Nifty Office Features: =RAND()

Need to randomize a list, such as your class roster to assign groups? Use excel and the =RAND() formula!

  1. Add the list of names to one column.
  2. In the first cell of the next column, add the forumla =RAND().
  3. Copy the formula down the column. (Double-click the fill handle.)
  4. Each name now has a random number.
  5. Sort the column with numbers. It doesn’t really matter whether you do it by largest or smallest number.

And VOILA! Your list of names are now sorted randomly.

Nifty Office Features: Time Saving Tips

This is my PowerPoint slide show from the SEALS Conference panel about time saving hacks for legal writing professors. If only we had had enough time to cover all of it.

I hope these are helpful to you.

Narrative Psychology and Changing the Narrative About the Legal Profession

Here is the slide show for my presentation at SEALS for the Jurisprudence, Statutory Interpretation, and Constitutional Law New Scholars Showcase.

My theory is that if we use narrative psychology concepts to influence more positive narratives about law school and the legal profession, we can improve lawyers’ and law students’ mental well-being and improve public perceptions about the legal industry.

This is a work in progress and was awarded a 2020 ALWD/LWI Scholarship Grant.

Nifty Office Features: PowerPoint Closed Captioning

This is the first in my series on nifty Microsoft Office features that teachers may not know about, like using PowerPoint to create a website banner.

With students and colleagues, especially during the multi-day SEALS Conference via Zoom, it occurred to me that most of us never dig deep into application menus. If we muster some courage and explore, we can make our work much more efficient and ensure accessibility – for visually impaired students and to approach universal design. Seriously, just click around. You can’t break it. If you could break an Office app, they wouldn’t let you have access to the menu item.

I could post screen shots, and there may be points in the Nifty Office Features series at which screen shots offer a better explanation. However, as we tell legal writing students, “why reinvent the wheel?” Microsoft has very helpful tutorials. YouTube seems to have a tutorial video for anything under the sun.

Today, real-time closed captions for your PowerPoint presentation.

For Windows: Requires Windows 10, and PowerPoint for Microsoft 365 version 16.0.11601.20178 or higher on Current Channel

OR

For Mac: PowerPoint for Microsoft 365 for Mac version 16.22.127.0 or higher.). The feature isn’t supported if you’re using an earlier version of Windows

OR

Web: Microsoft Edge, Google Chrome 34+, Mozilla Firefox 25+

This screen shot is from the web-based version.

For a video, see here. Or here.

I hope you found this helpful. More Nifty Office Features to come!