How to Prepare Merlyn for Daily Use

This guide will take you from "I don't know what to do" to "I don't know how I taught without this!" in a few minutes. If you take the time to personalize your Merlyn experience, you will save more time, experience less burnout, and feel more present in your classroom.

Shortcuts, Reminders, Timer, & Questions

Shortcuts

You can create shortcuts to links for your favorite sites, and assign them to remote buttons all within in our Teacher Toolkit!

Creating new shortcuts

1. From the Teacher Toolkit, click on "Shortcuts" 

2. Click Create a Shortcut in the upper right hand corner.

3. In the pop-up window, choose Link from the drop down.

4. Enter easy-to-remember voice requests for your new shortcut, as well as the full URL (http/https is required), and choose a numbered shortcut button to use for your link (optional). 

5. Click Create Shortcut at the bottom of that window to save! 

Creating remote shortcuts with a voice command

1. Press the push-to-talk button and issue the following commands to create a remote button shortcut:

   • "Create a shortcut for the active tab"

   • "Create a shortcut for the last command"

   • "Create a shortcut for <any voice command>"

     • For example "Create a shortcut for open annotation" or "Create a shortcut for full screen"

2. The overlay will prompt you with the assignable buttons, indicated which of them are assigned already or free for assignment. 

3. Use the mouse to choose which button you want to be assigned. 

1. 

Reminders

You can create custom reminders that will popup on your screen to remind you to take an action.

Create a Reminder with a Voice Command

1. Press the push-to-talk button and issue the following commands to create a reminder:
   • "Remind me to (content of reminder) at (time/day)"
   • Example "Remind me to take attendance at 10:00 AM every day."
   • If the reminder was successfully created, you'll see a prompt with confirmation. 
   • 

Timers

You can start and control timers using your voice. The Merlyn timer is fast, easy to use, and provides a great on-screen visual for your class.

• To set a timer, hold the push-to-talk button and say "set a timer for <x amount of time>".

• 

  • You can set multiple timers! Use "set a timer for <x amount of time>" for all additional timers.

  

• We have three themed timers: bathroom, focus, and snack.

  

• Control each timer by name
  • "Pause the <1st, 2nd, bathroom, focus, snack> timer."
  • "Restart the <1st, 2nd, bathroom, focus, snack> timer."
  • "Cancel the <1st, 2nd, bathroom, focus, snack> timer."

Questions

Inquisitive students learn faster. Capture those curious learning opportunities by creating and answering questions using Merlyn!

• For question answering, use the push-to-talk button to ask a question, and Chat will open to provide an answer. 
  • Example: "How far away is the sun?"

• To create discussion questions, use the command "Let's Discuss". 
  • For example "Let's Discuss the solar system"
• The Teacher Toolkit will open and prompt you to choose your grade level to ensure the question generated is appropriate and on-grade level for you students.
• Click "Generate Discussion Question" to proceed. 
• Our AI will generate a question for you to use as discussion, check for understanding, formative assessments, exit ticket, etc...
• If you would like a new question, click on "Regenerate"
  

For more features and use cases, check out our Guides!