These days, social distancing has made it difficult to feel connected with the campus community. Of course, you can chat with Pitt friends and colleagues on Facebook and Twitter, but those public platforms are rife with annoying trolls, random posts and ads, and endless distractions. You could send messages through Outlook or Teams, but starting a chain email or spamming a Teams channel isn’t ideal either. Introducing Yammer—an easy solution for connecting with Pitt friends and colleagues.  

The Dietrich School Academic Advising Center provides one-on-one academic advising to help students pursue their educational and career goals, navigate University policies and procedures, and connect with helpful Pitt resources.

Timely Data Without Having to Ask

Accurate information on students is vital in order for advisors to identify situations that can interfere with academic progress or signs that a student may be struggling. They need access to a wide range of data: grades, credits, account holds, first-year course requirements, and full-/part-time status.

The spring semester has ended. It was wild, but we stuck together, stayed agile, and leveraged new technologies to transition to remote operations. Time to take a deep breath. For many faculty and staff, the summer semester may be a little less busy. Combined with the scheduling flexibility of working from home, the next couple months are an ideal time to think about your long-term goals.

Remote virtual learning has become the new normal for instructors, administrators, and students during the pandemic response. While the transition may not be easy, we want to provide resources to ensure users are creating secure and effective virtual classrooms. Zoom collected the top 10 most frequently asked questions about using the platform for virtual education and online learning:

Organizing your workday can be a challenge in any job, especially in a work-from-home world. But if your position involves frequently meeting (virtually or in person) with students, faculty and staff, research participants, or other individuals (“clients”), managing your calendar can be even more complicated. Without on-site administrative help and the added challenge of working with clients who may be in an entirely different time zone, the task grows even more complicated.

New to Zoom? You aren’t the only one. With the sudden pivot to online learning and remote work, Pitt faculty, staff, and students are increasingly using Zoom for virtual classes and video meetings.

Here are some Zoom training resources to help you get the hang of it. Whether you have just a minute to spare or can set aside an hour for more in-depth training, there are a variety of online video tutorials available.

Microsoft Outlook is familiar and reliable, but also often taken for granted. Maybe it’s time to show some added love to this communication lifeline for working and learning remotely. As a Pitt student, faculty, or staff member who regularly uses Pitt Email and Calendar, you may already know many of the basic functions Outlook has to offer. But here are some other features worth exploring that can enhance your now long-distance relationship with this handy app.

The Pitt community is now spread far and wide—with technology playing a central role in keeping us all connected. If the device you’re using doesn’t have the software you need or your bandwidth or compute power is limited, then doing your work can be a challenge. So Pitt IT has introduced Virtual Labs and Virtual Desktops. Here’s how they can give you the computing resources you need, regardless of your device capacity.

With the sudden shift to online classes and working remotely, many in the University community are learning to host Zoom video conferences on the fly. Here are some tips to ensure a positive experience for all your participants.

Now that most Pitt faculty, staff, and students are working and learning from home, there is a different set of cybersecurity considerations to keep in mind. Take an active role in keeping your data and the Pitt network safe with this five-point plan for making your living room as secure as your on-campus office, lab, or residence hall room.

A 5-Point Home Cybersecurity Plan

Here’s what you can do to help maintain the security of Pitt’s and your personal data, network, devices, and services: