Tech Tip: Getting Creative with Electronic Print Options

Feb 20, 2013

One of the biggest frustrations we hear from teachers, leaders, and other school-supporting professionals is that they WANT to be more electronic, but their environment doesn’t always allow for it: screens need to be down in meetings, walking down the hallways is not always conducive to popping open one’s laptop, or a favored technology is blocked by the school district or system.

As you know, one of our big rules is that your tools are ALWAYS accessible. This is a very big deal!

Many folks opt to print and carry paper-backups of their electronic tools. But this, too, can be a cause for frustration as view options are limited.

Here are two cool workarounds for this issue we’ve seen used by our clients:

  • Google Calendar. The Google calendar gets a lot of flack for not having a ton of print options or print-friendly views. Non-tech experts that we are (hey, that is what makes us helpful! We are LAYPEOPLE!), we have not found a way to print Google Calendars and Tasks on one page. But Robin R., a school leader in Harlem, found a way to list her Time and To-Do’s for a day ALL IN ONE PLACE by creating an All-Day Appointment called To-Do’s. This gives her room to plan ahead and capture incoming work on the go.

  • Outlook Calendar + Tasks. Nancy C. found some great print options via Microsoft Printing Assistant that allow her to better see her Time and To-Do’s across a week.   She reports, “This is a huge timesaver and makes me more willing to use Outlook Tasks to capture my daily “To-Do’s” since I can now organize and lay them out in the Weekly/Daily worksheet format.  There are lots of day/week/month/year-long layouts.”

We love the creativity employed by these two Together Leaders! Happy Printing!

Together Discussion Question: For our electronic folks, what creative ways have you found to always keep your Together Tools accessible?