Increasing productivity using Microsoft Macros July 19, 2008
Posted by wcdavis in Uncategorized.Tags: increasing productivity, Macros, Microsoft Word, using macros to increase productivity
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In my Assistive Technology class I’m taking at Georgetown College, we had a case study where we were to access the needs of a student that is diagnosed with hypotonia. This condition causes the student to experience fatigue along with having weakness in his upper extremities as well as having a deficiency with fine motor skills. The incurred deficits that the student experiences per his disability affect his productivity. He has an IQ of 135 and is cognitively capable of doing the work that is required of him. He often, however, requires extra time to complete his assignments because he is not capable of completing his work within the allotted time frame given in the general education classroom.
All students have specific needs. Students with disabilities may have accommodations available to them to meet their specific needs. Although the student described in this scenario is unique like all students, the accommodation of requiring extra time is not an uncommon accommodation. Many students with disabilities experience problems with productivity and require accommodations to address productivity issues.
Using a computer can help students with productivity issues with assignments. Using Microsoft Word, for example, can help with increasing productivity with written assignments such as reports, essays and reviews. Within Word, there are many built in accessibility features that may help students with disabilities. Holding down the “control” (Ctrl) key and rolling the wheel on top of the mouse (if your mouse has one), for example, will zoom in our out of a Word document as well as zooming in or out on web pages on Internet Explorer. If your mouse does not have a wheel, you can:
- Push the “alternate: (Alt) key; this will highlight “File” on the tool bar.
- You can then press the “Control” (Ctrl) and “Tab” (Tab) key to move down to the row of icons that are below “File…”
- Press the right arrow key until you get to the zoom box. Once the zoom box is highlighted, you can press the up or down key to either zoom in or out.
The zoom feature may be beneficial for students that have a visual impairment. Using the control keys instead of using a mouse can be more beneficial for students that have motor skills deficits.
As you can see, the features in Microsoft Word can be utilized to help students with disabilities. To address productivity issues,
Word has a feature called Macros. A macro is a mini program that will perform a feature by pressing a combination of keys on the key board or by pressing an icon on the tool bar. One way that a macro can help with productivity is to save time by allowing students to insert commonly used phrases by pressing a button. This post does not intend in any way to list all possible features in Microsoft Word that can help with productivity; but to show how using macros can be used to help with productivity. Hopefully this will give you an idea in how Microsoft Word features can assist students with increasing productivity so that you may not only be aware of how it can be used to do so but to explore other ways it can be used to address the specific needs that your students have. For more ways to see how macros can be used to help with productivity – refer to this website for a more comprehensive tutorial: http://www.educationworld.com/a_tech/techtorial/techtorial057.pdf
This post intends to show you how a student can save time by using a macro to insert commonly used phrases.
For this example, we will use the student’s name and the subject of the class; i.e. Johnny Smith – Science.
To create a macro that will automatically insert commonly used text:
· Open a new Microsoft Word document
· Go to Tools>Macro>Record New Macro to open the Macro window
Once you have opened this:
- Click the keyboard button in the “Record New Macro” window. This will open the Customize Keyboard window.
- In the Customize Keyboard window, click on the “Press new shortcut key” field.
- Hold down the “Control” (Crtl) key and the “7” key (or any other key combination you want).
- Click Assign
“Note: Some key combinations already are assigned — CTRL S, for example, is the default key combination for saving a file — and you CAN overwrite default commands. It’s best, however, to pick key combinations that aren’t assigned already. To learn if the key combination you’ve chosen already is assigned to a macro, click in the Press new shortcut keys field and press that key combination(CTRL 7, for example). If the key combination you’ve pressed is Currently assigned to: a task, that information will appear beneath the Press new shortcut keys field.” – Lorrie Jackson
I hope that this demonstration proves to be useful with helping you with helping your students with their specific needs. There are many ways that this can be used to help with productivity. The student can insert their name like shown in the example as well as common phrases or words that they may need to use in an assignment. By all means try this and be creative!
W.
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