Jacob FrenchmanBIOSC Junior & Pre-med A disaster of catastrophic proportions happened to me at the beginning of this semester: a broken laptop. The initial 24 hours after my trusty MacBook Pro broke was a whirlwind of emotions. First, denial. Then, anger. Then, some more anger. And finally, some relief. The Covid-19 pandemic has revolutionized school, as we all know, into an online landscape of PDFs, Zoom calls, and Canvas exams. So, when my laptop unexpectedly broke I was immediately overcome with stress and anxiety about what to do. With much of campus closed, I began to freak out and contemplate places I could hunker down to complete the mountains of online tasks all of us deal with in these unprecedented times. Not only was my Biochem quiz online the next day, but also, the textbook and notes I needed to review prior to that test were saved as PDFs on my computer! Not to mention the homework I completed the night before was permanently stuck on the hard drive of my (now broken) laptop- which meant I had to redo it. What is a person to do???? This debacle has taught me some valuable lessons about technology options that the University provides us with. First, utilizing the Microsoft OneDrive that comes with our Pitt accounts is something we should all do! When I had to sign a waiver acknowledging that all of my storage could be lost during the repair I was very upset and frustrated because I have loads of information on my laptop that isn’t backed up. Take it from me, PLEASE backup your assignments and notes to the cloud because having to start from scratch is extremely frustrating. For those of you that don’t know, Microsoft OneDrive is a fantastic technology integrated into our Pitt accounts that allows us to save files to the cloud and access it from any device that you sign in with your Pitt credentials. I highly recommend taking advantage of this technology because you will have a backup of your files in case of emergency, but also, you can access your files from wherever you are as long as the device has Microsoft office (like the library)! The second option I learned about is Pitt’s program for borrowing a Chromebook laptop (for free!) to facilitate remote learning. It’s been a life-saver for me so far because I was able to get a Chromebook within a few days of my computer breaking and get Zoom, Microsoft Office, and Spotify installed on it (the essentials!!). Also, it was very easy to link my google and Pitt accounts to the Chromebook: two crucial steps in getting my assignments downloaded, completed, and submitted. In our predominantly digital environment, I am so thankful that the University put in place this program to prevent students from being hurt academically for technological issues. Never before has technology played such an integral role in our educations, so make sure to backup your saved data and explore alternatives in case the unthinkable happens to you too! If you are interested in learning more about how this program or OneDrive works, want to talk Biology (yay, my favorite!), or just want to say hi then swing by my office hours on Wednesdays from 1-2 PM!
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January 2022
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