I HAVE LOGGED SEVEN MONTHS in a remote teaching mode and need to ensure I have more than one way of producing content because my laptop's AC power adapter has failed. It will take more than a week to get a replacement part from my main campus 50 km away so I'm in a scavenger mode as I try to sort out a solution.
I used my power of persuasion to unlock a door on our Clonmel campus so I could borrow a replacement power unit to recharge my laptop. I need to return that unit every morning so a dedicated laptop can be used for equally important student services. I've used our Help Desk service to raise a request for a replacement power adapter but I know that's not going to get me back online quickly. I've checked local electronics shops for 65W power adapters and there aren't any on the shelves. I found one on an Amazon shelf so I used my phone to order one from an Amazon warehouse in Manchester. Since I have an Amazon Prime account, I expect to get the replacement power adapter within three days.
In the meantime, I'm thinking about shrinking the number of activities I have my students accomplish because I have never prepped for the lectures I teach by using just my Samsung Note 9.
I'm also thinking of students who have been forced into remote learning. Many of them have little or no traditional classroom time and that means they depend on what they see and hear through mobile handsets, tablets, and personal computers. It's just a matter of time before several of them encounter the same problem I've faced as they lose contact with their academic degree programmes because they can't see or hear the lectures or studio sessions.
[Bernie Goldbach teaches creative media for business on the Clonmel Digital Campus for the Limerick Institute of Technology.]