Sunday, September 4, 2011

Practical Keybaord Shortcuts ; Tips every Educator need to know

Keyboard is the key to the virtual world. We all use it to  access and interact with the net but do we use it the same way ? definitely not , some enjoy their keyboarding and others are struglling with it. It takes just a couple of minutes for certain users to do the same tasks others would spend so much to do. Using keyboard is an art that we all need to master and honestly speaking there is no excuse for the 21st century educators not to be aware of this art.
Do you know that working on a computer in front of other people , say in a conference or something like this, can be a public display of digital ignorance due to your awkward  inetraction with your keyboard ? Nobody is expert by birth but it does take to give and it is never too late to learn. If you think you need a simple step by step tutorial to help you out with your keyboard then here is one ready  for you. I did the work for you , you might be busy or simply never had the idea in your mind to look for keyboard tips that might change your whole navigational experience. I have done some research online and checked some resources and the result is what you will find below.
Why including this tutorial here?
I am an educator just like all of you and i know that some of you are going through the same experiences in their professional itinerary as i did some time ago. I used to be a slow typist and it would take me forever to do things with my keyboard . I  never had the idea to sit down and devote some time specially for keyboarding which would have saved me so much time instead i went on learning the hardest way which is  learning throught habits or accidental discoveries. Now that i have developed my skills and become probably a very good keyboard user i dont want you to go through the same hardships. I want to raise this issue and attract your attention to something that you might mistakenly think trivial but believe me once you mater it you will have a totally new experience with the net , you will enjoy your online surfing and you will save so much of your time.
The following tips are the basic and most used shortcuts you need to know. They cover Windows, and Macintosh. Remember you will not turn into a good keyboard user overnight this is just the start and only through rigorous repetition and use of these tips that you can finally claim some proficiency. Best of luck to all of you.
Remember that if you want to learn how to type fast , you need to check out the tutorial i have written a while ago at ;  The best free educational typing apps- learn typing easily .



1 Basic PC Shortcuts

The following snapshots are taken from Microsoft Help page

Click on any snapshot to make it bigger



























Other Shortcuts







2 Keybaord Shortcuts for Macintosh



























 Here is an addition i get from Bob Mathew

That's a good list as far as it goes. It would be unrealistic to publish a fully comprehensive list of shortcuts, but notably missing were some of my favorites:
  • Shift+Arrow (left or right) -- Selects text & objects in the direction of the arrow you press
  • Shift+End -- Selects from cursor position to end of the line
  • Shift+Home -- Selects from cursor position to beginning of line
  • F12 -- Save As
  • Windows Key+E -- Windows Explorer (aka, "My Computer")
And, two that are limited to Windows 7:
  • Windows Key+Left Arrow -- Re-sizes current window to fill the left half screen
  • Windows Key+Right Arrow -- Re-sizes current window to fill the right half screen
These last 2 are really useful on widescreen monitors when you're having to switch between 2 windows, and are working in both.It may also be useful to point out that it's not necessary to use the utmost finesse, thereby releasing both or all 3 keys at exactly the same time. In the case of Ctrl+Alt+Delete, for example, press and hold down the Ctrl and Alt keys, press and release the Delete key, then release the other 2.
 For More Mac OS Shortcuts check out ; Apple Info

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