Starting late last spring, all photocopiers in the district gained enhanced features for scanning which are aimed at improving instruction while also reducing costs. The technology, which makes it easy to create digital documents as simple as copying on paper, has already been put to good use around the district. Mr. James Belcher, who teaches Biology at the High School and pictured below using one of the copiers, has been using the new feature extensively since the start of this school year and has found it to be very helpful in preparing teaching materials. He has found several advantages in using the copiers for scanning, not the least of which is that they are much more accessible than the few traditional flatbed scanners that are available in each school building. In fact, he has been scanning most of his non-digital materials this way now since he can simply do it as he makes copies for his students. Since he has to run off copies anyway, it is not that much more work or time to scan his originals as digital versions so they are easy to share electronically too. In his experiences, Mr. Belcher has found that the copiers actually work better than a regular scanner might. For example, if you have older documents where the paper is no longer white, with a regular scanner you would have to spend a lot of time experimenting with settings trying to avoid having your scan end up with a slightly gray background. If you cut and paste an image from such a scan, then it has a slightly grey background which is obvious compared to the rest of your document. In the past, Mr. Belcher spent hours using a editing program such as Photoshop to clean up the background of such images before using them in tests or handouts. The copiers, however, are set to enhance the contrast between an off-white background and shades of grey that are part of the text or diagram. They give a clean, white background to most documents, even older documents that are themselves copies from textbooks or workbooks. Another major advantage is that you can use the document feeder of the copier to scan a large number of pages at one time, with the choice of having each page scanned as a separate file or having all of the pages combined into a single file. You can scan an entire workbook, for example, in a matter of seconds! The PDF format the files are scanned to is quite versatile and universally compatible. It can easily be uploaded to Spartan Docs, emailed, or posted on the web within minutes once digitized as well as easily viewed on computers and mobile devices. After scanning the materials, the copier emails your scanned files to your school email address, giving you easy access to your files. Belcher finds it ideal that if you have a smart phone with email access, you take it with you to the copier room. A file normally takes only a minute or so to appear in your email account so using your phone you are able to check the results of a scan on the spot. If you would like to get trained on using the copier to Scan to PDF, there is a workshop are being offered later this month and more being planned for the spring. Just search on My Learning Plan for Using the Photocopier to Create PDF Documents to find them. With the tight budgets we are experiencing and the relatively small number of scanners available in most buildings, the scanning features of the copiers are very useful and convenient. Mr. Belcher encourages you to give it a try. Hopefully you will see it as the many advantages to creating and using digital documents for your instruction too.