Desktop Annotate in Activinspire

Here is how to use Desktop Annotate in Activinspire software.

Video

Open .rtf File on Chromebook

Many of our students take online classes through CCC which require the downloading and manipulation of documents that come in an .rtf format.  This stands for Rich Text File and is commonly used with Microsoft Office documents.  Since we don't have the Office Suite, we must create a workaround.  Below is the workaround, which brings the file into Google Docs and works great.

1.  Download the file.
2.  Open your Files app, which should have the recently downloaded file in the Downloads folder.
3.  Drag the file to your Google Drive.
4.  Open Google Drive and open the file from there.
5.  Choose open with Google Docs and you will be able to work with the document.


Below is are directions for another way to do this:

Screencastify

To make a video presentation on your Chromebook, you must first record the video using an app such as Clipchamp or Screencastify.  Here, you will see how to use Screencastify to record and upload a video.

1. Search Web Store for Screencastify and add it to your Chromebook.  Click add to Chrome and it will be added as an extension in the upper right corner of your browser.

2.  Click on Screencastify to begin recording a video.  It will open a prompt like the one below.

3.  You can record your desktop or you can use your built in camera.  If you are wishing to record yourself speaking (like for Speech Class), click on Cam.  Then just hit record webcam and stand in front of your Chromebook.  Make sure you click, show preview window if you wish to monitor the scene.
4.  The video is automatically stored in a folder on your Google Drive named Screencastify.  Now you can open Youtube, upload the video and edit or share with others.

PowerPoint Extends Screen (I Don't Want That)

If you have trouble with your display settings changing to "extended" after viewing a Powerpoint presentation, follow these instructions.

Lenovo + Promethean = Small Screen Fix

If you plug an external display, such as a Promethean Board into your Lenovo Laptop and the screen on you laptop shrinks, here is a fix.

Lenovo page

Create Custom Contact List

If you want to create a custom contact list from people within our email domain, watch this video.

Add Contact Group In Gmail

Sometimes you have several email addresses that you would like to add as a group in your Contacts in GMail.  An example would be if you were a class sponsor and wished to email all of the students in that particular class.
A list of any class can be produced by Mr. Bechtold at your request.  Here is how to add them to your Contacts.

1.  Open Gmail.
2.  Click on Mail pull down at top left and choose Contacts.

3.  Under My Contacts, click on New Group...

4.  Name the Group (Class of 2024 for example).
5.  Again, under My Contacts, click on the group you just created.
6.  Click on the add button.

7.  At this point, you can simply paste any list that you have copied into the blank space and they will be added to your group.  You may want to have your email list ready in another tab or in another application so you can go back and copy the addresses you would like to add.
8.  Once the group has been added, you can go back to email and simply start typing in the name of the group and click on it to send email to every member of that group.