Suggestions for taking in Student work
When Teachers ask students to hand in work in digital form it is very important that the teacher create clear expectations about what file format that work should be submitted.
Common file formats people might use include
- LibreOffice writer .ODT or LibreOffice Impress .ODP
- Microsoft Office Word .DOC or .DOCX or Powerpoint .PPT or .PPTX
- Microsoft Publisher .PUB
The thing that all these formats have in common is they can be edited when you give them to someone. The other thing they have in common is they may look different when opened on a different computer.
Answer these questions first.
You DO need to EDIT the Student File
If you want to make edits to a document that a student is submitting pick a file format that you know they can produce and you can open and edit. Reduce stress by having as little formatting done to the draft documents as possible.
- LibreOffice formats can work because Staff and Students can either login remotely to school OR install LO on their home machines for free
- DOC and DOCX formats will open in LibreOffice but formatting can change so this works best when documents are not highly formatted. (Basic text, don't change the font)
You DON'T need to EDIT the Student File
PPT, PPTX and PUB (Microsoft Publisher) formats should be avoided as editable documents. Students should make PDF versions of these files to hand into teachers.
Making PDFs on Windows or Mac machines requires installing a PDF printer. These are available online for free. Search "PDF printer windows" or "PDF printer mac" When you want to make a PDF you will go to File and Print and choose the PDF printer to create a PDF file.