Free Microsoft Online Office Word App and APA

I worked with the free Online Office Word app this weekend to see how it works with APA citation formatting.  What sets the free Word app apart from Google Docs is that you can create a different first page.  That is an important APA formatting feature because the first page of paper written with APA formatting has the words "Running head:" and the abbreviated title, but the other pages have only the abbreviated title.

I will post the process for formatting a paper with APA formatting later.  

Social Media - Engaging Learners in Nursing

In my quest to update the 6th edition of Informatics and Nursing, I discovered a plethora of articles and research on social media.  Pilcher & Harper wrote an excellent article entitled "Engaging Learners with Social Media."  The article discusses four popular social networking sites - Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Pinterest.  They included statistics, the different features that the sites offer,  and web links to pertinent information.    More importantly, they offered suggestions about how to use the sites for educational purposes.  Citation for the article is below.

Pilcher, J., & Harper, M. (2016). Engaging learners with social media. Journal for Nurses in Professional Development, 32(3), 137-143. doi:10.1097/NND.0000000000000256

Free Office Apps

It has been over a year since I actively blogged.  I have begun writing the 6th edition of the Informatics and Nursing textbook, so will blog news as I learn.  The most amazing change in the horizon is the advent of free office apps other than Google Drive.

Microsoft now provides access to free versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and OneNote with Office.com.  Microsoft also has a free version of Outlook and provides email, calendar, and people (contacts).  Create a user name and password to access the resources.

The free Microsoft apps allow you to download the files you create or save them to your Dropbox account.

Apple also provides free apps for users and 1 GB of file.  You create a free login to iCloud first at http://www.icloud.com.  When you open you iCloud site, you will see Contacts, Notes, Pages, Numbers, Keynote, and Settings.

Enjoy exploring these new features! 

Animated Emoticons on the Apple Watch

I am still learning new features on the Apple Watch.  The one I learned about today was that you can change the appearance of the Messenger Emoticons with force touch.  I use emoticons all of the time when sending messages to my husband and good friends.  What is unique about the Apple Watch emoticons is that they are animated.  You can read more at http://www.idownloadblog.com/2015/05/16/153-animated-emoji-apple-watch/ 

If you have an Apple Watch, experiment with the animated emoticons on your own.  Enjoy! 

Apple Watch - Other Features Including Music

I am still enjoying my experience with the Apple Watch.  It is fascinating to be working on school work when a student phones me on the iPhone.  The iPhone happened to be in another room, but the phone rang on my Watch and the MacBook.  I answered on the MacBook, but could have just as easily used the Watch.

I noticed that when I selected music, that the music played from the iPhone.  With a little more investigation, I realized that I could load music on the Watch and play it from the Watch.  Will explore that more after I get final course grades submitted for this semester.

I noticed Air Play icon but it is grayed out. The  information in the 9-5 column below provides a very good review of the Watch features.  I suspect new OS features might make it have more meaning.  

http://9to5mac.com/2015/09/21/watchos-2-apple-watch-feature-walkthrough/ 

Paying with Apple Watch

I live in a small town, however, Apple Pay is beginning to emerge finally!  What that means is that I had to learn how to pay with my Apple watch.  I thought that since my watch mirrors my iPhone - that the credit cards would appear, but that was not so.  I had to select Apple Watch Wallet & Apple Pay on my iPhone and add each credit card.  I also had to enter the security code for each card when adding it.  To use the watch to pay, all you have to do is double-click the side button of the watch and then select the card you want to use.  Just like Wallet on the phone, you tap or swipe the card.  At any rate, I am ready to use the Apple Watch to pay the next time there is an opportunity.  

Apple Watch and Apple Maps

We took a short vacation over Thanksgiving break this week.  The GPS in my car is not as flexible as Google maps.  The car GPS does not give me any choices of routes. I wanted to avoid driving on the Interstate because it is always a nightmare with heavy traffic.  I used Apple Maps app to find a way to get to our destination on my iPhone.  To my surprise, the maps feature showed up on the Apple Watch.  The watch indicated each turn and when it was time to make a turn, it vibrated and signaled with a tone.  The tone for left is different from the tone for turning right.  The automatic sync of the iPhone Map app with the Apple Watch was very nice.

Back to the car GPS and choices for routes.  I can edit a route, but would not be able to do that easily if I am driving.  The Apple Map app was much more accurate for distance and time than the car GPS system.