Check out ITS Online to learn how to use the technology resources provided at Penn Law. There are detailed guides that provide instructions for Printing, Canvas, WiFi and more.
The wireless network available on campus is called AirPennNet. Here are some guides on how to connect your Windows or Mac laptop and your iPhone/iPad or Android device.
Before the semester begins, it’s important to make sure your laptop is secure and up to date by configuring automatic software updates and installing antivirus software (which the University provides).
Leaving the office for vacation? Whether your time away from the office is voluntary or incidental, you can set up automatic replies in Outlook so others will know why your response is delayed.
Need to make quick changes to your iPhone’s settings or search for something on the Internet? Use these Siri commands to let your phone do all the work and give your thumbs a break.
Do you feel lost when someone talks about retweets, mentions, and hashtags? Lynda has courses designed to help you get up to speed on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and more.
Take a trip down memory lane with Google Maps–a new feature allows you to view past images for certain locations.
Feel like you keep missing notifications on your iPhone? Here are instructions on how to set your camera flash to flicker and grab your attention when you receive a notification.
Documents often contain hidden data and personal information that could be harmful to the author if distributed. Here are instructions on how to remove hidden data and personal information from documents, spreadsheets, and presentations.
Does your computer feel cluttered? Here are some quick tips on how to find and remove old files and applications in both Windows and Mac OS X.
Looking at ads for new apartments or furniture? Perform a Reverse Google Image Search on pictures within the ad to help determine whether an ad is legitimate.
Many websites (including Canvas) only support the two most recent versions of web browsers. Please update your home computers and laptops to Internet Explorer 10 to ensure compatibility with certain websites and services.
Because phishing attempts have grown more and more sophisticated, it’s important to remain skeptical about unsolicited emails from addresses or people that you don’t recognize. Here are some tips to help you identify a phishing attempt.
It’s important to keep apps and operating systems up to date so that your devices are free from bugs and security vulnerabilities. Here are some brief instructions on how to update your operating system and apps on Android and iOS devices.
Did you know that the scrolling wheel on your mouse is also a button? This tip will showcase some uses of the middle click button.
Now that we’ve had a (brief) taste of Spring, it’s a good time to clean your devices and rid yourself of smudged screens and crumb-filled keyboards.
Need to add some images to a document or presentation? Use Google’s image search filters to find content that you can reuse.
Low battery warning? Learn how to charge your battery faster when you need your phone the most.
Qualtrics has introduced a new feature that provides an automated summary to gauge the overall effectiveness and impact of your surveys.
Mac OS X has built in keyboard shortcuts for many features, but why memorize when you can customize shortcuts? This tip will explain how to edit keyboard shortcuts in Mac OS X.
Learn how to configure your iPad so it is useful for work. This short Lynda course contains tutorials on how to set up an external keyboard, how to backup and secure your data, how to sync calendars and contacts, how to configure iCloud and more.
You can upload files to any Penn+Box folder by adjusting email options within the folder you choose. Here is how to configure a Penn+Box folder to receive uploads from email attachments.
You can use the Find and Replace feature in Microsoft Office products to make quick and easy edits to text. Wildcards are special characters you can use to make searching through your documents more efficient. Here are some useful wildcard characters.
Looking to save time when setting up and editing spreadsheets in Excel? Here are some shortcuts for quickly inserting or selecting entire rows or columns.
Instructure, the company behind Canvas, has extensive documentation available for all Canvas users. There are guides on all features available to each particular course role (Student, Instructor, Observer, Designer) as well as guides on the features and functionality of the mobile app.
As you may know, Penn Law is participating in the Power Down Challenge, an energy reduction competition that takes place from February 3rd to March 2nd. Here are some tips to consume less energy in the office.
The Courses drop down menu in Canvas displays courses that you are enrolled in. Courses are listed alphabetically by default, but you can customize the courses that are displayed.
Creating surveys that produce useful insights and actionable results requires writing effective questions. Here are some tips for writing effective survey questions.
Speech to text dictation can be much more convenient than typing on an iPhone or iPad keyboard. Use these Siri voice commands to make it even more useful.
Qualtrics is great for creating and distributing surveys, but too many surveys can clutter your home page. This tip will show you how to create folders to organize your surveys.
The Center for Computer Assisted Legal Instruction, also known as CALI, provides online interactive tutorials on various legal subjects. Tutorials are authored by law faculty and peer reviewed by a member of the CALI Editorial Board. Here is information on how to create an account and access the materials.
In support of National Cyber Security Awareness Month, this tip will focus on physical security of desktops and laptops. Physical security of a computer is an often overlooked component of computer security. You can use the information in this tip to lock your computer quickly before you walk away from your desktop or laptop.
The SpeedGrader in Canvas allows you to view all student submissions in one place. Some document assignments can be marked up for feedback directly within the submission. You can also provide feedback to your students with text or media comments.
Have you ever closed a tab accidentally? Most modern browsers have shortcuts that you can use to recover closed tabs. Here is how to reopen closed tabs in Internet Explorer, Firefox, Chrome, and Safari.
The Discussions tool in Canvas can be used for threaded discussions between students and instructors. It is the equivalent of the Discussion Board feature in the Course Portal. Here is how to use the Discussions tool.
In Canvas you can create Assignment Groups to organize the assignments in your course. Here is how to create assignment groups.
Announcements allow you to communicate with your students about course activities and post interesting course-related topics. They are the Canvas equivalent of emailing the entire class. Once you make an announcement, it is emailed to the entire class and also saved to the Announcements page on your Canvas site.
In Canvas, Groups are used as a collaborative tool for students who are working on projects or group assignments. You can organize your students into groups, each with its own Discussions, Pages, Files, Collaborations, and Calendar. Here is how to create student groups in Canvas.
Using the Canvas Calendar Feed feature, you can import your Canvas Calendar into any Calendar app that takes iCal feeds, including Google, iCal, Outlook, etc. Here is how to export your course calendar feed from Canvas.
In Canvas, you can use the Appointment Scheduler within your Calendar to setup appointment times. Students can see and sign up for these appointment times on their own Calendar. Here is how to use the Appointment Scheduler.
Canvas Collaborations allow multiple users to work together on the same document at the same time using Google Docs or EtherPad. Collaborative documents are saved in real time, meaning a change made by any of its users will be immediately visible to everyone.
In Canvas, you can grant your students additional course privileges by editing your course settings. Here is how to edit their privileges.
English is Canvas’ default language, but you can choose to view Canvas in any of the supported languages, which include French, Spanish, Russian, Arabic, Chinese, Portuguese, and Japanese. Here is how to change your language preference in Canvas.
In each Canvas course there a number of Course-level roles that you can set to determine each user’s permissions in the course. Course-level roles are set for each user when they are added to the course and can be viewed in the People page of your course.
In Canvas, you can add content to modules without making them immediately available to your students. Here is how to lock a Module until a given date.
In canvas, instructors can view their course from the point of view of a student using Student View. Here is how to access Student View.
Do you have folders that you constantly navigate to? Instead of clicking through a maze of subdirectories, you can add the folder to your Favorites in the top left corner of Windows Explorer.
In Canvas you can elect to receive course updates via text message. Here is how to add your phone number as a contact method.
Once you open an app on an iOS device, it will continue to run in the background unless it is closed manually. Here is an easy way to close an app on an iPad or iPhone.
In Canvas, you can upload all of your course documents quickly and easily by importing them as a .zip file.
Here are a few tricks that work across multiple browsers that can help you navigate the Internet more quickly and efficiently.
You can use hot corners in Mac OS X to quickly activate features such as the screensaver, clearing open windows, and putting the display to sleep. Here is how to activate hot corners.
A common myth is that Mac’s lack the ability to right-click. This tip will cover multiple ways to right-click on a Mac.
The search feature in Windows 7 can locate files and folders on your computer. Here are some tips to get the most out of this feature by using search filters and operators.
The current version of Mac OS X contains a feature called Mission Control that helps organize apps and windows in different workspaces. But here are some extra shortcuts to help you multitask.
Feel like you are getting bogged down by constant right-clicking? Speed up your workflow with these shortcuts for moving, copying, and selecting multiple files.
Many cloud-based services have access to our personal information. Therefore, it is important to protect these accounts with unique, secure passwords. Here are some tips to help you create secure passwords that are easy to remember.
If you are unsatisfied with your browsing speed, maybe it’s time for a little Spring Cleaning. Here are three simple tips to improve performance in any browser.
You can customize AutoCorrect in Microsoft Word to create your own shorthand for note-taking or adjust specific words that you frequently mistype or need to abbreviate.
It can be very time consuming to switch between using the mouse and the keyboard to edit text documents. But with these shortcuts, you can perform functions such as selecting one word or one line at a time without touching the mouse.
Microsoft Remote Desktop is a great method to access your office computer from outside of the building. Once connected, you can access any drives or programs you use at the office.
Setting a reminder to reply or follow up on a message is easy to do in Outlook.
Organizing your email can be a challenging task. Over time, the number of folders you keep track of can grow quickly and it can become difficult to find the ones you use most often. Start using Favorite Folders in Outlook to keep your most used folders visible at all times.