3 Macbook tools I use to make teaching, training and using my laptop more efficient (and they're free, easy, and simple)

We’re in September already - 哇！

And back to school season for me is filled with coordinating hundreds of training sessions for teachers all around the Middle East. 

Sometimes many sessions are concurrent and unexpected crises pop up at the last minute.

Because of this, whether I’m delivering a session myself or cohosting, I wanted to share three tools I’ve noticed I cannot do without during such a hectic season:

TinyCal

• What is it? A floating calendar with monthly overview and list of events. In their own words: “Menu-bar calendar with Google Calendar integration”

• My most loved feature: It gives me quick access to the Zoom link from the menu bar drop down.

Smartcountdown Timer

• What is it? A nifty stopwatch that responds to things like ‘3m” or “15:00” and promptly works out the remaining time from wherever you are in a clean, neat stopwatch. In their own words: “An easy to use app powered by natural processing.”

• My most loved feature: The fact it subtracts remaining time based on whatever time you want to set it to run out!

Macbook Setting Hack:

e.g.: Setting your mouse or trackpad to the quickest speed possible

• What is it? Not an app per say, just a setting hack that helps me feel like I’m moving swiftly. I adjusting the speed of the trackpad or mouse to the top speed. 

• My most loved feature: It saves micro seconds when moving around the screen and files. A fantastic hack to make you feel like you’re moving quickly.

I rely on these three tools so much on a weekly basis, they’re worthy of mentioning here. And they’re all free, simple and easy to set up quickly. Win win win. :)

We get stuck in our ways, so do share any of your own favourite tools. I don’t know about you, but it’s often the only way I get to learn of new ones when a teacher refers an app to me.