MS Office/Word tips and tricks

Here are a few sites. Please post any others you have found especially useful. Thanks!

Carol's Corner Office: Lots of tips and tricks for MS Office here. Check out her Free Word Bytes Newsletter, as well as her subscription premium newsletter and her books.

Word for PC, Tips, Tricks, Troubleshooting: Part of the MPV website.

Word Shortcuts: A page from the above MPV site.

Useful MS Word links on Microsoft's website: MPV has compiled a handy list of links.

Word Tips by Allan Wyatt: A weekly email newsletter full of tips. The writer has also published a book of tips.

Sloan Consortium (Sloan-C)

"The purpose of the Sloan Consortium (Sloan-C) is to help learning organizations continually improve quality, scale, and breadth of their online programs, according to their own distinctive missions, so that education will become a part of everyday life, accessible and affordable for anyone, anywhere, at any time, in a wide variety of disciplines. Sloan-C maintains a catalog of degree and certificate programs offered by a wide range of regionally accredited member institutions, consortia, and industry partners; provides speakers and consultants to help institutions learn about online methodologies; hosts conferences and workshops to help implement and improve online programs; publishes the Sloan-C View, the Journal of Asynchronous Learning Networks (JALN), and annual volumes of applied research studies; and conducts research, annual surveys on online learning and forums to inform academic, government and private sector audiences. Sloan-C also offers an awards program and an effective practices database and wiki for members to share the lessons they have learned."

Grammar and Writing

A few links to assist in the review of the basic conventions of standard English: grammar, sentence structure, punctuation, and word usage.

University of Ottawa: HyperGrammar electronic grammar course: Brief reviews of the basics, from parts of speech through to building sentences and writing paragraphs.

The OWL (Online Writing Lab) at Perdue: "Free writing help and teaching resources, open 24/7." Here are some of their categories: The Writing Process; Professional, Technical, and Scientific Writing; Job Search Writing; General Academic Writing; Research & Citation; ESL; Literary Analysis & Criticism; Writing in the Social Sciences; Writing in Engineering; Creative Writing; Teaching Writing. -- and each one has many sub-menu items. I can't describe it; you'll just have to check it out for yourself!

University of Victoria English Language Centre Study Zone: Index To Grammar Materials: "It includes grammar presentations, interactive practice exercises, and help pages for basic writing skills."

University of Victoria: The UVic Writer’s Guide: The site includes the topics:
- Planning, Organizing, and Presenting Essays
- Developing and Ordering Paragraphs
- Writing Clear Sentences
- Choosing and Using Words
- Acknowledging Your Sources
- Literary and Rhetorical Terms (By Category)
- Preparing Summaries
- Presenting Arguments Logically
- Knowing The Basics of Grammar

University of Toronto: Advice on Academic Writing: Includes these topics:
- Planning & Organizing
- Reading & Researching
- Using Sources
- Specific Types of Writing
- Style and Editing
- Grammar and Punctuation
- Some Answers for Writers of English as a Second Language

University of Calgary: The Basic Elements of English: Four major sections: Parts of Speech, Sentence Elements, Punctuation and Word Use. Includes Interactive exercises to help you "test your grammar skills and get immediate feedback by trying the exercises at the end of the tutorials. "

K12 Hot Links

"The web's best educational tools - all in one place."

TeacherTube

Like YouTube, only it's all educational videos. Also includes Groups and TeacherTube Blogs, Lesson plan videos, student lesson videos, teacher-made videos.

Quotations Book: search engine + much more

Quotations Book.com: A specialized search engine for quotations on the Internet. Lost of "extras", including a Facebook app; quotes of the day by RSS or email, for mobiles, & as a Firefox extension; starter page code for iGoogle, Pageflakes, & Netvibes; a widget to put on your website or blog; widgets for Windows Vista & Macs; a daily podcast; and more.

Trailfire

A Firefox extension or add-on. Enables teachers to create a "trail" through several web sites for your students to follow. "Sticky notes" with the author's comments, notes, instructions, etc. are placed on any web page, along with your next and back button. This links the pages together, creating a sequential path for navigating the trail. Students need only click YOUR "next" button to proceed to the next site rather than returning to some sort of index. Visit Trailfire's homepage to sample some of the trails others have posted.

Umbraco - Course Management System

An open source CMS. Runs on Windows using Microsoft's "ASP.Net" and Internet Information Server. John Goldsmith (B.C. teacher) says:

"While installation and set-up is not exactly click & run, the program is easier to install than most other open source programs. The installation instructions are clear, concise and well illustrated so that anyone with reasonable Windows skills should be able to install and run the program. Umbraco has a nice, light "Web 2.0" feel about it and, the "icing on the cake" for many teachers is the ability to add and modify web content using MS Word. HTML skills are not needed."

Second Life Education Wiki

Contains many useful page such as Guidelines for Educators and Programs for Educators, which include Community Support, Campus:Second_Life, Educators working with Teens, and more.

Guide to Grammar and Writing

This Guides is sponsored by the Capital Community College Foundation, a nonprofit 501 c-3 organization that supports scholarships, faculty development, and curriculum innovation.