Tips and Tricks

Digital and Information Fluency, February 2025, Tips and Tricks

Tech Tips: Common Tech Vocab

Image of computer screen with desk accessories. Computer screen shows red text with tech vocab words

Last month, we covered some common tech acronyms used both on campus and within the wider world of technology. This month we’re going over some more tech terms you might hear from members of ITS, in future editions of Bits & Bytes, or when contacting the Help Desk.

Asset tag 

All Clark-managed devices–including chargers, desk phones, and more—have an asset tag on them which shows a barcode, a 6-digit number (the asset number), and the Clark logo. This tag helps ITS keep track of university assets so they can be used and serviced efficiently.  

Banner 

Banner is the name of a product from Ellucian that is our finance, HR, and student management application.  This application has two different ways to interact with it.  Administrative staff use Banner Admin which provides detailed access to information.  Most members of the community use CUWeb to register for courses, enter your time off, and access budget information.  Both Banner Admin and CUWeb are part of Banner. 

Cache 

Cache refers to temporary storage on your device where frequently accessed data, such as website images or recently opened files, are stored for quick retrieval. 

By keeping this data readily available, a cache helps to speed up processes and improve performance. If the cache grows too large, it can slow down your computer—which is why it’s so important to restart your device on a regular basis. 

External drive 

An external drive is any storage solution you plug into a computer. They come in many forms, including USB or thumb drives, as well as larger towers or “bricks.” These are used to store and back-up files in a location separate from your computer for security and storage purposes. 

File Explorer 

File Explorer is the app used on Windows computers to navigate different storage locations on your computer. You often use File Explorer to organize, open, move, rename, and copy files from one location to another.   

Finder 

Finder is the app used on Mac devices to navigate different storage locations. You use this app to organize, open, move, rename, and copy files from one location to another. Finder also allows you to browse, open, or delete installed applications.

Kandji 

Kandji is a management software used by Clark ITS to send out updates to Clark-managed Macs. It allows ITS to make sure Clark Macs are up-to-date and secure, as well as help you update apps on your Mac on your own schedule.  

Shortcut 

A shortcut is a link to a specific file, folder, or webpage, often hosted on the desktop of a computer to make it easier for you to access certain apps, sites, or files. It is not the file, folder, or webpage itself; it simply points you to the right place with one click.  

Reset password 

Resetting your password is different than changing your password. When you reset your password, you don’t know your previous password, so you need to use different authentication methods (such as a phone number or the Microsoft Authenticator app) to verify your access and create a new password. When you change your password, you know your previous password and use that as verification.  

Digital and Information Fluency, January 2025, Tips and Tricks

Tech Tips: Common Tech Acronyms

Computer on a desk with a plant and coffee, screen showing tech acronyms

This image was generated using Adobe Firefly

Since the very beginning of the internet (the predecessor of which was called ARPANET, or Advanced Research Projects Agency Network), acronyms have abounded in our digital spaces and in the devices we use to get there. Below, ITS has included a list of some of the most used around campus. Some of these are specific to Clark, while others are universal within the world of technology. 

  • AIS: Administrative Information Systems. This team at Clark University works with many departments across campus to manage Banner and its many uses, including course registration, budgets, and more. 
  • ATS: Academic Technology Services. This team at Clark University assists faculty in utilizing educational technology, including Canvas, Panopto, Turnitin, and more. 
  • HDMI: High-Definition Multimedia Interface. This is another type of port/cable commonly used at Clark to connect devices to larger displays. For example, most classroom podiums have an option for connecting a laptop to the projector via HDMI. This cable can be used to transmit both audio and video. 
  • MFA: Multi-Factor Authentication. This process involves attaching multiple factors, such as phone numbers, email addresses, or apps, to an account to verify your identity to help protect your account it from unauthorized access. 
  • OS: Operating System. An operating system is the way your computer interface appears to you and organizes data such as documents, user profiles, and more. Windows 11 and Sequoia are two examples of current operating systems for PC and Mac devices respectively. 
  • RAM: Rapid Access Memory. This is fast, temporary storage used for applications to run and not to store your files.  The amount of RAM a device has usually impacts how quickly applications can run, and a slowdown of a device may be due to not enough RAM for all the work we ask our devices to do. 
  • RDC: Remote Desktop Connection. This is an app within Windows devices that allows you to “remote into” a campus computer while working remotely. 
  • SSO: Single Sign-On. This involves using your login information for one platform or account, such as Microsoft or Google, to log into a different platform, app, or account. For example, you can use your Clark account information to sign into LinkedIn Learning. 
  • SSPR: Self-Service Password Reset. This process allows you to reset your password on your own without involving ITS. You can read more about SSPR at Clark HERE. 
  • USB: Universal Serial Bus. This is a type of cable and port found on many different devices, including Clark-managed laptops, which helps you connect external drives or accessories such as mice and can also charge many devices. There are different types of USBs; the most common are USB-A and USB-C. 
  • VPN: Virtual Private Network. This is a tool that allows you to connect to a specific network (in our case, Clark’s network) even if you’re not physically on campus, which provides extra security and stability no matter where you are working. 

Have any questions about tech acronyms? Contact the ITS Help Desk! 

 

Get to Know Us, January 2025, Our Favorite Apps, Tips and Tricks

New Year’s Resolutions by ITS

Stock photo of notebook with list of new years resolutions and objects on pink background

The start of a new year often inspires us to make new resolutions. Maybe you’d like to learn a new language or take care of your health. Keep reading to learn more about ITS’s resolutions and how we’re planning to keep them. 

Stretch every day

Tess Walsh, the technology training specialist, is determined to stretch more in 2025 for increased flexibility and improved athletic performance. She recently downloaded Bend, a free app available in the App Store and the Play store. Bend has different stretching routines based on goals, body part, or situation—her current favorite is the six-minute desk stretch.  

Click here to learn more about the Bend app.

Increase daily step count 

Michael Krikonis, ITS’s manager for client support, is planning to get in more steps this year by using the pedometer feature already installed on his phone. For most Androids, you can find your steps in the Google Fit app; on iPhones, this information is in the Apple Health app. Start stepping now so you’re ready for the walkathon challenge Clark University HR hosts each summer! 

Click here to follow directions to find steps & activity on Android phones

Click here to learn more about how to use Apple Health

 

Read new books

Help Desk Technician Jarrod Evans is excited to read more using the Kindle app on his phone (no Kindle device necessary!). The app is easily installed on phones or tablets and allows him to read on the go whether he’s waiting in line at the pharmacy or taking his lunch break. The Kindle app can also be used with Libby to borrow ebooks from your local library.

Click here to get the Kindle app.

Click here to get started with Libby.

Create a video game

Lev, ITS Help Desk Student Supervisor, hopes to create a video game this year. Currently, he’s developing the storyline for his game, which revolves around a young frog on a quest to reconnect with an old friend. Using Unity as the game engine and Aseprite for art, Lev is eager to dedicate more time to passion projects in 2025.  

Limit screen time

Help Desk Coordinator Sharon Griffin-Edson looks forward to reducing screen time on her iPhone to focus more on cooking, walking, and spending time with family. There are many available options, including apps like ScreenZen and Forest, designed to encourage better screen and scrolling habits, as well as the Focus function built into iPhones.  

December 2024, LMS, Tips and Tricks

Tech Check: Finals Week

dynamic back to school background with a burst of colorful geometric shapes and symbols representing different academic subjects.

While you’re preparing for projects, presentations, and exams this week, check in with your tech to make sure you’re saving time, staying organized, and studying smart! 

Canvas 

If you’d like to save any readings, presentations, or other material from this semester’s courses for future reference, make sure to export or download these files and organize them on your computer or in the cloud for easy access. Reviewing course materials is a great way to refresh your memory on concepts, ideas, and assignments you studied earlier in the term.  

Study Playlists 

Some people prefer to study in silence – but if you need a soundtrack, check out the many study playlists on platforms like Spotify and YouTube. You can also make your study sessions cozy by playing ambience room videos on YouTube, like this wintertime jazz coffee shop, or staying warm by a virtual fireplace.  

Click here to check out an ambient study playlist on Spotify 

Click here to check out a lofi timed pomodoro study session on YouTube 

LinkedIn Learning 

Need some new practice problems or a quick tutorial? Browse through LinkedIn Learning. Many courses also provide helpful practice files or assignments for you to test your skills on your own while following along with the instructor. 

Click here to log into LinkedIn Learning with your Clark account 

Save Time with Citations 

Citations are essential for many projects, papers, and presentations, but they can quickly become time-consuming to properly format. Clark ITS offers EndNote, a reference management software, to all Clarkies. University librarian Laura Robinson also recommends Zotero, a free tool that can be used in your web browser.  

Click here to download EndNote 

September 2024, Tips and Tricks

Digital Housekeeping: Tips & Tricks from the Experts

web graphics with a lock icon, gloves, and a spone

The start of fall and a new semester is the perfect time to buy school supplies, pick apples, and do some digital housekeeping. Here are our top tips for taking care of your device and your data in preparation for the new academic year. 

Set aside part of your day to organize and review files 

Did you know that the average employee spends 19% of their work week searching for and gathering information? Organizing, archiving, or deleting files helps keep your computer secure and clutter-free. Click here to read ITS’s suggestions on managing files.  

Add important university dates to your calendar 

Check the academic calendar for the upcoming year and mark important dates—including exams, university closures, and event dates—on your calendar.  

Click here to view the academic calendar 

Click here to view HR calendar 

Click here to view campus events calendar 

Learn more about OneDrive 

For improved collaboration, easy file back-up, and seamless transitions between devices, consider using OneDrive, Clark’s cloud storage solution. OneDrive saves and syncs any changes to your documents, so the most recent version is always backed up. Best of all, it is accessible from any internet-connected device with your Clark account credentials, so you have more flexibility if your computer breaks or needs servicing.  

Schedule an appointment with the technology training specialist to set up OneDrive on your computer. 

Register for a virtual OneDrive workshop 

Sign up for a technology training workshop 

Check out the faculty and staff tech training workshops being offered this fall, including: 

Contact techtraining@clarku.edu to learn more! 

Check and clean out junk and trash folders in Outlook 

Emails might wind up here accidentally that need rescuing! Otherwise, thousands of messages can sit in these folders for months, taking up space and potentially making Outlook run slower. Move any relevant emails to your inbox and delete the rest.  

Restart your computer 

Restarting on a consistent basis is the best way to make sure your device is up to date and running efficiently. ITS suggests restarting your computer once a week before you signing off so the restart process does not disrupt your workday.  

Refresh Team membership 

If you belong to or manage a Team for your group, department, or project, review its members and owners prior to the start of the academic year. With new hires and club members joining this fall, it’s easy for the membership list to fall out of date. Make sure old colleagues have been removed and new ones added with the appropriate permissions. 

If you’d like assistance with your digital housekeeping, please contact the Help Desk at helpdesk@clarku.edu or 508-793-7745. 

March 2024, Our Favorite Apps, Tips and Tricks

Our Favorite Apps: Libby

 

Dark purple background with teal book logo. Text reads Meet Libby.

Welcome to a new series in Bits & Bytes where ITS will be sharing the apps that make our lives a little easier or more enjoyable.  

As mentioned back in the May 2023 issue of Bits & Bytes, Libby is an incredible app considered essential by Tess Walsh, Clark’s technology training specialist. The app allows you to borrow ebooks and audiobooks from local libraries and read or listen to them on your phone. 

“As a former English major and a current book club president, Libby saves me a fortune on book buying,” Tess says. “Plus, I can put books on hold in the app, so they’re delivered to me when available. It’s like getting an unexpected gift in the mail.” 

How does it work? 

Simply download the app from the App Store or the Play Store, put in your library card information, and browse ebooks and audiobooks!  

Does it cost anything? 

Nope. The app is free and there is no cost to borrow. Libby even returns borrowed content on the due date, so you won’t incur fees from your library.  

I don’t have a library card! 

All Clarkies have at least one—their OneCard, which serves as their Goddard Library card and grants access to Goddard resources through Libby.  

You can also apply for a Worcester Public Library ARC (Academic Research Collaborative) card with your Clark OneCard. Massachusetts residents, or those attending school in the state, are also eligible for a Boston Public Library eCard.  

I need help! 

Goddard librarians can help you get started. Contact them at library@clarku.edu.  

December 2023, Tips and Tricks

File Management 101

Person typing on laptop. Graphics of files and folders connecting to each other.

The end of the year is the perfect time to review, back up, and clean out files. Regularly performing file audits on your devices makes sure your information is organized and secure, which is ideal for productivity and peace of mind. ITS has put together some helpful suggestions on how to approach file management and review if you’re ready to enter the new year with a digital refresh.

Click here to view file organization tips from The New York Times 

To learn more about the science and practice of file management, check out this literature review from the Journal of the Association for Information Science and Technology 

Start with the Downloads section of your computer.

ITS recommends going through the Downloads section on your computer first, which often contains duplicate files or installation files you do not need. Delete these files or move them to a separate location on your computer, such as Documents, Desktop, or OneDrive. 

Sort files by last date modified

Once you’ve gone through your Downloads, you can move on to reviewing the files in other locations on your computer. Within locations such as your Desktop and within any folder(s) you use to organize your files, you can sort contents based on when they were last modified, meaning the last time you opened or made changes to the document(s). Typically, the older the file, the more likely it is you don’t need it anymore. Please use your best judgement regarding the importance of the file and its relevance to your career (for example: a shopping list from 2018 probably needs to be deleted, but your performance review from the same year should be kept).  

Create a “To File” folder

Reviewing files can be time-consuming and many of us tend to put it off due to busy schedules. A “To File” folder stores all your unorganized files or folders in one place, so you can go through this list at your own pace. For example, you could dedicate 10 minutes a day to moving files from this folder into their proper place or commit to filing 3 items a day. These small increments will make the task less overwhelming and make sure your files are properly organized.  

Back up your files

Accidents happen and computers don’t live forever. To make sure your files are preserved, you should regularly back up your files to a location that exists outside of your computer. There are two primary methods for backing up: to an external, physical drive and to the cloud. There are benefits to each method: see the tables below for more information so you can make the best decision for your situation. 

 

Backing up to the Cloud (OneDrive) 
PROS  CONS 
Automatic back up and syncing so your files are always up to date  Need an internet connection to sync and back up effectively 
1 TB of OneDrive storage included in your Clark account  Syncing can be time consuming 
Secure and accessible from any internet-connected device  Will need to move files out of Clark OneDrive if leaving the university 
Better protected from destruction or theft.  Files can be compromised if someone accesses your Clark account unauthorized. Make sure to protect your password!  

 

Backing up to External Drive 
PROS  CONS 
Complete control over back-up frequency  Does not automatically update files, but captures a “snapshot” of their state at a current date/time, so information loss is still possible depending on frequency of back up 
No need for internet connection  Need to manually copy or move files into external drive location 
File moving/copying is typically faster  Certain failures (like destruction or theft) could impact both the computer and the backup drive 
  Less secure and easier to lose 

 

ITS recommendation: Back up to OneDrive for everyday assurance, and complete back-ups to external drives on a semi-regular basis.  

If you have questions about backing up files or about OneDrive, please contact the Help Desk.  

September 2023, Tips and Tricks

Tech Tips for Start-of-Semester Success

dynamic back to school background with a burst of colorful geometric shapes and symbols representing different academic subjects. Generative AI

Whether you’re returning to Clark or joining our campus community for the first time, ITS is excited to help you succeed this semester! We’ve worked hard over the summer to expand technological tools and spaces to help you study, create, and teach to the best of your ability.  

If you want to save time… 

If you want to organize your emails… 

  • Turn on conversation view, which groups received messages and replies together. No more searching through your sent items!  
  • Create rules in Outlook to automatically take action on emails as they come in. Choose from a variety of options, such as forwarding, filtering, categorizing, and flagging. With rules, the important stuff gets your attention, and the less-important stuff gets organized.  

If you want to brush up on what you learned last year… 

  • Use your Clark credentials to activate your free LinkedIn Learning account. Browse thousands of topics, including programming, research and citation, study skills, and time management.  

If you want to customize notifications to increase focus… 

  • Customize your Canvas notifications by going to your account and selecting Notifications. From here, you can create your own preferences to make sure you’re receiving messages in a way that best supports your learning or teaching style. 

Screenshot of left sidebar Canvas menu. "Account" is selected, showing options including Notifications, Profile, and more.

If you want to try a new way to get ideas on paper… 

  • Practice dictating your thoughts into a Microsoft Word document. Brainstorming or writing this way might feel more natural depending on how you think best, and it’s a great technique to use to avoid blue light and eye strain if you’ve been looking at your screen for a while. Click here to learn more about how to use dictation in Word. 

ITS looks forward to supporting you during the academic year. Please contact the Help Desk by emailing helpdesk@clarku.edu or calling 508-793-7745 if you have questions, suggestions, or require technological assistance.

March 2023, Tips and Tricks

‘Tis the Season for Poster Printing

Posters

Spring is Poster Printing season, with ClarkFEST, class and departmental poster events, Academic Futures Showcase, academic conferences, and much more.

Each year ITS prints over 250 posters in support of teaching and learning, and academic research. As a result, we wanted to share our top 5 tips for easy poster printing.

If you’re looking for more advice, click here to read additional guidance.

Check Sizing

While the most common poster size we print is 36 inches by 48 inches, different events require different poster sizes and dimensions. Check requirements early and set your size in your design application before beginning your work. Changing sizing, and particularly dimensions, at a later time can require you to change your design significantly – a stressor that you won’t need before the event.

Most posters are created in Powerpoint, where it’s very easy to change your slide size. Click here for more information on how to do so. For an even easier option, use one of our pre-sized templates, available here.

Poster Printer

Our trusty poster printer

Edit your text

Posters, by their nature, have limited space. As you’re designing your poster, consider what your goals are and be ruthless in editing your text. Remove anything extraneous and be sure that all elements support your narrative. Remember that reducing your font size to help everything fit is rarely a good choice.

Additionally, your audience will be moving past your poster and may not have the time to read every line of text. Choose descriptive and catchy headings and subheadings to draw people to your work and encourage them to spend more time with your poster.

Use images (appropriately)

Images are an important element to making a poster attractive, interesting and useful for the audience. However, remember that all images should build towards your goals, and shouldn’t be purely decorative.

From a technical perspective, ensure that all images are high-quality to prevent pixilation when printed at large scale (click here for advice on how to do this). Also, the cost of your poster will be impacted by the ink-usage during printing. Images with high contrast, large areas of very dark colors, or image-based backgrounds will increase your poster costs.

Proofread

Proofread, proofread, proofread. We can’t say this enough!

Everyone makes mistakes, but doing all you can to catch mistakes prior to submitting your poster to be printed will reduce your stress. Read every word on your poster multiple times, read it backwards, have a few friends read it. Please note that ITS does not proofread posters prior to printing.

Know your deadlines

For large events such as ClarkFEST, ITS can receive over 100 poster requests in a period of 2 business days. Our poster printer can take between 5 and 10 minutes to print each poster, and that timing doesn’t account for sizing review, paper and ink changes, invoicing and rolling. As a result, submission dates are set to allow our team to print high-quality posters in plenty of time for events, so we appreciate you submitting your work by the deadline.

January 2023, Tips and Tricks

New Year, New Tech

With January almost over, your New Year’s goals might need an infusion of energy or inspiration. No matter what you’re hoping to accomplish in 2023, technology can help you stay on track, spark new ideas, and improve your daily routines.

If you want to prioritize your well-being…

If your resolution is to learn something new…

If your resolution is to declutter and be more organized…

  • Learn more about how Microsoft OneDrive can help with digital clutter.
  • Learn how to organize and declutter your phone from NYT Tech Tips
  • Get rid of physical clutter by joining a local Buy Nothing group. This is a great way to rehome clothes, toys, books, or furniture within your community.

If your resolution is to save money…

As always, ITS is eager to assist you and make sure you have a successful semester and productive 2023. Please contact the Help Desk or the technology training specialist if you have questions, concerns, or requests.