Hello!
The March Tech Update recognizes Developmental Disabilities Awareness Month with useful information to help make your emails and documents more accessible to more people. This edition also includes tips for identifying phishing scams and for presenting using PowerPoint Live.
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
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!
View Assignments, Quiz Grades, and Feedback in Canvas
The Grades page in a Canvas course displays all current grades for all course assignments, and it’s where you can view scoring details, comments, and rubrics. Use Canvas’ What-if feature to enter hypothetical grades for assignments and calculate your total grade in a Canvas course.
Learn more about viewing your assignment grades and feedback in Canvas
Be Prepared: Identifying Phishing Scams
As technology continues to evolve, so do online scams—also known as phishing—that attempt to gather your personal information via email, texts, and phone calls. It is critical that you know how to recognize different types of phishing, how to protect yourself from scams, and what to do if you provided information in response to a phishing attempt. The more you know, the more secure you will be.
Learn more about identifying and reporting phishing scams
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
Microsoft 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
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.