Whether you’re taking classes, working, going on vacation, or just chilling out this summer, your tech is likely to be an integral part of it all! Staying productive and active during the summer can be a challenge, so here are some tips for staying productive and focused and for keeping your tech in working order.

There are many advantages to taking and teaching classes during the summer term. Class sizes are smaller and can be completed in half the time (or less) of a typical course. They can be a great option to help students graduate on time, especially for those with more than one major or minor or for those switching majors. Summer courses can also present challenges due to compressed timelines, non-traditional students who are not familiar with University courses, and the demands of commuting.  Here are our best summer session tech hacks.

Online meetings, workshops, and events are here to stay. Your coworkers may be next door or across the country. You can meet with colleagues and customers from around the world without needing to travel. Instructors allow for online class presentations, while conferences are offered online as a cheaper and more convenient option. Even fundraisers and religious services are online today. 

Graduation. The word sends a tingle down a senior’s spine at the mere mention. Commencement is so much more than just walking across a stage. Graduating from the school you’ve called home for four years changes everything about your daily routine and also means finding a job or going to graduate school, moving away from your friends, and so much more.

Sending fans a ticket offer for the game they most want to attend. Athletic trainers measuring an athlete’s biometrics to maximize their on-field performance. Processing on-field stats to guide game strategy. Coaches tracking their budget in real time to help guide spending decisions. That is the reality for professional sports leagues, but just a pipe dream for most collegiate programs.

For college students, it’s imperative to have a good device to take notes, complete and turn in assignments, and stay in contact with your peers and professors. But what do you do when your laptop is low on storage and you can’t download the software you need for a new course? How about when your device is slow, and you have an assignment due at midnight? What if you need to pull an all-nighter and live off campus?

Signing up hundreds of participants for a new research study in just a few days is something that most researchers only dream of. One group at Pitt did just that after offering up a $10 Amazon gift card for those willing to complete their online survey. However, even with the incentive, that response seemed too good to be true. Turns out, it was, and the researchers were the victims of a bot attack.

You barely even pay attention to it. You hear your phone ding, open the notification, hit the green button, and head back to your laptop to keep working. Simple as could be, right?

Wait a minute. Why did you get a Duo prompt? You weren’t logging into something. Did you just give someone access to your accounts? Oh no. Now 10,000 people just received a phishing scam from your email address, with dozens falling for it.

Employers today expect their professionals to be proficient in Microsoft Office apps, including Excel. Excel is a powerful spreadsheet program with the capability to organize data, make calculations, visualize information, and automate calculations. If you just use Excel to put information into neat and orderly tables, you’re missing out on the most powerful capabilities. Here are some Excel skills you should learn to bring your credentials to the next level.

As students, we all know that dreaded feeling of hearing a professor announce a group project. If you’re anything like me, that means more anxiety and stress added to your already-stressful workload. Usually, the dread isn’t because I don’t want to work with other people. The stress comes from having to coordinate with other people. Needing everyone’s phone numbers, emails, and schedules for endless back-and-forths, sharing files with each other, and arranging times to meet (which is harder with people on campus, off campus, and commuting).