I’m sharing two tips or resources with faculty and staff today: (1) MSN Encarta® Dictionary and (2) useful shortcut keys for Microsoft Word.

Have you ever been caught in a situation where you did not exactly know how to pronounce a key term that comes up in a class lecture/discussion? It can be fairly embarrassing, so I don’t blame any instructor for not readily admitting it. J Still, it is very important to pronounce key terms correctly for students if at all possible.  

I have directed a few instructors to the following resource in recent weeks and they like it not only for their professional use, but also for students to use as well: MSN Encarta® Dictionary . Click on the hyperlink to access this resource. Many of you may already be familiar with this web-based resource, but I just thought I share it with those instructors not familiar with it.

Encarta® Dictionary provides a pronunciation playback function for a fairly large selection of words. In class, when I encounter a difficult word that I also know students struggle with, I will often access this site and if the pronunciation matrix is available for the term, I will play it in class for students to hear. This is important (to me anyway) given the somewhat limited vocabulary that many students come into the classroom with. I teach psychology, so issues with correct pronunciations typically arise when discussing neurotransmitters (e.g. norepinephrine, vasopressin, etc.), technologies (e.g. electroencephalograph) and psychoactive drugs (phencyclidine, benzodiazepine, acetaminophen, etc.). But, they come up in other topics as well.

Below is a single screen shot showing you how the site page looks and how to find words. In the screen shot, I typed into the “Find” box the word methylphenidate, a controlled stimulant medication used to treat narcolepsy and some cases of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, possessing street or market value in the illegal drug trade. Students often have trouble pronouncing this drug. The pronunciation matrix is directly under the main word. Click on it to hear the pronunciation:

The second tip that I wanted to share is on the regular use of shortcut keys. Most people are familiar with shortcut keys and it has been a tech tip before, but I wanted to let you know of favorite shortcut keys that I use on regular basis.

Shortcut keys can greatly maximize your productivity in many Microsoft applications, especially Word. Recently, I was typing a document in view of another instructor and they commented positively on how rapidly I am able to make changes while typing in Word. I told them that there is nothing special about this ability. Because I frequently use shortcut keys, I am able to maintain my stream of consciousness without it being diverted by having to access full menus or drop down boxes in Word whenever I wish to make changes to the document.

Here are some useful shortcut keys to note. Practice makes perfect, so once you get into the habit of using these keys, they will come naturally to you. Soon after, you will notice just how much time they save. I put hearts (shortcut: 2665, Alt+X) by the ones I love to use the most and find most efficient: