Technology must-haves for Tertiary students

Adapted from http://www.usnews.com/blogs/professors-guide/2009/11/11/10-technology-must-haves-for-college.html

 

8 Technology Must-Haves for ECE Student Teachers

 

1. Desktops, Laptops, Tablets and Netbooks. Every student ought to have at least access to really good computer. You can usually access these at your campus or local library. Having your own is a very worthy investment in your future. It will make your life as a student so much easier. Whether you buy a PC or a Mac is a personal choice and wont really affect your study at all. I love the simple beauty and efficiency of Apple and my main home computer is a Mac. But I covered my bases by also buying a small inexpensive  HP netbook that has a full size keyboard.

If you have to choose between laptop, netbook and desktop I suggest going with something portable so you can use it in classes and in your centres if you are in a field based  programme. My choice of a netbook over a laptop came down to price and portability.

Get something reliable. Look up reviews of the different products before you buy. There is a huge choice out there

 The main differences between a netbook and a notebook or laptop are cost,size and power. For most of what you are doing as a student teacher these will not be an issue, especially if you can afford to add extras (see next section). 

You will need wireless, at least 100GB memory, a longish power cord is useful for recharging in class and a carrying bad can hold all your other bits and pieces as well

5-Star Tip. Consider upgrading your netbook RAM memory to 2GB if it only comes with 1GB. You’ll notice a big difference in performance.

Tablets are now confusingly available. There is the IPad, full size and mini as well as a huge range of tablets from other manufacturers in a range of prices and sizes and now a range of laptop/tablet hybrids. 

You will need to do your homework. Think about what you need. Read reviews. Talk to other students.

Having had a 4 month loan of an IPad I can say I loved it but it did not replace my netbook. Some things such as essay writing are simply easier on a proper keyboard. Maybe the hybrid is the answer. But I love my Macs. You could of course use an adaptor to hook it up to a monitor.

2. Netbook extras (peripherals). If you opt for a netbook  you may want to consider an external DVD drive for loading up software that still comes on discs; an external 18-inch monitor (about $100; and a  keyboard and mouse (about $25), for use at home. This is much easier for assignment writing, creating learning stories etc. Much better on your body for when you have to work for a long time at the computer. Be sure to try the keyboard and mouse out for look and feel before buying.

3. USB Drive. Useful for carrying data from one computer to another. (Say, from your computer to your friend’s, or the library's computer to yours at home) There are a broad variety of models are available, in different capacities, for under $20.

4. Backup system. You know those students that say their paper is going to be late because their computer ate the data...well if they had backup scheme in place (and used it all the time) it wouldn't happen. Most convenient is to backup to an external hard drive. Choose something small and portable and don't carry it in your laptop bag or else when your laptop gets stolen you will also have lost your backup.

5. Cloud Backup. I also backup to the cloud. For me it is Dropbox. However there  are many alternatives. Most offer a small amount of storage for free - about 2GB-7GB and then you can buy more. Look at tools like Microsoft's SkyDrive and Google Drive. 

Unless you are saving photos , music or videos you wont need more than the free storage. These tools also offer applications that mean you can access your information from any computer and from your mobile devices like a smart phone or a tablet or ipod. You can also share folders and files with other people.

5. Utilities. A virus-free, spyware-free, and crap-free computer is your best friend, especially when running a little netbook. IT pays to get a good piece of software that will take care of this. I buy one. I figure that for about $80-100 a year its good insurance and keeps the computer working. I have also used some  free software in the past such as Adaware and found this excellent. Check around if using free software. Google it and check out how good it is. I try googling a phrase such as problems with (insert name of software here).

6. Word processing software. Every student is going to write assignments, which is where word processing software comes in.  Microsoft Office tends to be the standard and can be bought as an academic version which is a lot cheaper (under $200). You just need your Student ID. 

 Also you may want to consider creating a Gmail account through Google and using Google docs. This will save you time transporting papers from work to home, and you can successfully collaborate with others. You will find Firefox a better browser for Google applications. In fact Firefox is often better for many applications such as the Moodle platform my institution uses.  Its free and reliable. Download here http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/products/  Open office is free and used successfully by many students.

5-Star Tip: An absolute must for all students is a Google account. At Unitec where I work all students get a google account created for them. ( if you are a Unitec student - its your @wairaka address). It solves many of the problems around storage. From Google you can sign up to Picasa  for free and this gives you a very user friendly picture editing software plus makes it very easy to upload pictures to Google.

Extra Pointer. Writing research papers will be 100 percent easier (or at least 100 percent better organized) with reference management software. If your library doesn’t provide it cheaply or free, you’ll enjoy Endnote, Refworks, or Zotero.  In your first year keep it simple. Go to workshops offered by your institution and do the basics only. This will still save you hours of work. You WILL still need to learn how to reference because you will make mistakes at times and need to recognise when there is a mistake.

7. Compact multi-function printer. From as little as $80 you can have a machine that will print, copy and scan. Of course you can also use the facilities at your Institution so having one at home is a bit of a luxury. It is very useful though if you can afford it to have the technology at home. You can scan chapters or pages from books or journals rather than just copy them. This means you can store the information on your portable hard drive or cloud storage and have access anywhere anytime. If you have a family it means you can do this work at night and at home  rather than having to be in the library. For printing at home check  on the cost of ink. Remember that copier manufacturers dont really sell copiers, they sell ink. Thats where there money is. Scanning and storing work electronically saves ink and paper.

8. A smart phone. Now this is an extra treat rather than essential. A smart phone will give you access to your saved documents in the cloud, will allow you to listen to music, record and revisit lectures, view saved powerpoints and get articles from the library database. You can also play a range of cool games in your downtime. Even the best students need time out.

ICT addictions for preschoolers?

What do you think about allowing babies and toddlers to use tablet devices and phones?

I read this article in the NZ Herald today about technology addiction in children under the age of 5. In both the UK and the US reports have been made of  children being enrolled in expensive detox programmes when they get "increasingly distressed and inconsolable" when their iPad or smartphone is taken away from them. The article reported a recent UK survey that indicated  more than half of parents allowed their babies to play with their phone or tablet device. One in seven of more than 1000 parents questioned by babies.co.uk said they let them use the gadgets for four or more hours a day.

Now the validity of the research is not particularly evident and I would want to see some high quality research reports before I worried too much. As with many newspaper reports this one focuses on the negative and sensational figures. For example. although the idea of children using a smartphone or ipad for 4 hours a day everyday is disturbing, the UK survey also reported that 30% were using these devices for less than an hour a day and nearly one in four were using them only once a week. A lot less disturbing but not as interesting in a headline.

In the Blog reporting the survey 'use' was not defined. Were some babies holding and mouthing the phone rather than playing games? Not very hygienic but not really an issue otherwise. Was this something parents did to distract children at times such as doing up a car seat? Maybe the phone was  handy.Children want what we are using whether that is a phone, our car keys, a book or a pen and paper.

I wonder sometimes if we are too quick to get concerned about the use of such technology. Certainly in my own work I hear a lot of conversations about the students at the back of the room (and elsewhere) on Facebook during lectures. As long as they are not disturbing others is that really a problem? Is it any different from the passing of notes, games of hangman, noughts and crosses, and battleships that I recall in classrooms of my childhood - it wasn't me of course! In fact they are more likely to disturb a class because they require a partner.

Of course we all know how addicted teens are to their techie devices ( as well as many adults). Try taking a phone away from your teenager or restricting their access to Facebook if you want to see tantrums. Is it surprising that younger children who have learned to occupy themselves with the latest gadgets will also get upset if these are removed? Changes are always difficult. I suspect that parents who need to pay £16,000 ($28,800) for a 28-day "digital detox" programme in London, are  likely to be facing many other parenting challenges now and as their children grow older. I wonder if there is a hair straightener detox programme for teen girls to help them cope with the school camp where these wondrous machines are not allowed. Now there's a gap in the market.

So what do you think about allowing babies and toddlers to use tablet devices and phones?