Link to An Academic Technologist’s Toolbox
PDF Accessibility Checker Announced
Swarthmore College ITS has completed preliminary work on software to check PDF files for accessibility across many campus systems. The software examines PDF files to look for readable text as well as title, language, and outline metadata which indicates how easy it is to access the contents of the file. We’ve also written a Moodle plugin to provide information to faculty on the accessibility of all the PDF files in their course. This information will be accompanied by instructions for how to get help to remediate the files. We anticipate the software will be running on our Moodle site for the Fall … Continue reading PDF Accessibility Checker Announced
iPad Pro for Teaching and Learning
Over the past couple of years, Swarthmore ITS has been collaborating with a group of faculty on academic uses for Apple’s iPad Pro tablet and Pencil stylus. This year as we continue to improve our wireless technology inside the classroom … Continue reading iPad Pro for Teaching and Learning
Beardsley Media Center Refresh
The Beardsley Media Center is going to close for about 4 weeks starting July 14th for some construction and improvements. We plan to replace the rug, paint and open up the space by taking down a wall. Most equipment and services will temporarily shift to the Language Center in Kohlberg 326. If you have questions or were planning on using the Media Center please contact us at lmc@swarthmore.edu, or at 610.326.8036. We look forward to welcoming you to the refreshed Media Center in mid-August. Continue reading Beardsley Media Center Refresh
Media Center Introduces Streamlined Poster Printing
If you’ve ever printed a large format poster at the Media Center, we hope you’ve found the process to be fairly straightforward. If not, you’ll be happy to learn we’re introducing some user-friendly changes for the Fall of ’17. The three most common programs for poster design are Adobe InDesign (our strong recommendation) Microsoft PowerPoint, and Google Slides. Any of those applications can send a job to our large format printer. In the past this has involved plugging in multiple settings to ensure color fidelity, proper orientation, and page size. With nearly 100 color profiles, five printer options, and a different … Continue reading Media Center Introduces Streamlined Poster Printing
Pinterest as an ITS Tool
Presenting a visual way to organize web information is something Pinterest does beautifully. Pinterest successfully made this type of information organization mainstream by appealing to people in a way … Continue reading Pinterest as an ITS Tool
Supporting Literacy Among Deaf Children – an E-Book Project
“We’re trying to promote this for deaf children, because 96% of deaf children are born into hearing families who didn’t expect to have a deaf child and they are not signers themselves. So it becomes an issue of how … Continue reading Supporting Literacy Among Deaf Children – an E-Book Project