Editor’s Note: This post originally appeared on the blog of BHS Help Desk senior Josh Boulos

In this Edtech tutorial, I explain the importance of this awesome new tool that I discovered with Google Docs! This tool will come in handy for teachers who constantly find themselves giving the same comments to all their students when providing digital feedback. This shortcut will help teachers be fast and efficient when reviewing papers and leaving comments. Teachers must make sure that when they are creating these shortcuts, which they can find in “Preferences” in the “Tools” menu,  that they leave a space between their shortcut and the documents text. I also recommend that teachers leave these comments using “Suggesting” mode on Google Docs because the comments will be more noticeable to students in suggesting mode. This mode offers green brackets around comments which stick out to students when they are going back to review what their teachers have written; the regular “Editing” mode does not do this, which means students are more likely to miss teacher feedback.

For clarification, students should NOT hit the check mark to accept the suggestion that their teacher has left for them, because if they do, the comment will then be inserted into the Doc. Essentially, teachers make the edits to the students Doc in suggesting mode, students reject the suggestion, but resolve what needs to be fixed manually. Once this system is mastered, teachers time will be used more effectively, and students will be able to identify comments easily.

For any questions, Ms. Scheffer and I are willing to come into classrooms and help students and teachers! I would also like the thank Jenn Judkins for making her tutorial, “Time-Saving Tips for Google Docs,” which inspired me to create my own tutorial and share this idea with Burlington High School. Ms. Scheffer may have also helped me think of the idea….