Colleagues,
Welcome to the March edition of Tech Update. This update recognizes March as Women’s History Month by highlighting the roles women have in the IT Services organization and some of their experiences at Northeastern, in their own words. You can also find some practical tips for making your emails and documents more accessible to all.
IT support is available around the clock, every day, everywhere you are. Reach out to or visit ITS for all your technology questions and issues.
– M
Marcus P. Robinson
Deputy CIO and Associate Vice President, Engagement and Experience
A New Digital Home for Northeastern Employees
The Employee Hub, a dynamic and personalized digital homebase for Northeastern employees across the global university system, is here! The Hub offers quicker, easier access to productivity tools and other resources that employees need and use daily. It will continue to grow and evolve along with you and the institution, and with feedback from employees like you.
All Northeastern faculty, staff, and sponsored account holders with @northeastern.edu accounts can access the Hub from any device by visiting me.northeastern.edu and logging in with their employee account username and password.
Experience the new Employee Hub
Teams Tip: PowerPoint Live for Presenting
Instead of sharing your screen, to best present that beautiful PowerPoint slide deck you created for an upcoming Microsoft Teams meeting, use PowerPoint Live. By deploying the “present” function, you’ll have quick access to all meeting tools and can “read the room” in one view, especially helpful when presenting from a single screen. As an added bonus, participants can interact with the presentation and personalize their viewing experience with captions, high-contrast slides, and slides translated into another language.
Learn how to use PowerPoint Live in your next Teams meeting
Women in ITS Help Sustain Excellence
In recognition of Women’s History Month, IT Services is proud to celebrate the engaged women in its ranks! Their vital contributions help Team ITS sustain continuous improvement, achieve operational excellence, and advance digital transformation across Northeastern’s global campus network.
Meet some of the outstanding women in ITS
Are Your Emails Accessible to All?
Because communication at Northeastern often depends on emails, basic accessibility practices for Outlook messages are crucial to help all recipients access the information they need. For an overview of accessibility guidelines, including best practices for using text, color, and images, review and bookmark the knowledge base article, “What are the accessibility guidelines for accessible email in Outlook?” for reference. A few of the best practices you’ll find in the article include:
- Avoid decorative and script fonts, including in signatures.
- Don’t use color alone to convey information (e.g., See green text for available times).
- Add alternative text to all images unless the image is purely decorative.
Let’s celebrate Developmental Disabilities Awareness Month by ensuring that email communications and documents follow these basic guidelines—your readers will thank you!
Rethink Your Tools for Conducting Final Exams and Projects
As you prepare for final exams, resources and tools are available to help you rethink your assignment and exam process. If you’re teaching a large class, explore these grading tips, tricks, and resources to help save you time.
A grading tool integrated into Canvas, Gradescope allows faculty to use rubric-based grading for handwritten, programming, bubble sheet, and online assignments.
Explore Gradescope Training and Consultations
Looking for More Tech Updates?
The Tech Talk community is available 24/7 through Communities at Northeastern. Find announcements, tips, and a place to engage with others about how technology impacts daily life at Northeastern.