Friday, March 11, 2016

Amazing Option for Editing Papers

Every once in awhile someone shares something that is totally mind blowing.  I knew you could modify your preferences in Google Docs but had NEVER thought of it in this way!  For all of you that have to read and provide editing recommendations to students THIS ONE'S FOR YOU!

In any Google document go to tools - preferences and a list of pre-set preferences will appear.  It looks like this:

Now you can get creative and add some of your frequently used editing comments - you will note that I added awk which, when used, comes out as awkward construction. To add your own specialized comments enter a three letter abbreviation in the replace column that isn't a real word and then in the with column enter the phrase you'd like it to become.  There are some recommendations at the end of this post.  Be sure to hit OK and you'll be all set.  

So, the next time you receive a document from a student go to suggesting mode in the upper right.
Now wherever you want to insert a 'suggestion', put your cursor there, type your suggestion and it will look like a comment on the margin of the paper.  Students may then resolve the suggestion or not.  Below is what a student will see.

This is just GENIUS!  I know many teachers like to have hard copies to grade papers because it's so much easier to use common editing items like those found here:

  • con = No contractions in formal writing. Remove throughout.
  • punc = Punctuation error.
  • cap = Capitalization error.
  • inf = Informal language.
  • rr = Run-on sentence.
  • sp = Spelling error.
  • awk = Awkward wording. Rework for clarity.
If you'd like help getting any of this set up, let me know!  I'd love to help!  I see fewer hard copies being printed out ... :)

Thank you to Anna for forwarding the following link:  http://smartblogs.com/education/2016/03/08/tech-tip-create-grading-shortcuts-in-google-documents/?utm_source=brief