Category: Academic Technology

Academic Technology, Faculty/Staff, Software

New Versions of Microsoft Office Now Available!

Mark Davis

MS Office 2010 (Windows) and MS Office 2011 (Mac) are available for download. Office 2010 (Windows): While the look of Office 2010 hasn’t changed much from 2007, its feel and navigation has certainly improved. For more information on what’s new in Office 2010 visit: http://www.microsoft.com/office/make-it-great/en-us/whatsnew.aspx Office 2011 (Mac): Outlook users rejoice!! Outlook is now available in 2011. For more information on what’s new in Office 2011 visit: http://www.microsoft.com/mac/word/whats-new   Continue reading New Versions of Microsoft Office Now Available!

Academic Technology, Faculty/Staff, Software, Students

Summer Software Developers: Don’t forget version control

Andrew Ruether

If you are planning on doing software development this summer, consider using some form of version control software.  This will let you backup your work, allow you to roll back to a previous version, and make it easy for multiple users to work on the same code.  If you are still appending suffixes on to different versions of your program (e.g. myapp, myapp_1, myapp_2, myapp_old, etc.) version control will be a big help. There are a number of free or paid options available online, but ITS offers a free software development system including version control.  If you are interested, get … Continue reading Summer Software Developers: Don’t forget version control

Academic Technology, Computer Classrooms, Faculty/Staff, Media Center, Public Computing, Students

Print Release Station Saves Trees, CO2, Real $$

Doug Willen

The Print Release Stations, which we’ve tested a bit in McCabe, and have been testing in the Beardsley Media Center continuously since Spring Break, have led to real savings in resources not used…  that is, jobs that people send to the printer, but choose not to actually print (or just forget to pick up). In the past one month (April 5, 2011 to May 5, 2011) we have saved a total of 8,159 pages, of which, 5,847 were color pages and 2,312 were grayscale.  They would have been printed on 5,807 sheets of paper (some people choose duplex).  To put … Continue reading Print Release Station Saves Trees, CO2, Real $$

Academic Technology, Faculty/Staff, Media Center, Students

Do you crave more power?

Andrew Ruether

ITS probably can’t help you with your plans for world domination, but we do have lots of computing power that we can share with you this summer. Virtual Desktops – If you are running projects that can use extra Windows-based systems, we have a pool of “virtual” computers that run on ITS servers and can be accessed from anywhere.  You can run a processor-intensive job on the virtual computer and leave your desktop computer free to perform other operations.  This is also useful if your program needs to run under Windows but you have a Mac or Linux system.  If … Continue reading Do you crave more power?

Academic Technology, Faculty/Staff, Google Apps, Students, Tips

Ideas for Summer Projects and Research

Andrew Ruether

We are only a few weeks away from the start of the summer research season.  Are you trying to accomplish more with your projects this summer?  Do you find that documenting summer projects has been difficult, time consuming, or ineffective?  If you are looking for ways to improve how you document, publicize, or carry out your research projects, ITS is here to help. Wikis – Wikis are ideal for documenting group projects because they make it easy to create and update web pages that link to one another and keep a history of all the contributions of each member.  Instead … Continue reading Ideas for Summer Projects and Research

Academic Technology, Computer Classrooms, Faculty/Staff, Public Computing, Security, Software, Students

Electronic Blue Books and Online Testing

Andrew Ruether

Swarthmore ITS supports faculty interested in moving from paper blue books to their electronic equivalents.  Swarthmore uses SecureExam software to allow students to take tests on public area computers while providing a safe and secure way of administering tests.  Many students prefer typing to writing and the software provides a basic word processor and spell checking tools.  Many faculty prefer reading typed papers instead of deciphering handwritten pages.  The software prevents students from accessing other programs while taking the test so it is possible to have a “closed book” exam.  At the end of the exam, students submit their work and … Continue reading Electronic Blue Books and Online Testing