Zoom Update: Show or Hide Meeting Controls

Throughout the pandemic, technology has not stood still, and Zoom is an excellent example of technology that continues to evolve. This evolution includes not only added features, such as new options for video backgrounds, but also changing ways to do things within Zoom. Such is the case with the option to show or hide the Zoom controls on your screen. 

Zoom has continually issued updates throughout the past year. As of this writing the most current version is 5.6.1. You can check for updates to see what your current version is. 

We posted a tip in April 2020 to show how to enable or disable the meeting controls. Since then, Zoom has moved the option to “Always show meeting controls” from the Accessibility menu within the Settings window to the General menu. Now when you select the General menu item to bring up a list of settings one of the options is “Always show meeting controls.” 

If this box is checked, your meeting controls are always visible. De-select this checkbox to allow the control bar to disappear and reappear, depending on the position of your mouse cursor. 

An alternate way to hide meeting controls

If you don’t want to open the settings window, and if you are using a Macintosh computer, you can quickly choose to hide the meeting controls using the menu at the top of the screen. Select the “Window” menu to call up a drop-down list. Uncheck “Always Show Meeting Controls”

This process produces the same result as using the settings window. Even quicker would be to use the keyboard shortcut indicated in the menu item: Command + \ 

Use this keyboard combination to toggle the facility to hide or always show the meeting controls.

Zoom functionality tends not to disappear through various upgrades. Rather, access to it may be found in a different place than previously. We’ll try to keep you updated on how to do things as we learn ourselves.

Quickly Paste Without Format in Google Suite

If you’ve ever copied text over from an online resource to a document, you’ve likely noticed that the standard copy function doesn’t just copy the text, but also includes the formatting of the source material, such as font, size, bold, italics, or underline, font colors, or font highlight colors. While you sometimes might want to retain the source format, you may instead want the pasted content to match the format of the document into which you paste it.

Did you know that the Google Suite of apps has a universal shortcut for pasting without formatting? It works on both macOS and Windows. The shortcut uses the same keys as the shortcut for paste, only with the addition of holding the shift-key at the same time:

PC

Control+Shift+V

Mac

Command+Shift+V

Alternatively, you can right-click and select "paste without formatting"

Here’s an example of text copied and pasted normally (no shift) from MPR’s website (author’s name and contact changed):

About the author

Art Erikson • Reporter

eriksona@mpr.org • @arterikson

Art Erikson is *not* an arts reporter for MPR News.

Here’s the same copied text pasted using the paste without formatting shortcut:

About the author

Art Erikson • Reporter

eriksona@mpr.org • @arterikson

Art Erikson is *not* an arts reporter for MPR News.

 

Design a Room in Jamboard

One of the fun and interactive aspects of Jamboard is that you can create an activity with moveable objects. In previous posts, we have demonstrated how to re-order parts of a sentence and to simulate people giving and receiving objects. Today's tip offers a method of easily creating another familiar language learning task, that of moving furniture into a room and explaining to a partner where each item is located. The Jamboard feature that makes this activity so simple to create is the built-in image search function. 

The Jamboard slide for this task has two layers. The bottom layer is an image of an empty room. The upper layer consists of small, individual images of furniture and other objects. The image I selected for the empty room was more square in shape, which allowed for blank space along the left and right borders, where I can initially place the small objects.

The users can drag and drop the objects however they choose. For example, I can place the table in the middle of the room and the carpet in front of it. I can hang the mirror on the wall and put the easy chair beside the plant in front of the window. The cell phone is on the easy chair, the dog under the table, and the cat is in the corner. Students can give each other commands or where to place the objects, narrate their actions, or describe differences between two layouts. 

How to make the Jamboard slide

For this activity, you will repeat the process of searching for and selecting images to add to your slide. 

1. First prepare to set the background image. 

2. Click on the icon to add an image.

3. Use the built-in Google image search function to find a suitable empty room. Select it and set it as the frame background.

4. Now that you have the background set, you can add individual images to the slide. 

For each image, click on the "Add image" icon and then use the built-in google search to quickly find and insert images. There is no need to download them first to your machine or account. Once they appear on the slide, you can resize them to fit in the room. 

How to make copies of the slide for use with multiple groups 

1.  Click on the expand frame carot at the top of the slide below the slide number.

2. Then click on the vertical three dots of the slide you wish to duplicate.

This activity can be used to practice vocabulary in many content areas (house, park, city, meal, etc). Different grammar topics can also be practiced by giving students specific instructions of how to describe the image or how to interact with a partner.

Not Satisfied with Zoom Polls? Consider Google Forms in Meeting

To launch a survey or quiz during a Zoom class or meeting, a Zoom Poll is the easiest option. However, there are currently some limitations to this Zoom feature: you can only ask two types of questions, 10 questions per poll, and offer only 10 possible answers per question.

(Zoom is apparently working on this, so there may be some enhancements on the way).

If Zoom Poll doesn’t quite meet your in-meeting needs, consider a different university-supported product that is more flexible, and can also produce visual results that you can share with your group in multiple ways: Google Forms.

In this tip, I will not go over all the details of Google Forms. Google offers a comprehensive training and help site, and effective survey design is both an art and science, with many factors to consider. Instead I will only offer a few things to consider when designing a Google Form if you plan to share summary results with your group in a meeting:

What kind of information would you like your group to see?

There are nine types of Google Forms questions you can ask. Your form can include a mix of question types, and both optional and required questions. Some question types that are good for quick visualization include Multiple Choice, Checkboxes, Dropdown and Linear Scale.

Pie Chart: Respondent can choose one answer

Ask either a Multiple Choice or Dropdown question. Multiple Choice is the best option if you would like to allow respondents to add an “Other” answer, a choice you haven’t provided. Dropdown is the best type if you have a long list of possible answers, and you do not require the Other option.

Here is an example of Multiple Choice Question from a survey I administered to my colleagues:

And here is the pie chart with their responses:

Notice that because I allowed the Other option, one respondent wrote a long, and well-considered answer. If this type of response is not useful for your purposes, simply do not add the Other option.

Bar Graph: Respondent can choose multiple answers

If you don’t want to limit your respondents to only one answer, a Checkbox is a good question type. Here’s an example of a Checkbox question:

And here are the responses:

Again, because I included the Other option, I received an answer I did not anticipate.

Bar Graph: Respondent can choose one answer

A Linear Scale will produce an easy-to-follow graph. Here is an example:

And here are the responses:

How to share the form with your group

There are multiple ways to accomplish this, but the simplest way in meeting may be to add a link in the chat or to an active document. You can get a link to the live form by simply clicking on the Eye icon on the top right-hand side of the form, and using the automatically generated URL. This will also allow you to preview your form (see how it will look to your audience). You can also click on the Send button to the right of the Eye, which will give you more options for sharing the form, including the ability to shorten the link, which can be useful if you are sending it through chat.

How to share survey results with your group

The simplest way is to share your screen in Zoom. Near the top of your form, toggle from Questions to Responses. By default, you will see a summary report without identifiable information. If you asked question types that lend themselves to visualization, your audience should be able to follow the report easily as you scroll through it. Here is the start of the full report from my survey:

If you only wish to share some of the results, take screenshots (Mac or PC) and copy the images into your presentation or active document

In conclusion

Google Forms is a flexible, powerful and easy to use tool that might serve as a substitute for a Zoom Poll. If you are interested in more tips about Google Forms in the future, respond in the comments or send an email to elsie@umn.edu with your questions or ideas.

Save an Image from a Google Doc

A shared Google Doc might contain an image that you might want to reuse elsewhere. A common way to transfer an image from one doc to another is to copy and paste it. However, you may want to modify the image in some way (see annotating images on a PC and on a Mac), and to do so, you need to work with a copy of the image. There is a way to save an image from a Google Doc to your computer as a file that you can then open and manipulate. 

Here’s how: 

In a Google Doc, right click on the image you want to save. 

Then, click “Save to Keep”. 

A window will slide open to the right of the document. This window contains notes and images located in the Google Keep application. The image will appear in the “Keep Notes” area on the right of the screen. 

Right-click on the image, and then click “Save image as…”.

Save the file where you choose and in the format you choose. You can now open the file in Preview (Mac) or Paint 3D (PC) to crop or annotate. 

Google Keep 

By the way, the Keep window is accessible from any with any open Google document or presentation. At the top right of the screen in the margin are three small icons. The top icon opens the calendar, the middle opens the Keep folder, and the third opens the To Do list. Click the Keep icon to access all the notes and images you have stored in the Keep application: 

This handy application lets you store and easily access images and notes to reuse when you want. 

Annotate a Screenshot on a PC

Annotating a screenshot can be a useful way to enhance visual materials in online learning settings. You can add geometric shapes and draw lines freehand, among other effects. When you have a screenshot copied to the clipboard, the image can be edited in the Paint 3D app, which comes standard with Windows 10. 

With a screenshot on the clipboard, navigate to the Paint 3D app. 

   

Once the app is open, click New to start a new project.

Then, paste (Control + V) the screenshot into the app. 

From there, you can explore the different editing and annotating options, including cropping, adding text, adding shapes, using various types of brushes, etc.. The final result is shown below. 

Once the annotation is complete, go to Menu > Save as Copy > Image to save the updated image as a .PNG file. Of course, you can annotate any image using the same method.

Hide Desktop Icons

People in online meetings often decide at the spur of the moment to share their screen with the rest of the attendees. If you share your screen, including the desktop or portions of the desktop, you may not want to have your desktop icons visible to everyone. 

Clear your desktop on a PC 

There is a quick and easy way to hide desktop icons on a PC. 

Right-click on any empty space on the desktop. 

In the resulting menu click View, then uncheck Show Desktop Icons. 

Take a few seconds to do this, and you will avoid showing your (potentially) cluttered desktop layout with others in the meeting! 

Clear your desktop on a Mac 

The process is similar on a Mac. Here is a screenshot of a messy Mac desktop: 

To clear most of the icons from the desktop, you create stacks of icons with all documents of the same type stacked on top of each other on the right side of the screen. 

Right-click anywhere on the desktop (you can hold the control key down and click to simulate a right-click). 

In the pop-up menu, select Use Stacks: 

The result looks something like this: 

Once you have shared your screen or taken a screenshot, you can unpack the stacks by reversing the process. Right-click on the desktop and select Use Stacks again (if stacks are in use there will be a checkmark here, so you effectively un-check Use Stacks). By selecting the same item again, the line is unchecked and the icons are spread over the desktop again.

Briefly Removing the Instructor from the Student-Centered Classroom

As the first year of remote learning draws to a close, we are grateful for stories of success or positive aspects of conducting class remotely. Today we offer a success story as a tip for promoting a student-centered environment and sharing responsibility for conducting class activities.

The following Tip is courtesy of Lydia Belateche, a senior lecturer in the department of French and Italian.

This week I had to leave my French 1003 class a few minutes early due to the College in the Schools French Spring Workshop. So, students were already in their break-out rooms with two lengthy activities to complete when it was time for me to leave Zoom. I made a trusted student the Host for the rest of the meeting while visiting her break-out room, and then I was able to exit the meeting, while the break-out rooms continued for 15 more minutes. Students actually stayed in their break-out rooms and completed their activities even though I had left the Zoom space. 

My French 1003 class is composed of students I know well and trust. I would not recommend making a student in the class Host before establishing a positive relationship with them. In this case, I felt confident that the student could be trusted with the responsibility of briefly serving in this role, and that in my absence, conversation would continue to be productive and respectful.

 

I also followed up with the student I made Host after the class was over. She reported to me that some students even stayed BEYOND the allotted class time on Zoom! This is a good way for instructors to remember that we cannot always be the center of attention on Zoom! In fact, the best Zoom classes often are when the instructor is NOT the center of attention!

We are eager to hear and publish such stories that demonstrate and discuss positive aspects of the remote teaching and learning experience. Please feel free to share!

Add a Digital Signature to Images on Mac

 

Adding a Digital Signature

Among the most useful ways to use the Screenshot/Markup tool on Mac is to create a digital signature that can be reused. Consider using this digital signature method to sign off on documents, receipts, and more.

To access the tool, you can either:

1. take a screenshot of the image or document to which you want to add a signature:

   
    
   
   
   
   
   
   
    
2. or open the image file directly in the Preview application:
   

   
     

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

How to Add a Digital Signature with the Track Pad:

1. Select the signature button and then “Create Signature”:

   

2. Use the track pad to draw your signature by clicking once to begin and then hitting any key on your keyboard to finish:

   
   
   

3. Once done, you can drag and resize the signature anywhere you want:

    

   

           *image is a screenshot of a desktop; Handbrake is just a desktop shortcut

3. Your signature will be saved and can be chosen again from the signature tool button drop-down menu:

   
   

   

Adding a Digital Signature via your Camera:

Another great option for adding your signature is to use your computer’s camera to take a photo of your signature on blank white paper in black ink. This option, while it might take a little more time, results in a clearly legible signature.

To access it, select the add signature button and click on the "Camera" option:

 

You'll want to hold your paper up to the camera so that only the black ink is showing. It could take a few tries, but once you get the hang of it, this is the best option for adding a signature. The software will automatically mirror the image so that it shows up correctly. The result can be dragged and resized freely on your image, and will be saved for reuse:

Annotate, Drag, & Drop Screenshots on Mac

When it comes to work-productivity on computers, speed is king. We perform the same tasks over and over again throughout the workweek. With many various methods at our disposal, some are slow and cumbersome, while the less obvious paths can often speed up productivity. Learning efficient ways to do the same work, such as quickly taking a screenshot and sharing it in an email or Zoom chat, will save time and free up mental energy.

Following up on the many ways you can take a screenshot on Mac or PC, let’s look at ways to use the screenshots on Mac after you snap them.

Using the Screenshot Thumbnail on macOS

Immediately after taking a screenshot on macOS, you might notice that a thumbnail image of the screenshot briefly appears in the lower right-hand corner of your screen. While that image is there you can do a number of useful actions.

Fast Drag & Drop

 

 

One of the fastest ways to share a screenshot is to click on the thumbnail immediately after you’ve taken the screenshot and drag it into a corresponding application, such as Gmail:

 

Or into Zoom’s chat:

Annotating a Screenshot

Annotating, or “marking up” a screenshot is one of the most useful ways to add guidance to an image, such as for instructional use, creating tutorials, or adding text or signatures to images when needed. In fact, every screenshot taken for this Tip of the Day was dragged, dropped, and annotated using these methods!

To annotate you have two options.

1.  Either click once on the thumbnail of a screenshot immediately after you have taken it:

   

   *the image is a screenshot of a portion of a desktop, Handbrake is a shortcut.

    

2. Or you can double-click on the screenshot file to open it in “Preview” and then click on the “Markup” tool:

   
   
    

As demonstrated in the screenshot annotations above, you can easily highlight parts of your image using the shapes tool:

The shapes tool includes arrows for pointing out specifics in your image.  Text can be added via the textbox tool: 

which includes options for fonts, sizes, and colors. Play around with the various annotation tools and you can find many ways to make this quick feature useful.

Note: there are a few differences between the markup in Preview and in the quick annotation thumbnail, but the functionality is similar.

One Year Anniversary Survey

We are coming up on the first anniversary of the Tip of the Day blog. This blog was originally created in response to the sudden change to teaching, learning and working from home last March, as a way to provide simple ideas that can hopefully be implemented right away. Because technology is always changing, we have never run out of material. The core team of Dan Soneson, Beth Kautz, Carter Griffith, Jonathan Prestrud, Chee-ia Thao, Stephanie Treat and Diane Rackowski (emeritus) would like to thank everyone who has read and responded to the blog, especially those of you who have shared your expertise with us. To help us plan for the future, we would appreciate it if you would take a brief survey to tell us what tools and topics you are most interested in reading about.

Several Ways to Take Screenshots on a Mac

 Yesterday we looked at how to create three types of screenshots on a Windows computer. Today’s tip shows how to do the same thing on a Macintosh computer. 

Take a screenshot of the entire screen

You may want to show more than one window or the context of the material on the desktop of the computer. The easiest way to capture the full screen is to hold down both the Command and Shift buttons and press the 3 keys (Command + Shift + 3) simultaneously. This takes a picture of the full screen:

Take a screenshot of one application window

You may want to show an open window with all its contents. To do so is a three-step process:

1. Hold down the Command and the Shift keys and press the 4 key (Command + Shift + 4). The cursor turns into a crosshair. 
2. Hold down the Space bar. The cursor now turns into a camera icon. 
3. Click on the window that you want to capture. 

Take a screenshot of a portion of the screen

To capture only a portion of the screen, start the same way as capturing a window:

• Hold down the Command and the Shift keys and press the 4 key (Command + Shift + 4). The cursor turns into a crosshair.
• Drag the crosshair cursor over the area you want to capture.

• You can modify the area by holding down the Space bar and dragging the whole capture area to align with the top left of the area you wish to capture.
• Release the Space bar and continue to drag the bottom right corner to enclose the area you want to capture.

• Release the mouse. The area you have defined will be captured.

Where are screenshots saved?

An image of a screen capture is saved on the desktop as a PNG file. The default name of the file will look something like this: “2021-03-03-Screen Shot 2021-03-03 at 11.39.47 AM” and indicates the date the image was created (2021-03-03-), the words “Screen Shot” followed by a space, then the date again (2021-03-03) and the time the image was created (“at 11.39.47 AM”). It helps if you rename the file in order to identify and locate it when you need it. 

You can use these images to illustrate processes or demonstrate how to work with an application. You can embed them in a Canvas page or import them into a Google Doc or Google slides. Treat them just like you would any other image.

Check back for a quick way to edit and annotate the screenshots on a Macintosh computer.