Working from home

Owned by Ben Beachy (Unlicensed)
Last updated: Mar 18, 2020
3 min read

Working from home offers new opportunities and challenges. We’ve put together a few tips, techniques, and tools to smooth the way.

Have tips of your own to share? Email us: helpdesk@floridapoly.edu. Have questions? Email us or call 863.874.8888.

Tips

  • Take your laptop with you: The University provides all full-time faculty and staff with a laptop—the best way to be productive wherever you are. Cultivate the habit of taking it home with you. (No University laptop? Check below for links that work in any web browser.)

  • Keep University data in University systems to ensure our information is secure and compliant with regulations. It’s simplest to use your University laptop. If that’s unavailable, essential applications are available in any web browser (see links below). Do not download University data—documents, attachments, etc.—to a personal device.

  • Practice makes perfect: It takes time to become proficient with any tools—Webox and Office 365 are no exception. Give yourself—and your coworkers—space to learn. Don’t be discouraged by a few mistakes the first time you try a new way of working.

Techniques

  • Get online, fast: For best results when working from home your internet connection should be fast and reliable. Cellular connections may work in a pinch. Avoid shared and public connections.

  • Make dedicated workspace: Create a space that’s organized for productivity—somewhere free of distractions and comfortable for all-day work. You may want to purchase your own keyboard, mouse, and monitor(s) to make your work easier.

  • Forward your phone: Look for the Forward all button on your desk phone or visit our knowledge base for a guide: floridapoly.atlassian.net/wiki/x/AgBmF .

  • Let yourself be heard: A quality headset with microphone helps you hear and be heard when chatting with your colleagues—and helps block out distractions. The earbuds that came with your smartphone may be a starting point.

  • Add video to create connection: I know what you’re thinking—I don’t like the way I look on camera either. But video brings people together in ways text or voice chat cannot. A quick Webex conference can save hours of email back-and-forth.

  • Leverage Teams: Microsoft Teams is a great way to chat, talk, video-conference, and collaborate on documents with your colleagues. Microsoft’s Teams Quick Start is available online; more training resources are linked below.

Tools

These collaboration and productivity tools are already installed on your University-provided laptop—and available online if you’re working from a personal computer. If you’re working on a smartphone or a tablet check your device’s app store.

You may use other tools in your work—Canvas, Panopto, Salesforce, and many more—and almost all of those are also available online. If a tool you rely on isn’t, please talk with your department chair or director—or contact the Helpdesk: helpdesk@floridapoly.edu or 863.874.8888.

Trainings

For Cisco Webex

For Microsoft Teams

For Microsoft Office 365