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Course visibility in Moodle

Moodle courses are made available the Friday before classes start, or you can arrange a time with Instructional Technology Services to make it visible before or after this date. You are also welcome to make the course visible when it's ready for your students by following these steps.

  1. On the main page of your course, go to the left navigation menu. Under "Course administration," click on the “Edit settings” option.
  2. On the Course Settings page that opens up, change the “Course visibility” option from “Hide” to “Show.”
  3. Scroll down to the bottom of the page, and click the “Save and display” button.

moodle-course-visibility.gif

Show/hide weeks or topics content in Moodle

Collapse or expand all weeks or topics in a Moodle course by clicking the "expand all" or "collapse all" link.

expand/collapse moodle animation

Show video tools in Moodle

When viewing a video embedded in Moodle, view the video tools by clicking the downwards pointing arrow icon, located in the bottom-middle of the video player. You can then access the video captions, add notes, view chapter markers, and view more information about the video.

moodle-panopto-media-view.png

Switch video views in Moodle

When viewing a video embedded in Moodle, you can switch views by clicking on the switch stream icon from the upper right-hand corner. The video switch feature is enabled for those videos which have two video stream views.

panopto moodle view switch animation

Add pronouns to your Zoom profile

Where are my Zoom attendees?!

Where are my students?! Zoom meetings now require Passcodes or Waiting Rooms. If you find yourself all alone in the meeting, your students may be patiently waiting in the waiting room! Click the Participants button to see who is in the waiting room and to let them in!

Zoom participants button

Tips for remote orals

Questions about upcoming orals exams? Check out our new remote orals guide.

Zoom keyboard shortcuts

There are keyboard shortcuts that you can use on the Zoom Desktop Client that allow you to navigate the Zoom settings without using your mouse.

Zoom Waiting Room

Zoom's waiting room feature (found under Advanced Options when scheduling a meeting) allows the host to let in each participant manually and one at a time. This feature grants added security, and may be particularly useful for office hours or other cases where regulating entry and/or order of entry is important.

How to clean your computer/phone/tablet without damaging it

Do:

  • Shut off the device and unplug it from the power adapter before cleaning
  • Use a soft, lint-free cloth
  • Spray cleaning product on cloth until slightly damp (1-2 sprays)

Recommended Products:

  • Microfiber cloth (or a cloth as gentle as one you would use to clean eyewear) to avoid scratching the screen
  • Non-ammonia based glass cleaner or isopropyl alcohol to avoid warping the screen
  • Multipurpose cleaner in a spray bottle or Clorox wipes for areas other than the screen

Don't:

  • Spray cleaning product directly onto the computer
  • Put too much pressure on the screen or keys
  • Expose the device to excessive moisture
  • Use products that contain ammonia on the screen

Products to avoid:

  • Most Windex products, acetone, ethyl alcohol, or Clorox wipes for the screen
  • Paper towels, toilet paper, tissue paper, and non-cotton fabric
  • Water

Mute yourself in a web conference

It's good practice to mute your microphone when participating in a Zoom or Meet web conference. This helps reduce background noise for everybody. Unmute yourself when you want to talk. In Zoom, press and hold space bar to temporarily unmute your audio. Set your audio to mute by default: Zoom > Preferences > Audio > check “Mute microphone when joining a meeting”

Mute all attendees at once in a Zoom meeting

As host, you can mute the audio of all your participants at once by holding Command+Ctrl+M (on Mac) or Alt+M (on a PC). You have the option to prevent all participants from unmuting themselves.

Zoom Breakout Rooms

Zoom Breakout Rooms can be used to split meeting attendees into separate, smaller groups that you–as host–can switch in and out of. Select Breakout Rooms from the bottom menu. Once rooms have been started, click Options to customize the experience.

Screenshot of Zoom Breakout Room options

Add a Google Meet web conference to a Google Calendar event

Add a Google Meet web conference to any existing Google Calendar meeting by clicking “Add Conference” and selecting Hangouts Meet. All attendees can instantly see and click the conference link.

A screenshot of a menu for adding a video conference

Keep your Zoom meeting URL in your clipboard for easy sharing

You can automatically copy your meeting URL to the clipboard when starting a meeting for quick access to send via email/chat/text. Find this (and other!) options in the Zoom application preferences menu.

Zoom preferences screen

Screen capture tips

Declutter your desktop before recording. Have your viewers focus on the content you’re presenting, and not the files on your desktop. 
  • Temporarily put all your desktop items into one folder, ideally in a location away from the desktop.
  • Temporarily make the desktop background a solid color.
  • Hide your dock (Command+Option+D will show/hide).
  • Choose full screen (if it’s available) with the application that you’re going to screencapture.
  • If you’re recording a web browser, close any tabs that you won’t be using for your screencast or screen capture, and hide any bookmarks.

Turn WiFi Off

Using ethernet to connect to the network? Turn off wifi in your computer's network preferences menu to ensure your connection works properly.

Take a quick screenshot on a Mac

To create a screenshot on your Mac:

  • click Command+Shift+4;
  • you'll see a pointer with crosshairs appear;
  • move it to where you want to start the screenshot;
  • then drag the mouse to create the selection;
  • click the mouse or trackpad to finish capturing the screenshot.

Your new screenshot will appear on your Desktop with a name that starts with "Screen Shot" and ends with the date and timestamp of the screenshot.

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Posted April 5, 2017

LaTeX -> Source

In TeXshop on the Mac, you can command-click in the source and see that place in the output, and vice-versa. Looking at a messed up table? Click to see the problem. Most other TeX editors have some way of doing this also.
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Posted March 1, 2017

Find IP and MAC Address on Windows

Find your IP address and MAC address on a Windows machine by following these steps:

  1. Open a Command Prompt window
  2. Type ipconfig and press enter/return
  3. The resulting output will show all of the network connections your computer is currently using.
  4. Look under Wireless LAN Adapter Wireless Network Connection to locate the IP address if you're using wireless, or,
  5. Look under Ethernet Adapter Local Area Connection if you're using ethernet.
  6. Scroll to the end of the results. Type getmac and press enter/return
  7. The MAC addresses for your wireless and ethernet connections will be listed under Physical Address

Find IP and MAC Address on OSX

Find your IP address and MAC address on an OSX machine by following these steps:

  1. Open System Preferences
  2. Click Network
  3. In the left-hand pane, click Ethernet or Wi-Fi (depending on which connection you are currently using)
  4. The current IP address is listed under "Status: Connected" in the center panel
  5. Click Advanced at the bottom right of the center panel to find the MAC address
  6. In the window that pops up, click Hardware at the top right of the menu choices. The MAC address is listed at the top.

Screenshots on your iOS device

You can save a picture of your iPhone or iPad screen. Press and hold the Home button, then press the Power button. The screenshot has been saved to your camera roll.

Restart

It's a cliche, but it really works! It's amazing how many things are fixed by the Universal Electronic Device Fix (UEDF): turn it off, and then turn it back on again. Fixes computers, printers, scanners, you name it.
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Posted March 2, 2016

Get a list of department employees

The Campus Directory in IRIS will give you names, titles, and contact info of all the members of campus offices and academic departments. Log in to IRIS, click Campus Directory, then select a department from the list.

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Posted February 3, 2016

Press ? in Gmail to see a list of keyboard shortcuts

When you are in Gmail, type ? to see a list of keyboard shortcuts. Of course, if you do this while you are composing a message, you'll just be typing a question mark in your message.

Open PDFs with Preview by default (Mac)

If you would like to have PDFs handled by Preview, and not some other program, follow these steps:

1. Open Finder, and highlight a PDF file
2. Select File > Get Info (or press command + i)
3. Within the File Info window, click "Open With" (near the bottom of the window)
4. If something other than Preview is listed under "Open With", click the drop-down menu and Select preview
5. To change preferences for all PDF file handling, click the "Change All" button.

All PDF files should now be opened by Preview.

Manipulating pages of a PDF document in Preview (Mac)

When accessing e-reserves or other PDF materials, you may wish to rotate or reorder the pages. Here's instruction for Preview (Mac OS X)

To reorder pages:
1) Under the "View" menu, enable "Thumbnails"
2) Select the thumbnails of the page (click) or pages (shift+click) you'd like to move and drag-and-drop them to their preferred location
3) Save the file

To rotate pages:
1) Under the "View" menu, enable "Thumbnails"
2) Under the "Tools" menu, select "Rotate" [left or right]. (Shortcut: command-L and command-R)
3) Save the file
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Posted October 2, 2015

Switch between Gmail accounts without logging out

If you have a personal Gmail account in addition to your Reed Gmail account, you can link the two and easily switch to one without logging out of the other. Click on your account name (like "doej@reed.edu") at the top of the Gmail window, then click Add Account. After the two are linked, you can switch between accounts from that same menu.

Accessing commonly used administrative systems

We now have a landing page with links to (and some documentation for) various administrative systems on campus, such as Banner, Banner Self-Service, Argos, and Nolij Web: www.reed.edu/staffapps. You may notice that it's the same page that you see if you log into ACS_Explorer via Citrix.

Dropping lowest grades in Excel

If you're dropping the lowest grade(s) in your final grade calculations, Excel can do the work for you!

This example is for one student, for whom I have 19 grades. I want to drop the lowest four. The student's data is in cells B2 to T2.

The final formula to drop four of those 19 grades will look like this, and is broken down below:

=(SUM(B2:T2)-SMALL(B2:T2,3)-SMALL(B2:T2,2)-SMALL(B2:T2,1)-SMALL(B2:T2,4))/(15)

=(SUM(B2:T2)

add everything up within that range

-SMALL(B2:T2,1)

subtract the (1st) smallest value w/in that range (for the second, change that to ,2 - etc)

... then divide by number of remaining cases. (in this case, 15).

For more Excel help, check-in at the helpdesk in the ETC, or browse other tech tips. Happy grading!

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Posted December 1, 2014

Activity Monitor

Is your machine running slow lately? Wonder why you hear it whirring and the fan is going at 11? It may be busy or stuck on something. In the Utilities folder (/Applications/Utilities, or Go... Utilities, or cmd-shift-u) is the little app Activity Monitor. Run it, check that you're looking at All Processes, and sort by CPU. Now you can see if something odd is taking up all your machine's brain power! Contact CUS if something seems amiss.

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Posted October 6, 2014

Change default PDF program from Adobe Reader (Mac)

While updating Adobe Reader, you may have inadvertently set your default PDF handling to Adobe Reader. To reverse this change, uninstall/delete the AdobePDFViewer.plugin from /Library/Internet Plug-ins .

For more on this, see the Adobe Reader help documentation.

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Posted September 9, 2014

Undo typing on your iPhone or iPad by shaking it

Shake your iPhone or iPad (with iOS 7) to undo typing. You have to shake pretty hard, but DON'T THROW IT!

Make the Finder faster

In more recent versions of MacOS X (10.6-10.8), the Finder displays the Size column by default. This means it has to calculate the size of all the things in each folder, which slows down the display.

To turn it off, click on the Finder then choose Show View Options from the View menu. Uncheck the Size box, and then push the Use as Defaults button at the bottom.

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Posted September 25, 2013

Paste unformatted text

In Mac OSX, you can remove formatting when you paste text by using: command-option-shift-v.

Learn Finder Shortcuts

In the Finder (click on the Desktop or the Finder face on your Dock) you can get to the Applications folder by pressing command-shift-A on the keyboard. Then just type the first few letters of the application you want and press command-o to open. Utilities is command-shift-U, and Home is comand-shift-H.

Restoring cartesian layout for Spaces in Lion

One of the things we missed most in moving from Snow Leopard to Lion was the cartesian layout for Spaces. For a couple of weeks we've been using a tool called TotalSpaces that brings this back, and so far it's worked really well.

TotalSpaces is an inexpensive add-on for OS X Lion and Mountain Lion that brings back Snow Leopard-style cartesian Spaces. It also makes it easy to disable the transition animation when moving between spaces.

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Posted May 3, 2013

Typing in foreign languages

Typing in a foreign language can be tricky. Our foreign language resource pages provide you help with typing in Arabic, Chinese, French, German, Russian, and Spanish

You can also go to the IMC to get a plastic Russian keyboard cover that you can put on top of your regular Mac keyboard to help you with typing.

Reed's Language Lab has additional resources for learning foreign languages.

For more on technology and language learning, please contact Foreign Language Instructional Technologist Weiwei Zhang.

Full-screen web browser mode for presentations

All those tabs, buttons, and menus on your web browser take up a lot of screen real estate, particularly annoying when you are giving a presentation. With Firefox, Chrome, and Safari (OS X Lion only) you can hide all that junk in one fell swoop. In Firefox and Chrome, look in the View menu for "Enter Full Screen" (Firefox) or "Enter Presentation Mode" (Chrome). In Safari, click the diagonal arrows at the top right of your browser window. To see your menus again, move your mouse to the top of the screen.

Printing Tip for Administrative Staff

printing-tip
If you can't print to the printer in your administrative office, make sure that you are connected to the administrative ethernet network.  These printers are not available from the wireless or academic ethernet networks.  Laptop users, make sure your ethernet cable is firmly connected.
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Posted January 3, 2013

Synchronize your bookmarks between computers

Both Firefox and Google Chrome have built-in support for synchronizing bookmarks between your computers. Chrome users should select "Sign in to Chrome" from the wrench menu or click the "sign in" link in the upper right corner of a new tab. Next, enter your reed.edu email address (username@reed.edu) and password, or use your personal Google account if you prefer. Firefox users should open their preferences, go to the "Sync" tab, and click "Set up Firefox Sync." Repeat the process on your other computers, but not public ones of course!

Update Thunderbird or Firefox Despite Errors

After downloading a newer version of Thunderbird or Firefox and following the instructions, you may receive an error that you don't have sufficient permissions to move the program to the Applications folder.  Try this:

  • Quit the program you are trying to update.
  • Navigate to your Applications folder and locate the current program.
  • Drag that file to the trash.
  • Now you can copy the new version to the Applications folder.
Even with admin privileges in your OS X account, you don't have the ability to overwrite a file in the Applications folder.  You can still delete and add files - you just can't overwrite the file.

Save an image from a web page

Almost any image you see on a web page can saved to your computer. Simply click and drag the image from your web browser to your desktop.

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Posted September 14, 2012

Data analysis in Excel 2010

Recent versions of Microsoft Excel no longer have statistical and analysis functions built in by default. You can quickly fix this by downloading the "Analysis ToolPak" from Microsoft.

Apostrophes on the iPad

If you're tired of switching to the iPad's secondary keyboard every time you need to type an apostrophe, try this instead: On the main keyboard, swipe upward on the comma key. An apostrophe will appear!

Replace an existing file in Cascade

Let's say there's a "scholarship-app.pdf" in Cascade and you want to replace it with an updated version of the same name. In Cascade, click on the old file, then click the Edit tab. Use the Browse button to choose and upload the new file from your computer. After uploading, click the Publish tab. Note, this works with any file in Cascade (.jpg, .pdf, .doc, etc) but NOT with entire web pages.

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Posted May 24, 2012

Subscribe to an RSS Feed (Huh?)

Want a really easy way to keep abreast of the latest Tech Tips, articles on your favorite news site, or posts on your favorite blog?  Here's how to do so by subscribing to an RSS feed:

  1. First, you need a "feed reader." Let's use the Firefox web browser (it has a feed reader built in!).
  2. Second, you need a "feed" for your favorite frequently updated website; this icon RSS feed icon indicates your favorite site publishes an RSS feed version of itself. Let's use IT Tech Tips as an example.
  3. Now you need to subscribe to the "feed" using your "feed reader" -- here's how:
    1. Click the RSS feed icon at the top of the Tech Tips webpage (you might want to open a second Firefox window with Tech Tips in it so you can read these instructions while you try it out).
    2. Click the Subscribe Now button on the page that appears (make sure the "Subscribe to this feed using" menu is set to "Live Bookmarks" first).
    3. Pick a convenient Bookmark Folder in which save your subscription, like in the Bookmarks Toolbar, and click Subscribe.

Done! Now sit back, relax, and enjoy easy reading of your favorite feeds:

Screenshot of expanded Live Bookmarks menu in Firefox's Bookmarks Toolbar.

Report spam and phishing attempts

Don't just forward that email to CUS or ACS. The only way to make Reed's anti-spam and anti-phishing filters stronger is to forward that spammy or phishy message as an attachment to report-spam@reed.edu or report-phish@reed.edu.

Don't know what that means? Custom instructions for you are right here.

Starting up an unresponsive iMac

After a power outage or surge, however brief, some iMac models won't start when you press the power button.  To resolve this issue, first locate the power cable in the back of the machine.  The power cable for all newer flat-panel all-in-one iMacs can be found in the center of the machine near the bottom of the back panel.  The power cable is a thick white cord.  Pull the cord from the back of the iMac and wait five seconds.  Re-connect the cable and press the power button.

If the machine still doesn't start up, remove the power cable from the back of the iMac and also the from the power source.  Verify that the power source is active.  Re-connect both ends of the power cable and press the power button again.

Campus Email Preferences

Did you know that there are some useful preferences for your Reed email account that you can control?  Log in to IRIS and click on Campus Email Prefs (it's under Personal Info).

From there you'll be able to manage the following preferences:

Addresses

When you created your Kerberos account you automatically got an "@reed.edu" address based on your username.  You also got something called an "alias" which lets people send email to "Firstname.Lastname@reed.edu" in addition to "username@reed.edu".

If you would like additional aliases you may request them from the Addresses screen in Campus Email Prefs.  Aliases must be approved before they are activated so please be patient.

Delivery

If you wish to activate or change the forwarding of your email you can do so here.  This is the preferred method of forwarding your email; using the POP retrieval feature of Gmail and other mail services is not recommended because it requires giving your password to third parties and is slower than real forwarding.

We hear from several people each year who have set up POP retrieval instead of forwarding without realizing some of the unintended consequences.

Spam & Trash

Your spam and trash folders can be emptied automatically; set the frequency here.  Please note that these preferences will have no effect if you are forwarding your email.

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Posted December 8, 2011

Create an email signature in Thunderbird

Follow these steps to create an email signature in Thunderbird:

  1. Compose a new blank email message and type in your signature information.
  2. Go to the File menu and select Save As -> File.
  3. Give the file a name like Signature and put it in a place where it can stay and you can locate it in the next steps.
  4. Close the message with your signature.
  5. Go to the Tools menu and select Account Settings.
  6. Check the box that reads 'Attach this signature...'
  7. Click the Choose button and navigate to the file you created in steps 2 and 3.
  8. Click OK.
Now each message you compose should include the signature you created.  You can optionally delete the text of the signature on a per-message basis.

Find Where Your File Lives

Editing a document and want to know where the file lives?  Hold down the Command key (⌘) on your keyboard and click the file icon in the title bar of your window:

Screenshot of file icon and name in application title bar

A drop-down menu will then appear, showing the location of your file in the folder tree on your system:

Screenshot of folder tree drop-down menu from application title barThe folders listed in this drop-down menu are the parent, grandparent, great grandparent, etc. folders of your file. In this example, the file Document.rtf lives in the Desktop folder, which itself lives in the blah folder, and so on. You can click on a folder to open it in a new Finder window.

Accents on the iPad

To type accented characters (é, ñ, ö, etc.) on the iPad, press and hold the key of the letter that needs the accent. A menu of possible accents will appear. Slide your finger over to the one you want, then let go to type the accented character.

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Posted September 29, 2011

Managing Moodle email

Does Moodle send you too many emails? You can choose to receive a daily digest of postings from all the Moodle forums you're subscribed to, rather than a separate email for each posting. Go to your Moodle profile by clicking on your name near the top right of any Moodle page, then click the "Edit profile" tab and change the "Email digest type" setting to either "Complete" or "Subjects." While you're there, you might also want to check the "Forum auto-subscribe" setting. If you don't want to automatically receive emails from any forum you've posted in, make sure it's set to "No." When you're done, click the "Update profile" button at the bottom of the page.
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Posted September 27, 2011

Shortcut menus in Cascade

Reed's content management system, Cascade, has two handy shortcut menus:

Click "Quick Links" at the top of the page for links to common areas of Cascade and a list of your recently viewed assets.

Cascade's Quick Links menu

Hover your mouse over any asset and click the tiny arrow that shows up to perform various actions on that asset (Edit, Publish, Move/Rename, and more). Saves you a click!

Cascade's shortcut menu

Update your IRIS directory photo

You don't like your IRIS directory photo? You can change it it! Log in to IRIS and click on "Information Update" under the "Personal Info" section. See your current photo in the "Profile" tab. Click "Edit Info" and follow the instructions to upload a new photo.

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Posted September 20, 2011