During a virtual semester, ITS adapts operations to serve students

After Ayesha Tahirkheli, a first-year chemistry major, spilled water on her laptop, it wouldn't turn on at all. During an all-online semester, a working laptop is essential. 

Students like Tahirkheli have found support though UNC's Information Technology Services Desk. Although their offices aren’t open for walk-in appointments, the ITS Desk is still available to help students troubleshoot a variety of technology problems through in-person appointments and online chats. 

“We're here to help,” said Erin Towne, who supervises the ITS walk-in desk and the online chat function. “Regardless of the students being remote, we still do have a presence for all of our services on campus.”

Students can seek help from ITS over the phone during the week. Those seeking help can also submit a help ticket or chat live online with an ITS representative during the week as well as during limited hours on the weekend. 

Yessica Cardozo Dominguez is a first-year music student who used several of ITS’ online options after having computer trouble.

“They’re really organized because they kept the chat history of who I talked to and what had been done to the laptop,” Cardozo Dominguez said.

ITS also offers appointments for students needing in-person services to be completed on their computers. 

Tahirkheli said the staff was very communicative after she made her appointment. 

“It was honestly a lot easier than I thought it would be because I was immediately able to talk to someone and make an appointment,” she said. “They were pretty good with keeping me updated.”

Towne also said ITS has a new contactless locker system set up in the Carolina Student Union building for when students need to drop off their laptops. 

“The locker allows them to use an app on their phone to input the code and hit unlock, and it pops the door open on the locker,” she said. “They can put their machine in the locker and leave it for us for repair.”

Peter Bolish, the manager of the UNC's Computer Repair Center, said the ITS offices are also open for students whose laptops need hardware repair. 

“If they aren't local, or they can't make it or they just, you know, don't feel safe coming to our location, they are free to ship their machine to us,” he said. “We will perform any repairs that are necessary and then ship the machine back to the client.”

But students off campus face the additional hurdle of getting their computer to the ITS staff for repairs. Neha Nataraju, a first-year studying business administration and participating in Carolina Away, said she had to drive about six hours total to drop off and pick up her Carolina Computing Initiative laptop that had arrived nonfunctional or pay a fee to have it shipped. 

She said she was a little frustrated by the process, but thought that the ITS workers were supportive. 

“The people who worked in the ITS desk were very nice,” Nataraju said. “They were very understanding. Just the procedures and the standard they have to follow to get everything done is a little bit tedious and redundant.”

Towne said students with laptops through CCI should know that the warranties they received with their grants are still in place. 

For students with other laptops, she said, any repairs will come at a fee. Online functions are available for free to all students. 

But, for the first time this year, ITS is offering loaner laptops to both CCI and non-CCI students who use their services, Towne said. 

“We do acknowledge that with the computer labs not being open, there are some times where a student may end up in an emergency situation, and we don't want that to be the case,” Towne said. 

Bolish said that he wanted to emphasize how much both divisions of ITS are willing to work with students to help them get the services they need. 

“Call and chat,” he said. “Call and/or chat. They're going to find a way to get you to the place that you need to be to get the service you need.”

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