The Michigan Daily interviewed Ravi Pendse, vice president of IT and chief information officer, on May 22 to discuss remote learning, online safety, and mental health amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Within a matter of a few days, we literally held hundreds of Canvas and all other technology training sessions so that our faculty members and students who needed help, had help available,” Pendse said about ITS’s response to the abrupt shift to online learning.
Addressing online safety, Pendse explained that everyone plays a part in keeping U-M secure and practicing cyber safety is each person’s responsibility. He also reminded us that during times of social isolation, it’s important to check in on one another.
“From time to time, I will reach out to many of my staff members and simply ask them, ‘Hey, how are you doing?’ It’s only two minutes of asking them if they’re fine, but it can make a world of difference to the other person because we don’t really know what the other person is going through. These kinds of touchpoints are really important for each other.”
