With the outbreak of the coronavirus in the United States, Kent State and other universities face the challenge of adjusting to the new normal.

As the university finishes the remainder of the spring semester through remote instruction, it’s offering students access to essential software for coursework free of charge through the end of the semester.

“We are well aware that a lot of students have purchased Adobe for their own systems. We’re also aware of a lot of students who rely on the labs to do their work in Adobe,” said Jay Frye, director of IT service management. 

“When Adobe made this available and we had to begin teaching remotely, we knew some students were going to be at a disadvantage, so we wanted to make sure those students could continue to do their schoolwork,” Frye said.

Student success remains the focus of the university as it transitions to what is the new norm.

“What we’re trying to do is help those students who aren’t able to purchase it and who had to rely on the labs to continue doing their schoolwork,” Frye said.

Adobe is free to download until the license expires on May 31, but the university remains ready for the possible extension of use.

“We will push Adobe on that if the pandemic goes beyond that, we’ll try and work with them to try and get that extended,” said Aaron Near, manager of information technology.

The Division of Information Technology offers step-by-step instructions for students to download and install Adobe.

“We have a support article on our HelpDesk website, which will take them to the landing page and direct them on how to sign in, how to download the software for their computer, be it Windows or Mac,” Near said.

For students dealing with issues downloading software or general tech help, Frye suggests the HelpDesk.

“Those folks are really well-equipped to help get software installed. If you need additional help, the training.kent.edu folks are certified Adobe instructors,” Frye said.

The university also announced that several platforms the university utilized would be available to students free of charge, including Pearson, Cengage and SAGE.

In emails sent to faculty, Pearson and Cengage offered use of digital materials through the remainder of the semester free of charge and SAGE offered free use of e-texts.

Dylan Bowers covers tech. Contact him at [email protected].