Hey there, are you graduating this May? Did you do all the little account things you need to do to keep your email contacts, download copies of submitted assignments for your portfolio, and harvest syllabi for later reference? Well if you’re not sure what you need to do as you get ready to graduate, check out this week’s Tech Tip, which collects a few relevant tips from the Help Desk, Tech Services, and the iSchool wiki to graduates who are about to graduate.
As we move into finals period and get closer to graduation, it’s important to make sure you’re updated on all of the ways you can store, share, and backup files. No need to worry about that final paper disappearing anymore! Check out this week’s Tech Tip on keeping all of your files safe and sound by visiting the File Storage page on the iSchool Wiki.
Want to know how to incorporate a cool collaborative whiteboard into your classes or meetings? Look no further than Google Jamboard! Take a gander at this week’s Tech Tip; check out our guide to using Google Jamboard from the iSchool Wiki, to learn all about it.
Thinking about classes for next semester but not sure where to turn? With Class Schedules being made available soon, it’s time to get reacquainted with how to search for classes in past, present, and future semesters in the Course Explorer! Learn all about how to use Course Explorer on the iSchool Wiki.
Are you interested in social media outreach? Then you might want to make sure your content is accessible to as many people as possible. We’re going to discuss a few ways you can do this.
WCAG: The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines can be found here, WCAG 2 Overview. This is the current standard we at the Help Desk use when writing up our own social media content and it’s one we recommend.
Social Media Accessibility: How do I make my social media content more accessible
Hyperlinks
If you want to link to something on Facebook, you have to past the full link, at which point a clickable image link will appear. Make sure there are no other forms of media on the post (i.e., graphics, polls, etc.), delete the actual link you pasted in, and make sure that the clickable image link at the bottom is still there (it should be). Now you’re ready to post. Unfortunately, Facebook does not support simplified hyperlinks (trust us, we’ve tried).
Twitter behaves similarly, but instead of deleting the initial link, you just leave the link there in its entirety and Twitter will automatically remove it upon posting while maintaining the blip. And just like Facebook, be sure to clear out any other non-text media attached to the post to ensure the clickable image link remains. Also, if your link is not accessible to viewers, a clickable image link will not appear. Is this the least obvious way to do it? Yes.
Alt Text and Captions
If you can, you’ll want to add alt text or captions to graphics. This can be difficult depending on the format of your social media platform.
For example, Facebook/Meta only allows for alt text and captions when using the Meta Business Planner. Instagram only allows for alt text and captions if you own a professional account.
Twitter posts are easy enough to add alt text to to a graphic just by selecting the “edit” option on a post’s image and then selecting “alt” above said image and entering the text you think best summarizes the image.
TL;DR
Check out the WCAG guidelines linked above for some handy tips and tricks to making your content more accessible. It can be difficult navigating the UI of some social media accounts, so be sure to poke around and do some research.
Video captions in Illinois Media Space are added in English but there may be times that you wish to add captions in another language, too. You can do this by downloading the captions file from Media Space and then paste them into Word or a similar text file to translate. Once you are done translating the captions into the desired language, go back to the video page in Media Space and click “edit” under the “Actions” heading. Click on “captions” and then select “Upload captions file.” You’ll be able to select the language of the translated captions to be added to the video. After you save the captions to the video file, users will be able to select the language of the captions when they view the video.
Are you looking for a new way to collaborate with classmates for group projects? Or, are you an instructor looking for ways to engage your students in Zoom classes?
The iSchool Help Desk has compiled a library of collaborative platforms to help students and faculty incorporate new technologies into their coursework. You can check out the Collaborative Platform Library on the iSchool Wiki. This library contains links to collaborative platforms, descriptions and use cases, documentation, and some examples of projects created on these platforms.
Feel free to reach out to the Help Desk if you have any questions on how to use these collaborative platforms!
When you’re using Canvas to access Zoom meetings for online classes and other class materials, you may encounter some issues wherein pop-ups are blocked by your browser security settings. From browser to browser, there are different ways of fixing this issue so that you may access your Zoom meeting for an online class. The blocked Zoom meeting link pop-up is a common issue, especially when a browser is updated.
Firefox: There is a small shield icon on the left of the address bar. Clicking on this shield icon will open up a menu which you can then turn off/on “enhanced tracking protections” which, when turned off, will place a slash mark across the shield icon. In this state, you should be able to open up Zoom links from Canvas.
Alternatively, you may access more advanced security settings in Firefox from the “burger” icon to the far right of the address bar, which consists of three horizontal lines stacked atop each other. From this icon, select “settings” and “privacy & security” to clear cookies (which can often interfere with Canvas and Zoom). You may also change the level of security, lowering as necessary to allow for pop-ups. We recommend raising security again after allowing the pop-up to open and getting into Zoom. It’s a short process to drop and raise the settings and can be done easily with some practice
The shield icon on the left side of the address bar. The settings “burger” on the rightThe shield icon on Firefox once Enhanced Tracking Protection has been turned off, allowing for Zoom meeting pop-ups from Canvas. The drop down menu when the shield icon is clicked. Note the option to turn the Enhanced Tracking Protection on/off with the blue switch.
Chrome: While there is no shield icon to navigate to in Chrome, the “burger” to “settings” to “privacy & security” path is the same. The Chrome “burger” is three vertically placed dots rather than stacked horizontal lines, but otherwise, it’s a nearly identical process to lower and raise the security settings in order to open a pop-up link for a Zoom meeting in Canvas.
The Chrome browser does not have the shield icon, so the setting must be accessed through the dotted “burger” icon on the right side.
As always, if you have questions or concerns, please contact us at the iSchool Help Desk. You can reach us at (217) 244-4903 or (800) 377-1892, ischool-support@illinois.edu, or via chat at https://go.ischool.illinois.edu/TechChat. Our contact info is also on your course Canvas pages.
The desk is usually open 8:00 AM – 5:00 PM Monday – Friday. Hours may vary during finals, breaks, etc.
