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  • Phil Rouble
    Keymaster
    November 7, 2024 at 10:40 am
    Post count: 25
    in reply to: Favourite Excel Keyboard Shortcuts #4604

    Rich – I agree that keyboard shortcuts do save a ton of time. I especially use your tips for selecting an entire table area – a trick you showed me a long time ago!

    Some of my favorite keyboard shortcuts involve copying and pasting data:

    • Ctrl-C – Copy selected cell(s)
    • Ctrl-X – Cut selected cell(s)
    • Ctrl-V – Paste cell(s)
    • Ctrl-Shift-V – Paste without formatting

    Some of my  must know shortcuts include:

    • Ctrl-Z – Undo last action
    • Ctrl-Y – Redo
    • Ctrl-B – to Bold
    • Ctrl-I – to Italicize

    Finally, while not strictly a keyboard shortcut, I use a double-click on ribbon menu tabs to toggle the ribbon menu display to free up more work area.

    Phil Rouble
    Keymaster
    November 6, 2024 at 12:02 pm
    Post count: 25
    in reply to: Mind Mapping – The Swiss Army Knife for Critical Thinking! #4600

    On Oct. 29, 2024, the Technology and Collaboration Subcommittee hosted a Lunch-and-Learn webinar, “An Introduction to Mind Mapping”. I promised that I would share a link to the Xmind presentation file here for those who might want to review the presentation or use the map as a sample. Let me know if you have any questions or comments.

    Phil Rouble
    Keymaster
    October 22, 2024 at 7:33 am
    Post count: 25
    in reply to: Mind Mapping – The Swiss Army Knife for Critical Thinking! #4571

    In advance of the upcoming “Introduction to Mind Mapping” webinar, I thought it might be helpful to share a couple of resources that I have found very useful:

    • Xmind.app
      • You can download Xmind from this website. The fully functional free plan is a great way to see if mind mapping works for you!
        • Check out the Resources tab for a great User Guide, short video tutorials and pre-recorded webinars…
    • Visual Velocity with Chuck Frey https://mindmappingsoftwareblog.com/
      • An excellent resource to raise your mind mapping game! Subscribe to his weekly newsletter to get great tips and insights about all things mind mapping
      • The “Get Started” tab is a rich resource for practical tips for applying mind mapping. Start with the “Elements of effective mind maps”, a collection of excellent blogs exploring basic building blocks and concepts
    Phil Rouble
    Keymaster
    October 7, 2024 at 5:42 pm
    Post count: 25
    in reply to: Mind Mapping – The Swiss Army Knife for Critical Thinking! #4541

    Great use of mind mapping! I often use a mind map when I have a problem that has me stumped or when I feel “blocked”. Putting the pieces that I do know into a mind map seems to help get the solution moving forward.

    Phil Rouble
    Keymaster
    June 25, 2024 at 11:54 am
    Post count: 25
    in reply to: Snip & Sketch Ruler #4358

    Thanks for sharing this tip, Colleen. I use the Snipping Tool in Windows a lot for screen grabs and never noticed the Ruler until you showed it to me! However, I noticed that your version of Windows (Windows 10?) seems to use the “Snip & Sketch” tool while mine (Windows 11) calls it the “Snipping Tool”. I did a bit of digging and it seems that there is some confusing history to the Snipping Tool:

    • In Windows 10 and earlier, there was a basic “Snipping Tool” (Accessed with PrtScn)
    • In Windows 10, the “Snip & Sketch” tool was introduced (Accessed with Windows+Shift+S)
    • In Windows 11, a very powerful “Snipping Tool” replaces “Snip & Sketch” .

    I came across this new Youtube video from Leila Gharani, “How to Screenshot on Windows 11 – Cool updates to the Snipping Tool” (June 20, 2024 – Length: 12:36). She does an excellent job explaining all the very cool features including how to access the Ruler. A few new features that impressed me were:

    • Using Windows+PrtScn grabs the whole screen and saves it the Clipboard. (It also saves a file in Pictures > Screenshots which is GREAT for grabbing notes during a webinar or online presentation!)
    • Using PrtScn brings up the Snipping Tool menu (or use Windows+Shift+S)
    • You can grab what you want, extract text from an image, extract the link from a grabbed QR-code, edit the clip, and add shapes and annotations
    • You can show / hide the ruler with Ctrl+R
    • And much more…!

    I have watched this video a few times and pick up more tips each time. Note that not all the advanced features may have been rolled out across all Windows 11 updates.

    Phil Rouble
    Keymaster
    March 2, 2024 at 11:11 am
    Post count: 25
    in reply to: Prayer Spaces #4129

    Hi Rich / Peter

    You might try reaching out to Algonquin College. They built a Spiritual Centre as part of their Student Commons project which opened in 2012. I remember it as an innovative solution to the campus “prayer room” question.

    • Type of facility being used for prayer (description) – Spiritual Centre – great info on their website
    • Tailored to one faith or multi-faith? Multi-faith / broad spiritual needs. ” The Spiritual Centre at Algonquin College exists to provide a collaborative environment of positive spiritual and religious engagement, diversity, and respect. The Spiritual Centre strives to celebrate, support, and nurture the spiritual and religious well-being of everyone in the Algonquin College community.”
    • Available at all campuses? (You will need to reach out to Algonquin for details)
    • Who manages the space? Student Support Services
    • How did they design it? It was originally included in the programming and design of the Student Commons which opened in 2012.
    • Input from students? Faith communities? The Students’ Association leadership at the time was a key advocate for creating a spiritual gathering centre “to become a centre for conversation, dialogue, and welcoming of spiritual ideas and for the various faiths on the Algonquin campus.”.
    • Successes and opportunities for improvement – The Spiritual Centre at Algonquin appears to have evolved / matured well over time.

    Hope this helps

    Phil Rouble
    Keymaster
    February 29, 2024 at 11:00 am
    Post count: 25
    in reply to: Mind Mapping – The Swiss Army Knife for Critical Thinking! #4109

    On Feb. 8, 2024, I used Xmind to present an OCFMA Lunch-and-Learn webinar on “Implementing a Personal Productivity Toolkit”. I thought I would share the original Xmind file here for those who would might be interested in exploring a finished mind map used as a presentation tool. (The recording of the webinar is posted on the Past Presentations page.) I used the Xmind to build up the presentation sequentially:

    • I captured productivity ideas, research and links on a rough mind map
    • I organized my thoughts on a second mind map refinement tab
    • I polished the final presentation using a copy of this refined mind map

    Let me know if you have any questions or comments.

    • This reply was modified 8 months, 4 weeks ago by Phil Rouble. Reason: (Shared link to Xmind file instead of uploading attachment)
    Phil Rouble
    Keymaster
    August 17, 2023 at 4:28 pm
    Post count: 25
    in reply to: Tool No. 1 – Task Managers – How to Use Them #3843

    Thanks for the feedback, Rich. It’s interesting that you mentioned combining Email, Calendar and a notebook to track tasks. The integration of productivity tools is a key part of a successful Productivity Toolkit. You might want to look into combining Outlook Email and Calendar with Microsoft Todo, a task manager. This might give you the results you were hoping for. In the follow up post “Choosing a Task Manager Tool“, I provided some links that you might find helpful in trying to decide if Microsoft Todo is the right fit for you. It is actually my preferred task manager and I am working on another post detailing how I use Microsoft Todo. Have a look and let me know if this helps or if you have additional questions.

    Phil Rouble
    Keymaster
    May 30, 2023 at 9:08 am
    Post count: 25
    in reply to: What are you hoping to get out of this years PD Event #3725

    Looking forward to networking with new and former peers.

    Phil Rouble
    Keymaster
    May 4, 2023 at 6:31 pm
    Post count: 25
    in reply to: Microsoft Power Bi – Analytic Data Visualization #3648

    Thanks for sharing the tip, Colleen.

    I have used Excel pivot tables for many years to comb through Excel tables and gain insights. I agree that data exploration and discovery this way can be very eye opening, enabling and fun!

    I have been curious about PowerBI for some time now so thanks for pointing the way. I looked up a couple of short Youtube videos that also give a quick overview and sense of how it works:

    Phil Rouble
    Keymaster
    December 7, 2022 at 6:23 pm
    Post count: 25
    in reply to: Mind Mapping – The Swiss Army Knife for Critical Thinking! #3466

    Lots of great questions, Rich.

    In terms of getting started, there is no one path. My best advice is just start.
    1. Download the free version of Xmind.
    2. The software is intuitive but to get oriented fairly quickly, spend some time (~50 minutes) going through the Xmind Tutorial on “They Call Me Hoz” channel
    3. Next, pick a simple problem or activity to map out:

    • Meeting agenda and notes
    • Notes for an article or book you are reading
    • Assembling notes for a new topic you might be researching or studying
    • Brainstorming a problem or project you are working on
    • Building a simple org chart for your team / department…

    4.Do a deeper dive by searching Youtube for additional videos on mindmaps or Xmind.

    In terms of a demonstration for others, I would be happy to run a lunch and learn session for OCFMA members if there was interest. Also, I will gladly respond to follow-up questions posted here on the Discussion Board.

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Viewing 11 posts - 1 through 11 (of 11 total)