Teachers: Copy to PDF

How much content do you re-use from one year to another?

It's funny, but schools are among the worst organisations in terms of valuing their own knowledge. To improve your re-use of content, you can start with materials that you photocopy.

In some cases, you photocopy material that will only be used once by you and your students. However, it there's a chance that you'll use that content again, why not save it as a PDF and re-PRINT it instead of re-copying it?

In a later tip, we'll deal with saving collections of documents for next year's classes!

To Scan to A USB Stick

You may expect scans to take up about 1/2 megabyte each, so you'll be able to fit 4000 pages of scans onto a typical 2 gigabyte thumb drive.

1. Place and align your originals face down on the glass of the scanner.
2. Press the 'Scan' key on the left side of the display.
3. Insert your USB stick into the USB port on the left side of the copier.
4. Above the display, press the key for 'to USB stick'.
5. Press the big green 'start' button to scan your document.
6. You can remove the USB stick when scanning is finished.

Speed: Depending on how fast your hands are, you may be able to copy up to 10 pages per minute.

If you'd like a hands-on demonstration of how to do this, please contact the IT department for help!

Things that are Sad, but True

I've been using the internet since the mid-1980s, and in that time I estimate that I've received and read more than 100000 emails. Here are a few things that I've learned in that time:

• Bill Gates is not going to give you $1000 if an email gets forwarded around the world.
• You are not the last remaining heir of a fortune locked in a Nigerian bank.
• Any message typeset in all-caps is not worth reading.
• Any message that insists you forward it to all your friends is a hoax.
• Any un-encrypted content you send through a network can be viewed by the people who operate that network.
• Invitations from social networking sites aren't sent by your friends; they came from the software that inspected your friends address book's and spammed everybody.
• It is nearly impossible to erase content from the internet -- especially stupid content.
• Any website can track the site you linked from and any link you click within that site.

Remote Control

When you watch professional presenters, there's something will almost never see: you almost certainly will not see them walking back to their desks and hitting some key on their computers to advance to the next slide. Instead, they'll be talking and -- with scarcely a twitch -- their slides will advance.

Their secret can now be yours: it's a remote control, and we have some at GESS. As part of our lab upgrade project, we bought several of these. Some have been put into labs; others will shortly be appearing in a library near you for short-term sign-out.

We've bought the Logitech Professional Presenter R800, which includes the following buttons and features:

• Start slide show (no more fumbling for that itty bitty little icon!)
• Exit slide show
• Next slide / Previous slide
• Blank screen (very handy when you want the audience to look at YOU instead of the screen)
• A timer -- so that you know when your audience has had enough thrills and excitement!
  and, of course...
• A Lovely Green Laser Pointer

So there you have it. You can fumble for the keys, you can enjoy saying 'Next slide, please', or you can take control of your own presentation.

If you're interested in using this resource and would like some help, let somebody from the IT department know a day or two in advance!