Back to School
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J. C.
Friday, 6 September 2024, 18:37
Going back to school means renewing notebooks, pens and pencils, but not exclusively. Technology has become another essential part of school life, both inside and outside the classroom. These are some of the gadgets schoolchildren may well need.
an indispensable tool for looking for information, writing projects or working remotely with classmates. However, many parents wonder about the best choice between a classic desktop, a laptop or the versatile tablet.
Laptops are ideal for those who don’t have a lot of space at home and need more power than most tablets can offer. They have a keyboard, trackpad and built-in webcam, as well as numerous ports for connecting USB sticks and external displays among other devices.
If your child only needs to surf the web and write texts, it is best to get a mid-range tablet. Many are compatible with an external keyboard and mouse.
The third possibility is to acquire a desktop computer, which could be in the form of a traditional monitor and tower, the so-called ‘all-in-one’ or the compact type. The latter do not have a screen, and can be connected to any monitor or television in the house. Meanwhile the ‘all-in-ones’ integrate monitor and processor in a single casing.
The weight of school bags, packed with books, worries parents as September arrives. One way to lighten them in the case of older students, is to opt for an electronic book or ‘eReader’: they allow thousands of digital books to be downloaded in the space occupied by a compact notebook, making them ideal for consulting all the reading recommended by teachers. Some schools are already using them as an alternative to traditional textbooks. For this, it is best to opt for a model with a backlit screen, which can be used in low light conditions.
Art students will find another indispensable companion in graphics tablets equipped with a stylus.
It is also not a bad idea to give children a monitoring wristband or a smartwatch. This way we can make sure that the child is in the classroom when they should be (through geolocation) and help them avoid a sedentary lifestyle. For many students, it is common for them to spend hours sitting down, either in class or on the sofa once they get home. Smartwatches encourage them to move and overcome physical challenges; they alert them to heart problems and even measure the quality of their sleep time for better school performance.
Revision for exams or concentrating on homework can be made a lot more bearable thanks to technology. Starting with noise-cancelling headphones, which have been all the rage for some time now. They are primarily designed for listening to music in isolation from ambient sound (by neutralising the waves picked up by the built-in microphones), but they can also be used without music. Simply put them on and activate the noise-cancelling mode to study in complete silence, regardless of whether the TV is on or someone is vacuuming.
Smart speakers are also useful while doing homework: who hasn’t had to spend more than a few minutes surfing the internet to solve a last-minute question? Alexa, Siri and company simplify the process by providing an answer within seconds: from the result of a mathematical operation to the date of an important discovery. Likewise, these speakers can help with reminders for students to take a break every so often or about the deadline for homework.
Finally, although most files are already stored in the cloud, it never hurts to have a portable hard drive on which to keep a backup copy of all the data. Especially when a teenager goes to a classmate’s house to share notes. Solid state disks, or SSDs, are now recommended as they are more resilient and faster.
Key rings (such as Apple’s Airtags) prevent children from losing their backpacks on the bus ride home: the beacon is stored in an inside pocket, so that we can check where it is at any time (on a map, via the corresponding app).
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