Teacher Tech blog with Alice Keeler

Paperless Is Not a Pedagogy

Alice Keeler

At Your Google Doc

New feature in Google Docs let's you get at the features quickly!
At Your Google Doc

There is a new feature in Google Docs that will allow you to insert many things. Create a new Google Doc and see that it is prompting you to use the @ symbol. (Reminder, new features roll out over 2 weeks so if you do not have this yet hang tight)

Use the @ symbol

New Google Doc with a prompt for typing the at symbol.

Mention someone

When you type the @ symbol it provides you a drop down menu. This starts off with people you can mention in the document. If you mention someone who is not shared on the document a comment is inserted into the margin to notify you and allow you to give this person edit access. Notice in the screenshot I started with @b and it filtered the suggested mentions list to people with a B.

drop down menu for at symbol shows the people templates and files.

Create Meeting Notes

Have you noticed that Google Calendar has a new feature to create meeting notes right in a Calendar event? This generates a fresh Google Doc in the calendar. The top of the created (and shared) Google Doc provides a list of invited persons along with pre made checkboxes for taking notes.

Choosing the “Meeting notes” template from using the @ symbol will provide you the chance too select an event on your calendar. The names of those invited to the meeting will be added to the Google Doc along with the checkboxes.

Insert meeting notes template into a Google doc and anyone invited to the meeting will be listed and mentioned in the doc.

Add Files

The 3rd option in the drop down list is to add files. This allows you to select a recently used file. The document title will be hyperlinked. Hovering over the link provides a preview of the file.

Google Doc with inserted spreadsheet hyperlinked.

Skip the Toolbar

More options in the drop down menu allow you to insert checkboxes, a numbered, or a bulleted list. This makes it much quicker to itemize items. You can also quickly find the ability to insert an image, table, drawing, or chart.

At mention the google doc to add bullet points.

Dates

You can jump down in the drop down list by typing @date to quickly add a date to the document.

Insert dates from the at menu

The inserted date is clickable. Take action on the date by booking a meeting.

Take action on the date.

Headings

Adding headings to your Google Doc makes it more accessible.

Headings options

Scroll less! Start typing @headings

Filter headings for the drop down menu.

Add Page Components

The toolbar and menu items can be cumbersome to locate particular items. How quickly can you add page numbers to your document? Now it’s much faster! Try using @page to jump quickly in the drop down menu.

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