Category Archives: Teaching Tips & Strategies

Technology Can Help Lower the Cost of Post-Secondary Education

Technology Can Help Lower the Cost of Post-Secondary Education

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The whole world acknowledges that a college degree is the key to success. Yet, nowadays the cost of higher education keeps many from attaining that goal. Technology in education has created great hope in lowering the cost of a college education.

Technology Can Help Lower the Cost of Post-Secondary Education
Technology has made earning a degree easier when costs are a factor.

The amount of free and reduced cost learning tools online is unprecedented due in part to the internet. Tools like YouTube and podcasts make it easy to create and distribute video and audio to anyone with an internet connection. Traditional universities, from Harvard to your local community college, are able to record lectures and other events from popular professors then share them online.

Online learning has made the cost of higher education more affordable for some. Working adults are able to take one or two courses at a time to complete associate, bachelor, master, and doctorate degrees. Students are able to read e-books, rent textbooks online, as well as access websites and databases that are tailored to the student’s program of study.

The cost of the tools needed to consume learning in an online environment has gone down as well. Smartphones and laptops can be purchased for as little as $200, making it available to those in lower economic brackets.

Technology in education has great potential to increase accessibility to those who may not have considered a college education. For ideas on how your school or program can utilize our tools for student success, give us a call at Labyrinth Learning.

Image Source: morgueFile 

Do Grades Still Hold Up in Higher Education?

Do Grades Still Hold Up in Higher Education?

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Do Grades Still Hold Up in Higher Education?Once upon a time, grading a student’s work seemed to achieve its intended goal. It began as an equilateral assessment tool to encourage students to learn and master given material. However, that module was also privy to subjection, systematic pressure and increasing awareness of learning differentials.

In other words, old school grades in higher education worked for some, but not enough for all. As blended learning continues to dominate the curricular landscape, the need for a fresher approach toward determining mastery of skills becomes imminent. So, how can this be done? A simple solution is changing who does the grading.

Peer grading has impressive potential for becoming an effective assessment tool for several reasons:

  • It teaches students equivocal responsibility.
  • It encourages honesty and integrity
  • It sharpens critical thinking and judgment
  • It facilitates constructive communication

Higher education is the learning realm where students began to apply what it means to be peers in an astutely professional sense. Peer grading is an excellent forum to establish a fair system for assessment and to put the aforementioned benefits into practice. There is also an inherent balance within knowing that the person you are grading will grade you, too. It is a subtle, yet proactive push toward peer consideration, development, and sensitivity. Of course, it is also a less biased way toward scoring assignments.

For more information about the current state of grades in higher education and blended learning systems, contact us at Labyrinth Learning.

Image Source: freedigitalphotos

How Technology Can Help Students Learn

How Technology Can Help Students Learn

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How Technology Can Help Students Learn
Use these basic tips to meld technology into the classroom. Source: morgueFile

With the proliferation of social media sites and gaming apps, it’s easy to see why technology is oftentimes perceived to have a negative effect on our kids. But is it really that bad?

Technology isn’t entirely bad, especially when you consider the role of education technology (ed tech) plays in schools across the nation. When educators use technology in learning, these mentors are helping students use their mobile devices to their advantage instead of their detriment.

Here are a few effective ways to use technology inside the classroom:

  • Support open source technologies: You don’t have to spend a lot of money on ed tech. Open source applications are  free, and they’re also stable and versatile. You won’t have to worry about limiting yourself to one platform.
  • Support technology adoption: Transitioning to new technology can be challenging, especially if a solution has a learning curve. Make time for familiarizing yourself with a new technology so that you’ll be comfortable using it.
  • Support teacher empowerment: Ed tech empowers both the students and educators. You can help your students more if you use a solution that gives you the ability to do your job more efficiently and easily.

Need more tips like these? Visit us at Labyrinth Learning or send us a message!

Speed Up Microsoft Outlook with Simple Tips

Speed Up Microsoft Outlook with Simple Tips

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If you are familiar with Microsoft Outlook and have been using it for quite some time, you know that Outlook can slow down. If Outlook is not looked after properly, it can be just about useless to utilize. However, do not despair, because there are certain effective ways to speed up Outlook. Use these following tips to improve your Microsoft Outlook:

Speed Up Microsoft Outlook with Simple TipsUpdate Your Windows

Most people do not realize that Microsoft Office updates are always hidden, when it comes to standard Windows updates. Nevertheless, keep in mind that besides Office updates, you should allow other updates to go through in order to speed up outlook.

Download All Complete Items

When you connect your Outlook with POP3 or IMAP, you should set the Outlook to download all complete messages, instead of only the headers. If this isn’t practiced, Outlook will not have to synchronize with the server each time you click on new items.

Archive the Inbox

To speed up outlook, always archive all emails in your inbox. If this is not done, it can cause major issues with your Outlook.

Make Use of Cached Exchange Mode

If Cached Exchange Mode is used in Outlook, you efficiently take all the data files from the PST and cache it onto the OST (local machine). This can help towards speeding up Outlook, because it does not have to scan through all the data files across a particular network.

For more tips about speeding up your outlook, contact Labyrinth Learning today.

Image Source: Stuart Miles (freedigitalphotos)

How to Pick the Right Technology for Your Classroom

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How to Pick the Right Technology for Your Classroom
Source: morgueFile

With the boom of education technology (or ed tech), there are now more solutions for the classroom than ever. It’s great to have plenty of tech options to choose from, but it can also be confusing instituting them in a class.

The next time you find yourself wondering what solution to pick, simply view the situation from your students’ point of view. What will they find interesting and engaging? What will motivate them to study harder? What will they find easy to use?

Remember that even though ed tech is steadily growing, using technology in the classroom is still not fully mainstream. Some of your students may find it challenging to transition from traditional methods to tech solutions, so it’s advisable to anticipate what their concerns will be.

Also, don’t forget to check if the tech solution you’ll pick actually addresses the needs of your students. It’s easy  to be impressed by sleek designs and cute graphics, but it takes close attention to determine if a tech solution serves its intended purpose.

To discover more ways to make learning easier for your students, visit us at Labyrinth Learning and drop us a line. We’d love to hear from you!

Lighten Up with These Fun Uses for Excel

Lighten Up with These Fun Uses for Microsoft Excel

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Lighten Up with These Fun Uses for Excel
Source: freedigitalphotos

Excel users have found that the software can be used for much more than just spreadsheets. Have fun with Excel by trying some of these creative ideas that will help students and employees become more familiar with the software.

  • Turn photos into spreadsheets. Through utilizing the conditional formatting feature, you can convert photos into spreadsheets to make pixel art.
  • Create works of art. With the shapes and illustration tools in Excel, you can create beautiful pieces of artwork. The only limit is your imagination.
  • Create animated GIFs. By treating every cell in the spreadsheet as a pixel, you can make form cartoon pictures that can be easily transformed into animated GIFs.
  • Play a game. Arena.XIsm is a free role playing game created for Excel featuring more than 2,000 enemies at different difficulty levels, 12 pre-programmed arenas, and four endings to the story. If you are feeling particularly adventurous, you can even modify the game.

For more ideas for teaching software in your organization or school, contact us at Labyrinth Learning.

computer literacy

Add Symbols With Alt Codes

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At the most basic level, computer literacy means being able to navigate universally utilized software programs, such as the Microsoft Office Suite, knowing how to type in a reasonably quick manner (QWERTY style preferred!), and understanding how to use printers, scanners, and other basic computer accessories. Then there are the tricks that take your computer literacy to the next level; adding symbols with Alt codes is one example.

In a basic computer course, students learn to insert codes by using the editor feature of the program, scrolling to “insert” and then selecting the code they want to use. This is fine for the very occasional code, but what about the symbols you use on a regular basis? Perhaps you’re writing about a product that is trademarked™, you work with products or scenarios that are temperature specific°, or you incorporate foreign words that use accent symbols to enhance their pronunciación. In these cases, the Alt codes are your most efficient choices.

Keyboard short cuts
Source: Stock Exchange

To insert an Alt code (on Macs, use the Option key), you simply place the cursor where you want the symbol to appear, and then press Alt+Number Code. Voila! The symbol, or letter with an accent, will appear.

Here are some common examples:

  • Alt+0153 = ™
  • Alt+0162 = ¢
  • Alt+0169 = ©
  • Alt+0177 = ±
  • Alt+0225 = á
  • Alt+0233 = é
  • Alt+0237 = í
  • Alt+0243 = ó
  • Alt+0250 = ú
  • Alt+0241 = ñ

Visit Labyrinth Learning to review textbooks that will enhance your students’ computer literacy.

What Makes an Effective PowerPoint Presentation?

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Learning to use PowerPoint is the first step to creating an effective presentation. However, if you succumb to common pitfalls, or don’t maximize its potential, you may find your presentations fall flat.

Here are tips to make your PowerPoint presentations as effective as possible.

Source: Labyrinth Learning
Source: Labyrinth Learning
  1. Avoid common pitfalls: Sometimes, the information in the presentation is great, but the slides are lacking because the presenter succumbs to common pitfalls such as:
    • Illegible fonts: It’s exciting to see all the different font styles available. It’s not as exciting if you choose fonts that are difficult to read, or vary them so often they become overwhelming. Choose one or two legible fonts, and stick with them.
    • Crazy colors. Just as differing fonts can confuse the eye, so can clashing colors, or too many colors. Make sure the colors you select increase legibility.
    • Cramming. Don’t cram information on your slides. Slides should highlight key points. You are better off making more slides, so each one has digestible portions of information.
  2. Know your audience. You don’t want to present to the lowest common denominator, but you don’t want to teach above the audience’s ability either. Keep your information aimed at the mid-level.
  3. Graphics and animations. Use graphics and animation features to enhance your slides, but be careful not to overdo it.
  4. Make them interactive. There are multiple features that allow your PowerPoint presentations to be interactive, and more effectively engage audience members.

Learning to use PowerPoint, or taking a refresher course, can bring your office staff up-to-date. Contact Labyrinth Learning for PowerPoint instructional materials.

Advanced Excel Spreadsheet Functions You Need to Know

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Every time students or employees take a course on Microsoft Excel 2013, they learn valuable skills that increase their efficiency. Some of these skills are simple, such as copying and transferring formulas from one spreadsheet to another. However, there are more advanced functions that make Excel even more valuable in the workplace.

Creating drop down lists. Using advanced spreadsheet functions, you can create a drop down list. Taking advantage of drop down lists limits the amount of entries that can be entered into a specific cell to a pre-determined list of entries, providing a higher level of quality control. It also saves time on data entry and prevents errors.

Source: Labyrinth Learning
Source: Labyrinth Learning


Conditional cell formatting. We would wager most regular Excel users don’t know how to take advantage of this feature. Conditional formatting allows users to create specific formatting rules, depending on the information or data contained in the cell. For example, you may want number higher than 1000 to appear in bold, or negative dollar values to appear in red. Cells can have up to three different formatting conditions.

Goal Seek feature. Excel ‘s Goal Seek feature works in the opposite way of formulas. You enter the goal you are trying to attain, whether it be total retirement earnings, or determining what it would take to decrease your total business loan payments, Goal Seek will show you what’s required to get there.

Labyrinth Learning has a wide range of textbooks and learning tools to help your students and employees master introductory and advanced features in Microsoft Excel 2013.

Improve Your Business With FastCourse Learning Series

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Microsoft Office has set the standard for desktop publishing. It would be considered rare if a business doesn’t use at least one MS Office program as a part of their day-to-day processes. It’s great when employees have Microsoft certifications, but have you checked the years on those certifications lately?

How can you determine whether or not your employees are on the same page in terms of their MS Office knowledge? Time passes quickly and a failure to keep up with evolving software changes can mean your employees’ skills are lagging.FastCourse Series

Our Labyrinth Learning training materials include a FastCourse series that is just the thing for office-wide training updates. Each FastCourse text is designed for instructor-led courses for one day or less. Teach one or combine them for a multi-day course to keep your employees up to date on the latest Microsoft innovations and software changes.

FastCourse materials are available for Microsoft Office 2007 and 2010 currently while the 2013 texts will be released in October covering the following applications:

  • Word
  • Access
  • Excel
  • PowerPoint
  • Outlook

Courses are available in three levels — so that you can choose the one that fits your employees’ needs or combine all three to provide complete coverage. All texts include a full set of instructor support materials.

Please contact Labyrinth Learning to learn more about how to strengthen your Microsoft Office training with FastCourse texts.