APU Careers & Learning

When in Doubt, Back Your Work Up

When technology works, it is one of the most useful things we can get our hands on. The problem is when a piece of technology is malfunctioning, and all our work is saved in one place.

What happens when your computer crashes in the middle of a paper? Besides getting mad at the computer and pacing up and down your room, how do you handle this type of situation? Even though mobile technology bridges the gap between time and space, it does have its quirks, but you can’t blame it for having a hiccup every now and then. Be proactive with your work, instead of angry and reactive.

As you work through an assignment try copying and pasting the questions or problems into a notes or word processing document. Write your thoughts down in one place and save a copy to your desktop, and if you have cloud storage save it there too.

Save often! I like to punctuate each thought with a CTRL + S. This way if anything happens to my network, or my neighborhood, I’m safe. It isn’t just about having to do the work over. Sometimes it’s about the first instinctual thoughts you had in response to your professors prompt. Those moments of brilliance forever lost because of a common computer error. Just like you shouldn’t yell at your table when you stub your toe on it, you shouldn’t personify your computer as something that should be punished. Use the lesson as encouragement to back-up your work while you’re working, not after the fact.

By J. Mason
Online Learning Tips Editor

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