With the start of the 2021/2022 school year fast approaching, but with e-learning and study from home still likely to be the norm, we are recommending five tech essentials for use when school resumes.
Since 2020, the words ‘back to school’ have not have the same feeling they once did. Having been on summer holidays for around two months, it can be exciting to finally be able to go back to school, start a new grade, and catch up with classmates. However, these days, thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic, we have been at home, and even when the new school year is to begin in the coming weeks, we are likely to be attending our classes at home.
Tired of the responsibilities associated with home schooling, many parents are eager for their children to return to school. Similarly, and cognisant that a wide cross-section of students across the Caribbean region do not have the resources to fully participate in online classes, ministries of education are also eager for schools to re-open. However, with COVID-19 infections currently on the rise and vaccination rates still quite low in many countries, Caribbean schools may not be able to re-open for the official start of the 2021/2022 academic year, and even if they can, it cannot be said with confidence that they will be able to remain open over the next 10 months.
It thus means that students may still need to get ready to resume online classes. However, before the new school year starts, it may be prudent to review the equipment and tools at hand, and decide whether changes, upgrades and/or replacements are needed. Below, we recommend five tech essentials that could improve studying from home.
1. Headphones
Being able to concentrate in class, whilst also being able to limit the amount of background noise that is being heard by others, is incredibly useful, and can be achieved by having a good set of headphones. Headphones tend to range in design, from the discrete wireless earbuds, to the over-the ear noise cancelling options. Some have built-in microphones, which help to concentrate the sound closest to the microphone, which can be especially useful in noisy environments.
The price for a set of headphones can vary considerably: from budget-friendly ones that are less than USD 10, to those that start at USD 200 to USD 300. However, when buying headphones, in addition to examining the features and customer reviews, it is important to keep in mind how it will be connected to your computing device, and whether your device can accommodate the type of connection needed. For example, does it require the device to have a microphone jack? Does it connect via USB? Or is it wireless?
2. Laptop or tablet computer stand
In studying at home, many of us are doing so at the dining table, but if we are lucky, we might have a desk or family home office where we can work. However, regardless of where we are stationed, the odds are that we have poor posture, and are experiencing neck and shoulder pain. Typically, the laptop or tablet computer is too low, and needs to be elevated to the point where our eyeline is one to two inches below the top of the display.
Considering the amount of time we spend hunched over our laptop or tablet computer, a portable stand that has been ergonomically designed, is essential to reduce the neck and shoulder strain we have all been experiencing. The height of some stands can be adjusted, which may make them more versatile, and the space between the base and the riser (on which the laptop sits) can be used to store notebooks, pens, headphones, etc.
3. External keyboard and mouse
If one is going to use a laptop stand as recommended, it might no longer be as comfortable to use the keyboard and mouse on the device. An external mouse and keyboard are recommended. Wireless models, which eliminate cords and the clutter, would be ideal.
In having an external keyboard and mouse, there is the opportunity to invest in ergonomic designs that reduce the stress on fingers, arms and backs. Similar to most electronic devices, the features can vary, from the most basic, to ones that have all kinds of bells and whistles you did not know were possible.
4. Multiport hub/adapter
These days, and for manufacturers to produce the lightweight and powerful computing devices that we need, they have been getting rid of seemingly non-essential features, such as the variety of ports that had become standard. Currently, and depending on the device, headphone and/or microphone jacks, USB ports, HDMI ports, microSD slot, ethernet ports, may no longer be offered.
For what few ports that remain, which on laptops may be limited to a couple of USB ports, securing a portable multiport adapter is a must. Just using one USB port, a multiport adapter may be able to offer additional USB ports, a HDMI port, an SD/Micro card reader, to name a few of the options available.
It is also important to highlight that USB hubs are available, which only provide additional USB ports. They tend to be much cheaper that the multiport adapters, but would not be as versatile, in terms of the different types of connections that can be accommodated.
5. USB flash drives
In living more and more of our lives on a computing device, the likelihood of files getting lost or corrupted is high, especially since most of us are not saving or backing up our documents as frequently as we should. To that end, we ought to get into the habit of downloading and saving important files, photos and other documents on an external device such as a thumb drive.
Thumb drives are getting cheaper by the day, and can easily rival the size of the storage offered on the typical laptop, tablet or smartphone, at the fraction of the price of those devices. Depending on the device, files can be automatically backed up to a thumb drive, or a thumb drive can be used to increase the storage available, especially when the storage on the device is nearing capacity.
Image credit: Gábor Adonyi (Pixabay); MaxPixel; Riekus (Pixabay); Adafruit Industries (flickr); Wikimedia Commons; jacqueline macou (Pixabay)
