A lot can change in a span of a year, what more in a decade? Studying patterns can show much student habits have been changing every year. No longer do we type essays with typewriters and have progressed nor we abuse the use of card catalog in libraries.
It’s easy to hate how students seem to be having the time of their lives in school. Everything is definitely a lot more convenient. They relish in tolls and systems we wish existed back when we were still students. But instead of thinking they’re getting lazy, just hope that students learn to properly utilize all the resources available to them.
1. The internet provides great resources for learning materials.
Need a textbook for your school paper? You no longer have to scour every nearby library. Most books are already available in ebook format, and thankfully, some are already free. With just a few clicks online, you can already download the book or even easily find which library can provide it. Google Scholar, Project Gutenberg, Tuebl.ca and Open Access are just some of the best online academic resources.
2. Students no longer have to write their school papers by hand.
Remember when we had to write a ten-page paper? By the sixth page, your fingers are all ready to fall off. No matter how prepared you are, you had to cram writing essays and research papers because there are too many pages to right. But now, with the help of a computer and a might keyboard, typing makes essay writing a lot easier. Many professors prefer to receive due essays through email, instead of receiving hard copies of their students’ essays.
Though of course, typing 50 pages isn’t that easy as well. But imagine writing that freehand?
3. There are numerous convenient ways to communicate with classmates.
From Yahoo Groups we’ve now progressed to Facebook groups. MIA groupmates can easily be contacted through their Facebook account, and contacting others through text messages are easier. Every month, there seems to be a new messaging app that promises better features. There are less and less excuses for delinquent groupmates to not attend meetings. How can they not know about it when it’s posted on Facebook and the meeting time is disseminated through text message?
4. Jotting down notes is easy-peasy.
Thanks the invention of laptop, there’s rarely a college student who doesn’t take down notes using it. It’s not just laptop, too, tablets and iPads have made it more convenient to take down notes anytime, anywhere. Useful apps out there include Evernote that allows users to access their notes in multiple formats.
5. They can resort online for supplementary lessons.
Sometimes, the class lectures and textbook aren’t enough to help you understand a difficult lesson. Thank god for the likes of Youtube where educational vlogs can be found. There are different channels for every subject, and these are thought by professionals, too! Be it Science or Math, there’s a Youtube channel out there who can make algebra seem like the easiest subject on earth.
6. Educational tools are easily available online.
From grammar checker to mind mapping tools to interactive math websites, the internet can be a student’s second classroom. For a student who considers writing as his handicap, there are writing tools that can help with editing like LanguageTool.org or seek professional editing services from sites like RushEssay.com. For those who want to improve their arithmetic skills, AAA Math will be perfect for them.
Thankfully, most of the advantages students experience right now are something even those who are out of school can experience. After all, learning is a continuous process, and if you want to learn something new, only you stop yourself from doing so.
