Let Google tell YOU when there is something you want to read

We all know that Google has a pretty darn good search engine. But what if you want to look for the same search each day or week to see if there is new information--did you know you can set an alert and have google email you new results from a specified search whenever there are new results?  You can!

To set a Google Alert:

• Go to the Google alert page and type in your search term
• Click show options to customize the alert. (for example, a few of my alerts are set for weekly, but I do have a couple set for daily.)

• Click Create Alert

Google will email you the new results for that search at the frequency you selected. 

Tip: Try your search in Google before you set your Alert so you can be sure you are getting exactly the information you want to find. The more specific your search, the more useful it will be to you, helping you get the information you want without looking through irrelevant information. To improve your search, you may want to use Google Advanced Search. Also, here are some Google Search tips to help you search more effectively from HubSpot, Lifehack and the Google help page. 

For example, you might want to find all new mentions of your company or your product. Set an alert with the name of your company or product and each day there is a new result, Google will email you the search results.

Amazed?  It is pretty amazing; and a real time saver.

But wait...there's more!

You may be familiar with Google Scholar.  Google Scholar is a subset of the regular Google search that only searches for scholarly works such as research, publications, theses, etc. It is a wonderful resource that you can supercharge by using alerts!  

Let's say you are someone who is interested in research in a particular area: the competencies of academic advising. Set a Google Scholar Alert, and when new scholarly work (research, publications, etc.) on academic advising competencies is available, your Google Scholar Alert will send you an email with the new scholarly search results!

To set a Google Scholar Alert:

• Go to Google Scholar. At the top left of the screen are three horizontal lines (Trivia: this is called a hamburger menu. It is called a hamburger menu because it sort of looks like a hamburger in a bun. Bun-Burger-Bun. Sort of.)
• Click the hamburger menu and select Alerts.
• Enter your search, add/modify the email the alerts will be sent to, and the number of results that will be included, and then click Create Alert.

You can also create a Google Scholar alert by doing a Google Scholar search. When the search results are displayed, there is a "Create Alert" item on the left sidebar. Click it and complete your alert information.

Amazed?  This is a great resource! Google Scholar may not include all the scholarly sources you want to check, but it is pretty darn helpful as a way to easily keep up on new scholarly literature.

For more information, here is Google Scholar: The Ultimate Guide (according to them!) from Paperpile and 18 Google Scholar Tips All Students Should Know from Google.

How might Google Alerts help you at work, at home, or as part of your PLN?

This might be my new favorite QR Code generator

One of the challenges with many of the free QR Code generators is that they have restricted the free QR code features to only linking to websites. I recently came across the free QR Code generator, Me-QR that generates a QR code and lets you link to many types of media with the free version.

Once you get to the Me-QR website, you will need to sign up for a free account.  After that, it's just three simple steps to generate your QR Code.

Step 1: Select what your QR Code will link to

You can link your QR Code to a website, but you can also link to all of the following (and more):

 

I particularly like being able to link to a PDF document (an article, work document, or PDF of a PowerPoint presentation, etc.) and to link to text or an image with contact information, etc.

Step 2: Select your content and create your QR Code

Add the link or upload the content from your computer and click: Customize & Download QR.

Step 3: Customize and download your QR Code

Your QR Code is generated and you have the option to customize the look of your QR Code with frames based on pre-made templates, themes, holidays, and events. Once you have a design and color customization that you like, you can download your QR Code and use it in documents, slide decks, presentations, posters, and more!

What are some ways you can integrate QR codes linking to all these options into your profession?

Pack your information into a QR Code

What is a QR Code?

QR code stands for Quick Response code.  QR codes can contain a variety of information from text, to video, to documents, and scanning the QR code unlocks the information for you and captures it on your phone.  QR codes make the real world clickable!

Here is a brief explanation of QR Codes by Common Craft.

QR Code Readers

In order to unlock the information in a QR code, you need a QR reader.  There are many QR reader apps available for mobile devices.  You can check the web and the app store for your mobile device for recommendations. I have been using the QR Reader for iPhone app for years. There may be newer and better apps available, but QR Reader seems to do what I need to do, so I am still using it. 

QR Code Generators

QR generators let you create your own QR codes. QR Code generators are available on the web on your computer and as mobile apps.  I tend to generate my QR codes on the computer because I am often using them in handouts or presentations that I am creating on the computer. There are QR code generators that are free and many that have paid versions. Here are two generators that offer slightly different features that are free.

• QR Code Generator is a simple QR Code generator that lets you include text, URL, structured contact information, or send a SMS/text.

• QR Code Monkey lets you change the color of your QR code and add an image to the middle of the QR code.  For example, this QR code takes you to the Leadership Book Club podcast website.

How can you use QR codes?

There are hundreds of ways to use QR codes. One of my favorite uses of QR codes is with my PowerPoint slides when I give a presentation. On the last slide of the presentation, I will include a QR code with my contact information and a QR code with an electronic copy of the presentation. It saves me from emailing my contact information and the presentation to dozens of people after I get home!

QR codes can also be used to support learning and the QR codes can be added to print media like posters, books, and handouts. I have even seen QR codes printed, cut out, and attached to "real life" objects. One of my favorite examples of QR codes in education is the Periodic Table of Videos created by Brady Haran (Periodic Videos). Each element on the periodic chart has been replaced with a QR code that leads to a video on the element!

Here are a few other ideas:

• Use QR codes for the answers in study materials.  It is like having the answers in the back of the book, but makes it easier for students to try the problems before they look at the answers.
• With a display of student projects or products, post QR codes on each exhibit with the link to a video of the creator explaining their work.  
• At the end of a chapter or document have a QR code with the link to the next document.
• Supplement handouts with QR codes to videos demonstrating the concept in the handout.
• Create a scavenger hunt for new students or employees to become familiar with their new work environment/campus and to team build with other new students/employees. Student/employees can scan a QR code that sends a text to the instructor so she knows each step they have accomplished in the scavenger hunt.
• Use a QR code on a poster to link to a document with more information (such as a program for a concert, a biography for a speaker, etc.)
• Use QR codes on an organizational chart with pictures or biographies of each person.

Here are resources with even more ideas on how to integrate QR codes into the classroom.  Although these examples are primarily from K-12 education, there are ideas and inspiration for those of us who teach post-secondary and in a corporate setting.

QR Codes for Quick Student Engagement (Faculty Focus)

8 Ways to use QR Codes in Higher Education Classrooms (Educause)

Four Ways to Use QR Codes to Enliven Your Learning Event (ATD)

One word of warning: Just as links take you websites, so can QR codes, which means there is the opportunity for malicious behavior. Apply the same caution and common sense to using unknown QR codes as you would to clicking on unknown links.

What are some ways you can integrate QR codes into your profession?

Using NotebookLM

 

What is NotebookLM?

NotebookLM is a tool by Google with a robust free tier. One of the disadvantages of chatbots is that they pull information from everything they have been trained on: verified/non-vertified and relevant/non-relevant. NotebookLM lets you identify the pool of information you want to use for your queries and outputs. You select the information sources you want considered and keep them in a "notebook." Within NotebookLM you can create many of these "topic" focused notebooks for your use.  The information sources are wide: websites, documents, videos, images, audio files, handwritten notes...you can even take information generated by NotebookLM and use that as input. The benefit (and potential downside) to NotebookLM is it will only draw from the information you have identified and included (although you can have it identify sources for you as well). The output for NotebookLM is not limited to responses to your prompts, but that information can then be used to produce audio, infographics, mindmaps, flashcards, and more. It is another great example of using AI as a collaborator not as a replacement for us/our thinking. There are vast implications for using NotebookLM to support learning in ourselves and in others. 

How to use NotebookLM

If you are not familiar with NotebookLM (or even if you are) watch this video. It is a bit longer (35 minutes), but the author does a wonderful job of introducing NotebookLM, the interface, and then walks through examples and tips for adding sources, the chat window, and each of the elements in the studio (I decided it was better than the video I made!)

One note: there is an advertisement in the video from 14:53-17:42.  You can use the scrubber on the timeline to skip it.

Video: How to Master NotebookLM in 2026. (YouTube, 34:14)

Another video with different tips

Of course, there are many NotebookLM videos on the internet. I particularly like this video from Jeff Su (Google employee) because he offers suggestions and tips I have not seen in other videos.  However, he explains things very fast, and it's a better video to watch after you have watched the previous introduction video, or if you have experience with NotebookLM.

NOTE: There are two very short advertisements in this video that you can watch (they are short!) or skip past at 7:20-7:52 and 14:56-15:08.

Video: NotebookLM Changed Completely: Here's What Matters (in 2026). (Youtube, 20:30m)

Want even more NotebookLM resources to answer your questions and take your skills to the next level?

There are many NotebookLM resources on the internet, and I encourage you to find resources that answer your questions and support what you would like to do with NotebookLM. Here are some resources you might want to review to get started.

• NotebookLM help. (Google website)
  
  
• Top 10 NotebookLM Tips and Tricks in 2026. (YouTube, 16:47m). There is some repetition with the previous two videos, but a couple of additional useful tips.
  
  
• 10 Ways NotebookLM Makes Academia Easy (and fun!), (Youtube, 15:28m). Several repeat tips from other videos, I particularly like the idea of chatting with your reference list (8:07-9:40), creating a timeline (11:47-12:26).
  
  
• AI Learning Playlist. (Youtube). This playlist includes several videos about NotebookLM.
  
  
• NotebookLM for Teachers: Practical Tips to Boost Teaching and Research with AI. (PDF). NOTE: This is about 6 months old.
  
  
• NotebookLM in Teaching: 10 Unexpected Ways to Use NotebookLM with Your Students. (PDF)
  
  
• I replaced 7 daily tasks with NotebookLM--how the mobile app actually saves me time. (web article)
  
  
• NotebookLM Slides Just Got Better (Here's What Changed). (YouTube, 10:19m). The presenter talks about how to create slides, download a PowerPoint, and then edit in Canva.

(notebook image generate with Microsoft Copilot)

How might you use NotebookLM?

Citing AI in APA

In our class, we are advocating for AI to be a collaborator rather than a replacement for our work.  But, how--and when--do you cite your interactions with AI in papers? Many of us use Purdue OWL (Online Writing Lab) as an online source for APA formatting. And while Perdue OWL does have a section on how to format electronic sources in a reference list, for the most up-to-date information, it's best to check out the APA website. APA has a page with example references for AI tools and AI chat. 

I also found these three APA blog posts from 2025 useful for thinking about what, why, when, and how to reference AI in papers.

• Citing generative AI in APA Style: Part 1--Reference formats
  
  
• Citing generative AI in APA Style: Part 2--AI as a search engine and AI integrated into common software
  
  
• Citing generative AI in APA Style: Part 3--Is AI "allowed" in APA Style?

As AI continues to quickly evolve, so too the rules for incorporating AI into papers must evolve. My advice: keep checking in with the APA website, do your best, and consider checking with your professor or publisher!

AI Prompting Resources

There are many models you can use to structure your AI prompting to provide enough information to get you as close as possible to the answer you are looking for from an AI chatbot including Task-Role-Audience-Approach-Tone/Style (Educraft video),  Request-Reference-Format-Framing, Task-Act as if-Output-Audience, Specific-Context-Iterate, and more! (just search for it!)

But you do not need to go it alone.  There are many prompting resources available for you:

A prompt library is a list of prompts you can use "as is" or use as inspiration and customize.
For example, 

• AI for Education has many great teaching and AI resources for K-12 teachers (and some use for non-k-12 teacher) including a Prompt Library for Educators with  dozens of prompts in the areas of assessment, communication, lesson planning, and more.
  
  
• This blog post from Control Alt Achieve includes several prompt libraries primarily for K-12 educators.
  
  
• AI Prompt Library for Educators helps you generate prompts for assessments, lesson plans, slide outlines, rubrics, and more (AIPromptLibrary.org)
  
  
• Prompt library for Training & Development (AI Innovation Lounge)
  
  
• 25+ Best ChatGPT Prompts for Instructional Designers (thinkific.com)
  
  
• A few Prompts for Leadership (Content at Scale. There are many categories of prompts in addition to leadership in the left side menu.)
  
  
• Here are a few function-specific prompts from Simplifying AI:
  
  

• How to prompt
  
  

• Prompts for education
  
  
• Prompts for entrepreneurs
  
  
• Prompts for marketing
  
  
• Prompts for HR

A Few More Prompts for Fun!

• AI Prompts for Career Development (Griffith University) 
  
  
• 20+ ChatGPT Prompts To Discover Your Leadership Style in 2024 (Forbes)
  
  
• 5 ChatGPT Prompts to Change Your State of Mind (and Get More Done) (Forbes)

(Forbes has a lot of prompt articles)

You can also prompt your Chatbot to create (or improve) your prompts!

Example 1: Creating prompts

I want you to become my Prompt Creator. Your goal is to help me craft the best possible prompt for my needs. The prompt will be used by you, [name of chatbot such as ChatGPT]. You will follow the following process: 1. Your first response will be to ask me what the prompt should be about. I will provide my answer, but we will need to improve it through continual iterations by going through the next steps. 2. Based on my input, you will generate 3 sections a) Revised prompt where you provide your rewritten prompt. It should be clear, concise, and easily understood by you, b) Suggestions where you provide suggestions on what details to include in the prompt to improve it, and c) Questions where you ask any relevant questions pertaining to what additional information is needed from me to improve the prompt. 3. We will continue this iterative process with me providing additional information to you and you updating the prompt in the Revised prompt section until it is complete.

Example 2 (from @evolving.ai): Rewriting prompts

You are Prompt Professional, the most advanced [name of chatbot such as ChatGPT] prompt writer in the world. I will provide you a prompt. Today, your job is to rewrite the prompt again in 10 different and creative ways. Now ask me what prompt to rewrite.

Example 3: Teaching support

I am a trainer who needs to teach [content] in [business/setting]. My students are [describe students]. The level of this training should be [beginner, advanced, suitable for new leaders, etc.] The training will be [duration] and be [face to face, online, self-paced, etc.]. Possible challenges of teaching these students are [challenge 1] [challenge 2]. I enjoy teaching because [reason 1] [reason 2]. Generate 20 ChatGPT use cases that could help me enhance my effectiveness as a trainer and improve my student's engagement and learning.

Alternative for red text above:

Generate 10 objectives for this training with two activity ideas for each objective.

Substitute whatever instructions will be useful for you in place of the red text.

Have fun creating and editing prompts!

(All images created with Microsoft Copilot.)

Podcast! A great way to multi-task (or single-task)

 Audio (and video) podcasts are a great addition to your PLN.  In addition to providing another way to learn (auditory), audio podcasts are a multi-tasker's dream!  You can listen to podcasts while cooking, cleaning, walking the dog, driving, exercising, etc!  This week, you are going to find and listen to at least one podcast.

 

• Find a podcast relevant to your PLN.  You can check the iTunes library if you have an iphone, ask others for recommendations, or just search for "Podcast" and "something-you-are-interested-in-for-your-PLN", see what comes up, and then scroll until you see an episode you want to listen to! To listen on your mobile device, search for the podcast name on the podcast player you have on your mobile device. Here are a few podcast options to get you started:
  
  
• Teaching in Higher Ed podcast
• The Accidental Trainer podcast (Association for Talent Development)
• The Business of Learning podcast
• Instructional Designers in Offices Drinking Coffee (also on YouTube)
• Harvard Business Review IdeaCast podcast (this link lists all of the HBR podcasts )
• Simon Sinek's A Bit of Optimism podcast (also on YouTube)
• SHRM's All Things Work podcast
• AI for Humans podcast--I cannot find a good link for the audio podcast. Search for it in your podcast player. (Also on YouTube)

• Listen to at least one podcast episode on the web or using a podcast player on your mobile device. 
  
  
• If you like a podcast, consider subscribing! (if you subscribe, new podcast episodes will come to your podcast player automatically, just as new blogs automatically come to your Feedly.)

What HRD or technology and learning podcasts do you recommend for us to add to our PLNs?

Two YouTube tools

YouTube is an amazing resource of videos that we can incorporate in our own PLN and as we develop others.  Here are some tools to make using YouTube even better! 

• Creating a "cued up" YouTube video link - through YouTube
  If you want to start showing a video at a particular time in the video, you can use YouTube to modify the URL for the video so it starts where you want it to start.  Let's say you were watching the YouTube video of the Ze Frank web playroom TED talk and wanted to share it, but wanted to start at a particular spot in the video project which begins 14 minutes and 22 seconds into the video.  Do the following:

          1. Click on the Share icon to show the URL.

          2. Click the checkbox and add the start time in minutes and seconds.

              Now when you share the URL, it will start at 14 minutes, 22 seconds.

              (I encourage you to take a look at this entire TED Talk. And oldie--2010!--but a goodie.)

• Displaying a YouTube video without distractions

   Let's say you want to show a video in class or in a training session or in a meeting.  The problem with going to the YouTube website is the random videos in the sidebar.  Not only are they distracting, but since you have no control over what is presented in the sidebar, they may be completely inappropriate for your setting!  There are several easy ways to show the video without the sidebars on the screen:

• Show the video full screen. This is a less than perfect options because you will spend some time on the YouTube screen before you make it full screen.

• Embed the video in a Powerpoint presentation.  The video will show "in" your Powerpoint without the sidebar videos or comments from the YouTube page.

• What if you are not using Powerpoint?  
• You can use Watchkin.com. Watchkin is a website that allows you to paste your YouTube URL into the blank Watchkin webpage (except for the Watchkin branding) so you can watch on a distraction-free webpage. You can also fullscreen the video from the Watchkin page.
  
  
• You can also use the DF Tube (Distraction Free for YouTube) extension for Chrome or Firefox.
  
  
• If you find a YouTube video you want to use for development and it has ads during the video, a good tip is to add a "dash" to the YouTube link so your link appears as
  yout-ube.com/etc.etc. It will allow you to watch the video without externally added ad interruptions (this does not work if the "ad reads" are read by the host as part of the video).  

What are your favorite YouTube tips to share with us?

Adding a video to YouTube (and "trimming" it)

There are many ways to create a video including using video from your phone; creating a screen recording with ScreenPal; creating a recording of a conversation, a screen share, or a PowerPoint presentation in Zoom; and recording a presentation directly from PowerPoint and saving it as an MP4 video. 

(Here is a more in-depth video on all of the video recording options in PowerPoint, including how to create a screen recording from within PowerPoint that is "editable" and then easily include it in your PowerPoint slide.)  

But the question is: 

Once I have a video...what do I do with it?

Uploading a video to YouTube

Obviously, you can include your video in your Blogger blog. But often, you will want to upload it to YouTube.  Everyone who has a Gmail account automatically has YouTube storage space. Your ISU email is a Gmail account, which means your ISU email has YouTube storage associated with it! Here is a brief video on uploading a video to YouTube.

Once your video is uploaded to YouTube you can copy and share the link just like you would with any YouTube video!

Trimming your YouTube video

When you record your video, there is often some "extra" video at the beginning of the video between when you start recording and when you actually start your presentation. There is also typically a bit of "extra" video that gets captured at the end of the video as you finish up, turn off the recorder, etc.  It is not critical to remove the "extra" bits, but it makes your video look cleaner and more professional.  Here is a video that explains how to trim your video once it is uploaded to YouTube.

Have fun as you use YouTube with your videos!

"Snooze" your emails (even if you are not using Gmail!)

In an earlier blog post, I talked about using the "snooze" feature in Gmail to set a date for your email to be re-sent to your inbox.  But what if you are not using Gmail?  

One option is to use FollowUpThen. 

What is it?

Although not a tool for use with learners, this is one of my favorite "productivity" tools--I use it almost every day. (it's the only way I can ever get close to "inbox zero.")

FollowUpThen is a tool to help you manage your email inbox.  It lets you resend an email to your inbox at a later date (for example when you need to be reminded of something, or when you are ready to take action on the email). To accomplish this, you use SOMETIME@FollowUpThen.com as an email address in your distribution.

Example

Let's say I sent an email to Susan and Enrique asking when they were available to meet. Ordinarily, I might be tempted to CC or BCC myself on the email and leave it in my inbox to remind me that Susan and Enrique should be getting back to me about this.  This is not a good reminder system because 

1. it clutters my inbox
2. with all the email in my inbox--and with this email potentially scrolling off the bottom of the screen and not being visible--it may not be a good reminder for me. 

Instead of BCC-ing myself on the email, I can BCC SOMETIME@FollowUpThen.com.  Let's say I wanted to be reminded on Friday that Susan and Enrique should have gotten back to me. I would include in the distribution of the email:

TO: Susan, Enrique

BCC: Friday@FollowUpThen.com.  

The email will go to Susan, it will go to Enrique, and on Friday it will show up in my inbox.

How to Use it

When you go to the FollowUpThen website you'll see you can sign up for an account. The free version allows for 50 follow-ups in a month.

FollowUpThen allows you to use natural language in place of the SOMETIME in the email address.  You can say, "Friday," "EveryWednesday," "200pm," "April15," "tomorrow," "2days," and a whole host of other descriptions. There is more information on how to set the SOMETIME on the followupthen.com webpage. 

With FollowUpThen you can also control who sees the follow-up.  If you put the SOMETIME@FollowUpThen.com email address in the:

BCC: only you will see the follow up

CC: all of the original recipients of the email will see the follow up

Because FollowUpThen is just an email address vs a separate email tool, you can use it with any email program.

A Big Caution

The way FollowUpThen works is that it stores your email, encrypted, on the FollowUpThen servers until it is time to re-send the email. After the email is sent, it is deleted from the FollowUpThen servers.  

However, the fact that the email is stored on third-party servers may be against your company's data management/privacy policies. 

Because of this, many of you will not be able to use FollowUpThen at work. Check with your company to see if it is OK to use FollowUpThen before you use it at work. Here is FollowUpThen's privacy policy. 

(although it should still be handy with your non-work email).

Resources:

• How to use Followupthen from the Followupthen website
  
  
• I talked about FollowUpThen on episode #39 of the Higher Learning Now podcast.

Want to make Gmail even more useful? Snooze it!

What is the Gmail snooze feature?

One of my favorite features of Gmail--and one I use almost every day-- is the "snooze" feature. The Gmail snooze feature lets you resend an email to your inbox at a later date (for example when you need to be reminded of something, or when you are ready to take action on the email). 

How to Use it

• Select the email you want to snooze.  You can open the email to select it, or you can select one or more emails by checking the box next to the email in the inbox.

• Click the snooze icon from the list of icons on the top of the window.

• Select a pre-set date and time or click on "Pick date & time" to select a custom date & time. The email will disappear from your inbox and reappear at the date and time selected!

• You can always find your snoozed emails by clicking on the snoozed folder on the left sidebar of your Gmail.

When to Use it: Example #1

Let's say I sent an email to Susan and Bob asking them for information I need for a meeting next Tuesday. Ordinarily, I might be tempted to CC or BCC myself on the email and leave it in my inbox until Friday when I want to send a follow-up email if I have not heard from Susan and Bob about this. This is not a good reminder system because (1) it clutters my inbox, and (2) it might scroll off the bottom of the screen or get "lost" in my inbox and that is not a good reminder system!  Instead of leaving it in my inbox, I can CC or BCC myself on the email and then snooze the email until Friday when it will pop back in my inbox and remind me I need to send an email if I have not heard from Susan or Bob.

When to Use it: Example #2

Let's say Luis sends me an email with an agenda for our meeting on April 15.  I want to review the agenda before the meeting and bring it with me to the meeting on April 15, but do not need it cluttering my inbox for the next several weeks.  I can snooze the email until April14 and then delete/file the email because I know that the email will be delivered again to my inbox on the 14th, giving me time to review the agenda before the meeting. (and keeping all the clutter out of my inbox!)

How can you use the Gmail snooze feature to improve your productivity?

Recording and narrating your computer screen (aka "screencasting")

Have you ever wanted to make a demonstration of an online task or presentation? One free--and easy-- way to do it is to use Screenpal!

Take a look at this video on how to use Screenpal (12:36)

Once you have recorded your video, you might want to add it to your Blogger blog (1:28)

Or maybe you want to add your video to YouTube for folks to access (I'll make another post on how to do this).

In case you are not at your computer with the downloaded Screenpal, or if you have a computer where you can not download software, you can also launch Screenpal from the web (0:25m)

You can learn more about Screenpal recorder and editor by going to the Screenpal resources page. And, of course, you can search the internet for instructions and videos created by others.

Give Screenpal a try and include your video in a blog post!

How might you use screen recordings to help others learn?

Scanning documents with your phone

 

I was working with a student this week who needed to sign a document and send it back to me.  She did not have a scanner and did not know what to do.  The answer? Scan it with your phone!

Using your phone to scan documents can be helpful when you need to sign and email documents, but I also use it in the library to scan pages from books that I have quotes I want to use in my research, reference lists I want to follow up on from articles I like, non-research/at-home uses, etc.

There are many scanning apps for your phone. If you are not familiar with scanning apps, here is a short (2:41) video to show you what it's like! This demo shows the scanning app I use most often, Genius Scan, but it is similar with any scanning app!

Wait! How did Robin screencast on her phone? Check out how to do it on Apple and Android phones.

(full disclosure: I used a video editing program to add the boxes and highlights to the video after I screencasted it.)

How might you use your phone for a scanner-on-the-go?

Word Clouds!

Word Clouds allow you use words and create a visual display. Words used more often are displayed larger in a word cloud, and words used less often are displayed smaller in a word cloud. Word clouds can be used to display your own list of words, or to display the information you gather from other sources, such as through a survey or other types of comments.

There are many websites to help you create word clouds. Some word cloud websites require you to install free plug-ins (like java, silverlight). Once you find a word cloud generator, they generally work the same: type or upload your text or word list, and generate your word cloud. You can regenerate your word cloud until you find one you like, and can often change the color, font, shape and more for your word cloud. Once you have your word cloud you can sometimes save or download it, but you can always capture it with a screen capture tool such as the Microsoft Snipping Tool (shortcut is: windows_key+shift+S)

Here are a few free word cloud generators for you to try out! (just ignore any options to put your word cloud on merchandise or sign up for a paid subscription.)

WordItOut.com Click the green "create your own" button to get started. 
WordClouds.com  I like this one because it lets you pick a shape to force your word cloud into, such as a heart, arrow, checkmark, lightning bolt, etc.
WordArt.com also gives you a lot of control over the shape of your word cloud (it is "art" not a cloud!)
Jason Davis' word cloud generator
WordSift.org uses a list of words, or you can paste in text, and it will take the common words from text, an article, or a speech and creates a word cloud.

And you can search to find even more word cloud generators!

How might you be able to use word clouds?

Are You Sending People to the Right Place?

 

We often copy links and send them to colleagues or post them online and on our social media.  But are you using the right URL? 

Take a look at this short video to learn how to use the correct URL to get people where you want them to go!

Color me interested! More tools for finding the right color.

Finding just the right color for text or images can be a challenge. Maybe you want to match a color you saw on the web, or maybe you are looking for the perfect color blue.  Here are a few tools to help you find just the right color.

But first a little background...



Color "Names"

One of the challenges in finding the right color is figuring out what to call it!  If you have ever been to a paint store, you know there is no such thing as white.  There is off-white, arctic snow, cloud white, ecru, crushed ice, and more!  The computer solves this problem by giving each color a numerical name. There are two main color naming conventions: RGB and hexadecimal.  Sometimes you will work with a program that wants the color in RGB, and sometimes a program will want the color in hexadecimal.

RGB is a color model that gives a numeric value to the amount of Red, Green, and Blue in the color. This is useful as a naming convention and gives you the option to make small adjustments to the color by increasing or decreasing the red, green, or blue number. (It is like adding a little more "tint" to the paint color!)

Hexadecimal (or "hex") gives a numeric value to the color, but instead of using a base 10 numbering system (decimal), it uses a base 16 numbering system (hexadecimal). A hex color name is six digits in length and begins with a #.  For example, #FF0000 is the hex name for a particular red.
(Decimal uses the characters 0-9, which is 10 characters.  Deci means 10, which is why our numbering system is called the decimal system.  Because hexadecimal uses sixteen characters, it uses 0-9 and A-F.)

OK, but how do I find the color I want to use?

If you want to locate a color "by eye" you can use a web-based tool

• This tool by w3schools.com is similar to the standard and custom color picker used by Word and PowerPoint.  You pick your color and then use the lighter/darker scale to find the exact color you want to use.  The selected color is displayed in the middle of the screen with the hex, RGB, and hsl colors. (hsl stands for hue, saturation, and lightness, and is the third naming convention for colors, but you likely will not see it very often.)
• You can mix your own RGB colors by altering the amount of each color in this tool by w3schools.com.  Adjust the amount of Red, Green, and Blue by typing a number or clicking on the Red, Green, and Blue color lines.  Your newly mixed color will be displayed in a color block above the Red, Green, and Blue color lines, and the RGB, Hex, and HSL color codes for your new color will be displayed to the right of the color block.
• There are also many tools on the web to convert hex to RGB, or RGB to hex, 

If you want to match a color on the web
In a previous blog post, I told you how you can use the eyedropper tool in PowerPoint (or Word) to sample a color from within PowerPoint. But what if you want to sample a color outside of PowerPoint and from a webpage?

There are several tools to sample a color on the web, and one that I use is called Colorzilla. Colorzilla is an extension you can add to your Chrome or Firefox toolbar. You can then use the eyedropper/color picker to find the exact color of anything in your browser, and use the color numbers to color your text, lines, or fills!

Here is a demonstration of how to install and use Colorzilla.

How might you use custom coloring?

It's a colorful world...or it can be with MORE COLORS!

Color. I want more color!

We all know the benefits of using color in our documents, presentations, handouts, and blogs.  Did you know you can customize the color of your text, lines, and fills to ANY color?  This same idea will work in almost any program that let's you set color (Powerpoint, Word, etc.). Here is how you do it in Powerpoint:

1.  Select the text, line or fill on which you want to set the color.

2.  Use the menu you normally use to select the color, but this time select More Colors.

3. You are presented with the standard color menu.  Select the color you would like by clicking on it.

4.  If you are satisfied with your color, click OK.  If you would like to further customize your color, click on the Custom menu tab.

5.  On the custom tab you can:

• Use the slider to find a lighter or darker share of the color you selected on the previous screen
• Use the rainbow box to select the color you would like
• Enter the RGB codes for a specific color. (Trivia: RGB stands for Red, Green, Blue)

6. Click OK and enjoy your customized color!

This can all sound a bit confusing in a blog post. Try it out and you will see it's not hard at all!


A few more tips:

➤ You can match any color on the screen by using the eyedropper.

• Select the text, line or fill you want to adjust.
• Use the menu to select color and then select the eyedropper.
• Move the eyedropper to the color you want to match (the square will fill with the current color) and click.  Your item will be that color!

➤ Depending on the item you are coloring (text, line, fill), when you go to your color menu you may have the option to use a gradient, a picture, or a texture in addition to a color.


How can you use custom colors in your professional or personal work?