of the screen to split your screen and use 2 apps at a time.

NOTIFICATION CENTER

Swipe down from either the Center top to quickly access your Notifications. A suggestion from MDS Tech: fewer notifications are better than having more. YOU have control over what you get – check in the Settings App.https://www.cnet.com/how-to/16-gestures-that-will-make-you-love-using-your-ipad/

Control Center

Swipe down from the Top right corner to see the Control Center. That’s a good way to check wifi settings [is wifi REALLY on?], change your screen brightness, change volume. pause and start playback, and the like.

By the way – you can customize Control Center to show exactly what YOU want. See settings –> Control Center and pick what settings you’d like to have, and even what order you want them in.

Today View

Swipe from the left to the right as if switching screens. When you get all the way to the left and swipe once more, you’ll see the Today View. YOu cna load several widgets into that view.

You can customize what widgets are on the today view by clicking on the Edit button at the the bottom of Today View.

Quickly get back to the desktop

When you have an app running, you can quickly get back to the desktop by swiping up from the bottom of the screen.

App Switcher

The App Switcher is the equivalent of Alt-Tab on Windows or Command-Tab on Macs. On those operating systems you get a list of icons or windows showing you all of the open apps running at that moment.

On IOS, swipe up from the bottom of the screen AND THEN HOLD YOUR FINGER for a second. You might have to swipe left or right – but you’ll see windows with every running app.

You can also force-close apps by swiping up on the app window. This even works when swiping several at the same time.

MORE MULTITASKING / MULTIPLE APPS TRICKS

There are details on

  • using Slide Over,
  • Moving and changing screensize of your apps,
  • switching between apps,
  • getting rid of a Slide Over window,
  • and using Split view

in the CNET article. It’s worth a look!

Faculty/Staff, More, Students

Get Windows 10 for free, ****IF****

you are currently running a licensed copy of Windows 7 or 8.

See the source image

1. Go to the Download Windows 10 website. 

2. Under Create Windows 10 installation media, click Download tool now and Run. 

3. Choose Upgrade this PC now, assuming this is the only PC you’re upgrading. (If you’re upgrading a different machine, choose Create installation media for another PC, and save the installation files.)

4. Follow the prompts. 

5. When the upgrade is complete, go to Settings Update & Security > Activation, and you should see a digital license for Windows 10. 

This is taken from the cnet article https://www.cnet.com/how-to/windows-10-dont-wait-on-free-upgrade-because-windows-7-officially-done/

As of the date this post was posted the process works, even though Microsoft said it would end in 2016.

Google, Make Tech Easier, More, Students

Organize your Drive Life

Why?

Because it makes your life easier, your stuff easier to find, saves you time, saves you stress and headaches…. do I really need to go on?

How?

Create new folders by clicking on the big PLUS icon, and select NEW FOLDER.

Name it something that will HELP you know what’s inside – naming the folder “English Papers” is going to save you time because it’s easy to know what is in it. On the other hand, naming it “Verbage I couldn’t stand creating” will cost you time.

After you create your folders, click-n-drag your files into the correct folders. YES – this can be done using the Drive app on the iPad.

5 more tips

Taken from https://www.techrepublic.com/article/how-to-organize-and-name-folders-and-files-in-google-drive/

1.

Balance the number of files and folders – you can get TOO organized. For example, ONE folder called “English Papers” might be enough – you may NOT need “English Paper 1”, “English paper 2”, “English Paper 3” etc.

Think about what will make it EASY to find your stuff.

2.

Name your files! DON’T leave them at the default “Untitled Document“. Name it something so that anyone with half-a-brain can tell what that document is about.

3.

Making major changes? Make a copy, then add something at the end of the filename [“v2“, “v3“, etc.]

When you are working on a document, select File–> Save As Copy….. When working in Drive, you can right-click on the file icon and select “Duplicate this file”. Then right-click the copy and “Rename”.

Seriously, it’s worth the time.

4.

Got a deadline? Put the date in the filename, so you’ll always know when it’s due.

MDS Tech suggests using this format: “2019-10-22 English – Projectname”….. but remember to use TWO digits for the months and days [09 for September, 06 for June, etc]. That will make it easier to find because of how the computer sorts things.

5.

THINK AHEAD!

How does your brain work? What scheme will make it easy for YOU to find your stuff?

The key point is NOT to use a method that everyone else is using – although that might be a good start. The key is to make it easy for YOU to find your stuff.

…and a bonus tip:

START EARLY, AND START NOW

It is FAR easier and takes MUCH less time to organize a few files than to organize a gazillion – which you might have in your Drive space by the time you are a Senior. Get started now organizing your sock drawer….er……. your Drivespace.