Online Lectures and Fire Drills

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Online Lectures and Fire Drills

They don't mix.

With a few online sessions this morning I decided to be clever and book one of the small rooms in the library as I have done before. 

Tablet and keyboard were both fully charged, wireless earbuds chartered, wired ones packed along with chargers just in case. And the room has a PC. I was all set.

First meeting, couldn't get the tablet to connect to uni WiFi or Eduroam, so it's down to the PC. All good except the uni PCs don't have cameras or mics, I didn't have either with me, there is only so much a girl can pack just in case. Struggled through the first meeting using the chat function, but it wasn't ideal.

For the second training, I started off on the PC but then managed to connect the tablet, all good, all set. The tutor had just begun, and I was set, earbuds in, sound and mic working, and camera filming. 

Then an awful loud high-pitched noise, were my earbuds playing up? no, it was the fire alarm. I was next to the fire exit so no huge rush to get out, I hoped it was just a test. But then others started gathering their belongings. So I picked up the essentials, tablet, notepad, diary (my life is in there) and my phone (my train ticket is on there), and off I go out the fire exit. It's all good I still have internet. So there I was standing outside the library trying to find a shady spot so I could still see the screen. All was good till we had to cross the bridge, internet was a little wobbly but soon reconnected. Ten minutes later we were allowed back in, and I was settled back into the library for the training session.

These things happen and they are no one's fault, and it's reassuring to see how quickly the fire marshals cleared the building. So I'm not complaining, and to be fair in 4 years at the university, this is only the 3rd time I have dropped on with an alarm and evacuation.