UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — As Penn State prepares to return to primarily residential instruction for fall 2021, an important program will be updated to support students and faculty who cannot return to campus.
During the last academic year, Penn State IT delivered laptops, mobile hotspots and webcams to students in need in the continental United States. This fall, that program and those devices will remain available only to students who used the “Raise Your Hand” feature in Starfish and/or those who are unable to return to campus and have made a temporary change of location to Penn State World Campus. Communication will be sent to “Raise Your Hand” students to determine their technology needs (laptops, mobile hot spots and webcams) for the upcoming semester.
Penn State faculty had access to the same devices along with iPads and Apple Pencils to help with annotation in remote courses. Penn State IT will reach out to faculty who received loaner devices to either arrange for an extension through the upcoming semester or the devices’ return. Additionally, as supplies are available, new requests for iPads and Apple Pencils can be made.
Residential students and faculty can access loaner technology through University Libraries and Penn State Media and Technology Support Services.