Category: Software

New from Zotero: Google Docs and Barcode Scanning

That’s right. Our favorite citation and research organization tool now integrates into Google Docs. With a click of a button, put the correctly formatted citation right where you want or need it. Now, just one person doesn’t have to be responsible for Works Cited on a collaborative document easily!

And, if you are using a device with iOS, you can now add books to your Zotero library by simply scanning the barcode. There is an intermediate step, which is to install the Apple Shortcut App on your device (I have to check that app out, too, because it looks cool). The above linked blog post from Zotero explains it all.

I don’t have much more to add other than, MAGIC!

Photo by Karly Santiago on Unsplash

All Things Google: Using FormLimiter

 

Many of us here at ProfHacker are heavy users of Google Apps. As usual, I’ve been running my own course sites this semester (using Jekyll and GitHub Pages this time around).

I continue to collect student work using Google Forms, which enables me to do paperless grading. What’s new for me this semester is that I’ve introduced online quizzes using Google Forms.

The ability to create auto-grading quizzes in Google Forms isn’t new, of course. Neither, as it turns out, is the add-on from CloudLab that I recently discovered, FormLimiter (comments on the add on’s page in the Chrome Web Store indicate it’s been around for at least four years).

In any case, the add on has been a welcome discovery for me. It allows me to set a date and time at which any quiz I make available to my students will automatically close. It also sends me an email once it’s closed the quiz, so I don’t have to remember to go check the quiz grades so that I can record them — the email serves as the necessary reminder.

Using the add on with the forms I use to collect student assignments also means I don’t need to manually check time stamps to see whether students submitted their work on time. Either they uploaded their work before the form closed, or they didn’t.

Do you have any favorite Google add ons? Let us know in the comments.

CC-licensed photo by Flickr users Paul Asman and Jill Lenoble