Category Archives: technology

parenting, tech gadgets, technology

A Parent’s Guide to Gaming

gaming

In today’s digital age, gaming has become an integral part of many teenagers’ lives. From immersive virtual worlds to adrenaline-pumping multiplayer battles, gaming offers a vast array of experiences. However, with this digital immersion comes potential risks that parents need to be aware of. As a parent, it’s crucial to ensure that your teenager stays safe while gaming. Here are some tips to help you navigate this virtual landscape and foster a secure gaming environment for your child.

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homeschooling, parenting, tech gadgets, technology

Homeschooling Help from Technology

homeschooling

If you’re homeschooling your child, then one of the advantages already at your disposal is the fact that you are able to use as wide a range of teaching styles and methods that suit your needs. Given how children can take to different methods of learning with different levels of effectiveness, finding the tools that work best for your child can be very important, indeed. Whether you’re looking to switch tracks to methods that might work for your child a little better, or you just want to supplement your existing homeschooling methods, here are some of the advantages of relying a little more on tech.

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online learning, technology

Technology Tips When Attending Online Classes

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technology

If your student is attending school online or pursuing an online degree, the challenges of doing coursework online can be daunting. First there’s a learning curve to adapt to not being in the classroom. Then you have to deal with technology and all the problems that often arise.

Your computer equipment may be outdated and not up to the standards required for zoom classes and accessing online material. Your Wi-Fi connection moves at the pace of a snail. Not to mention the new software tools you are utilizing are complicated and tough to comprehend. In the absence of an information technology department, you are left to solve any technological issues.

When attending class online, some of the most common technology-related challenges that we encounter include unreliable internet connections, poor-quality video calls, software applications that are structured in such a way that they are excessively restrictive, and uncomfortable workstations. Our overall productivity is lowered as a result of all of these impediments.

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parenting, technology

5 Cybersecurity Tips for Your Student

cybersecurity

As your kids grow, you most likely have bought them one device or another for their education and leisure. If you have, it’s never too early to start teaching them the importance of being security conscious.

Cybersecurity awareness must be continuous, especially as your kids get older. If your kids are in college, they may be at an even higher risk of a security breach because, as students, they may have a large amount of personal information online, which can be valuable to hackers. According to statistics, students aged 20 years and younger fall prey too often. So, here are some practical cybersecurity tips for your college kids. 

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parenting, technology

What Parents Can Do to Teach Internet Safety

 

internet safety

The world has changed tremendously.

Decades ago, the word ‘Internet’ did not even exist in the dictionary. Now look at us:  Humanity now seems to need the Internet as much as the very air we breathe.

The birth of the World Wide Web has ushered in a plethora of possibilities. With a simple tap of your Smart Phone you can get access to any information, link up to anyone and become literally anything you wish to be.

However, as much as the internet has a lot of advantages, so does it have its cons.

Nowadays, children barely out of Kindergarten are granted access to the web. They are exposed to all sorts of materials without supervision and sadly most parents remain apathetic to the potential dangers lurking in the online world.

What can parents do to teach their children about internet safety?

Our children are the future.

They are the edifices to our foundations and as such, we owe it not only to them, but also to ourselves to give them a dignified and hopeful future.

In order to protect our kids from the dark aspects of the web, we must ensure that they are Cyber Security aware.

The first thing you need to do is to properly educate your children. Proper communication goes a long way so you will need to enlighten them about the dangers and risks of the online world.

Kids do not do what they are told, but imitate what they see

You cannot expect your children to follow your words of caution if you yourself continue to throw caution to the wind.

All too often, kids do not know how to properly create a safe online environment for themselves because no one has shown them how, so they would rather imitate what they see around them, and as a result, they could fall victim to all sorts of malicious schemes and plots online.

Children who reveal too much information about themselves online could end up being susceptible.  They could be stalked, bullied or worse: Their accounts could be hacked and they could become victims of identity theft.

Sadly, you yourself could unknowingly be teaching your kids to be vulnerable and reckless online.

At a young age, a child’s vulnerability is at its peak: They are easily influenced and ready to absorb information like a sponge.

According to Research, a lot of parents post far too much personal information about themselves and their family online.

This is not only unwise, but could lead to disastrous consequences.

What’s the solution? Practice what you preach!

The first thing you need to do is to work on yourself by educating yourself and engaging in good security practices.

Our kids mirror our behaviors. If they observe their parents taking the proper precautions like instituting rules to eliminating rogue downloads, they will most likely pick up the habit.

As a parent, you must ensure to introduce security concepts to your child and the earlier the better! A five your old is not too young to be taught the basic concepts of cyber security. All you need to do is to enlighten them in the most fun and engaging way possible.

Older children should not be left out. They should be taught to treat cyber security as they would real life security related situations.

Manage your child’s screen time

In order to ensure that your children do not stray you must remain vigilant and monitor their online activities.

Perhaps you could consider limiting the number of devices accessible to them; cut off the gadgets they don’t need.

Now, thanks to the improvement in technology, you can keep tabs on their activities on the phones and computers: Take for instance the Apple IOS devices and some Android tablets which allow restrictions on app usage.

Now, new Models of windows Computers and Apps come with built in parental controls which allow you to limit the amount of computer time each user account has per day and which applications they have access to.

Cyber security awareness isn’t something you could just instill overnight. It is a gradual process that evolves with time and Technology. The best way to stay safe online is to continue to engage in good security practices.

If a child is smart enough to work his/her way around a Smartphone, then he/she is old enough to be educated about cyber security.

careers, technology

The Pros and Cons of a Digital Career

 

digital career

With the Millennials and Generation Z becoming more and more tech-savvy, there’s no doubt that a digital career is something most young people could consider. After all, in a world where people buy, talk, and organize their appointments through the simple principle of clicking their way through the web from their smartphone, now is the best possible time to embrace a digital career – or to study towards one. However, before encouraging your kids down to the path of digital technology, it’s probably a good idea to consider the advantages and inconveniences of studying for a digital career. Given the current costs of studies – including tuition fees and the cost of living – it’s important that you know whether this is the right decision for your child.

#1. Digital careers are trendy

With most things living in the digital sphere nowadays, you don’t need to think for long to understand how trendy digital careers are. While some digital careers seem to have fallen into oblivion, there are still career paths that continue to thrive despite the constant changes in the digital technology. For instance, careers that relate to security, and especially the analysis of potential risks and identification of targets for hackers, are a staple of the digital industry. As long as the information exists online, there will be cybercriminals. Additionally, careers in data management continue to attract newcomers, because it’s a never-ending path. Indeed. With the growth of the Internet of Things, companies collect more and more data, which needs to be interpreted and organized in a meaningful way for business intelligence processes. Data is only valuable if it can be read and understood for future decisions. Additionally, careers that specialize in the design of technology, either from a product’s perspective or in the nano branch will impact on the evolution of our economy and health system in future years.

#2. High-end skills are expensive

However high the demand is for specific digital skills, it seems that the study costs are following the same pattern. In fact, it’s not uncommon for students to struggle with credit debts as they try to manage their tuition fees, the cost of living and the cost of studies equipment. As repair.credit notes, the most effective way to tackle your finances is to accept the debt and consider debt consolidation to manage repayments. So debt is unavoidable unless you come from a wealthy family. But, according to springboard.com a digital career such as digital analyst can be extremely lucrative so that it can help to repay your student debts faster. With an average entry-level salary of $50,000 to $75,000, data analysts are paid well above the median household salary in the U.S. The same argument applies to a variety of technical digital careers, excluding digital marketing.

#3. Digital technology moves faster than studies

Unfortunately, digital technology moves extremely fast, so that it’s likely that your digital degree may be outdated by the time you come out of university. In 28% of graduates feel that their digital study courses were outdated and didn’t prepare them adequately to the expectations of the modern world. Across the world, similar complaints can be heard in the USA, in Europe and Asia. In fact, while studying digital technology opens the path to an exciting career, it is pointless without proper work experience.

In a word, a digital career offers the promise of high-paid jobs, but it comes at the risk of encountering debts and coming across outdated knowledge. Tread carefully on the digital path!

technology

How Technology Hurts (and Helps) Our Students

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technology

If you’re a parent, you might be behind the curve when it comes to using technology. My three year old grandson knows more about apps than I do. My six year old grandson is constantly saying things like, “Let’s google it”, or when I get lost, he asks, “Why didn’t you use Waze?”. There’s no question that technology is woven throughout the fabric of our lives.

I can’t even imagine what my grandchildren’s lives will be like in high school and college as technology becomes more and more available and user-friendly as a tool for education. But at what price? Adults growing up in a non-technology world notice a few key elements in education that might be missing with the introduction of technology:

  • The written word on paper is becoming extinct. Perhaps this is an out of date method of communication but the computer has replaced hand-written papers and essays. What does this mean? If a student can’t read cursive, how will she be able to read historical documents? Since everything is stored online or in the cloud, what happens to history when these things are compromised or crashed?
  • No need to learn or remember simple math skills. Most children today have no idea how to solve problems without a calculator. They can’t count change without the cash register telling them how to do it. Basic math skills and techniques aren’t being absorbed by students because they have the fallback of technology.
  • It negates real social interaction and communication. Just observe a group of students. Every one of them is on a smartphone or some sort of electronic device. They even text one another in the group. Eye contact is not met. There is no real-life social interaction or communication. Take away the device and they don’t know how to communicate.
  • It discourages problem solving. Every answer to every question can be found online. There’s no need to find a creative way to solve a problem. Someone else has done it and posted it on YouTube.
  • It causes distractions. Technology can be distracting. For instance, you are working on your homework, doing a Google search and something catches your eye. It takes you down a rabbit hole and 30 minutes later you still haven’t completed your homework.

But in spite of all of these negative factors, technology is here to stay. It’s a part of our lives and is working its way into the classroom. Educators are looking for ways to integrate technology with education. In a recent article on Studypool, experts, including myself, weighed in on Technology in the Classroom:

“Technology and education don’t have to be at odds with one another. In fact, technology can enhance lessons and classroom experiences, engaging students with the materials and instilling a passion for learning that will carry through long after they have moved on to the next stage in their lives. That doesn’t have to mean integrating every single “new and improved” tool that crosses your path, but it does mean that educators need to be students themselves, always learning more about the tools being introduced so thoughtful, meaningful technological tools that enhance today’s experience can be used appropriately at every grade level.”

tech gadgets, technology

Tips for Buying a Laptop for Your Student

 

buying a laptop

Access to computing power is an essential for any scholar heading to college. When those Black Friday sales begin to show up, then, you may be inspired to act quickly, and pick up a deal. It might work out well. There’s plenty of room for mistakes, however. It’s important to do your homework before you commit yourself to buying a laptop.

First, talk to the school

When a student uses a computer at college, he or she needs it to connect to the school’s network, and the network at the library. When there is a problem connecting, the tech support department at the college needs to be able to help.

With a view to keeping the tech support complexities involved to a minimum, educational institutions tend to limit themselves to providing support for one operating system. Should a student come in with an operating system that the school isn’t prepared for, there is little support likely to be available.

College courses can come with special computing requirements, as well. It’s important to keep those in mind.

Talking to the school can come with practical benefits, as well. You may learn that the school has a discount program for its students. You could get both the laptop and all the software needed, at low, negotiated prices. School-sourced computers come with easy-to use warranties, as well.

 If what the college supplies isn’t good, get your own

When colleges offer deals, they tend to be on good models. Sometimes, however, colleges do lose the plot. Whatever model the college offers, you want to look through the specifications, and make sure that there’s nothing wrong with them. If they seem less than adequate, there are always plenty of quality, cheap laptops available online. You only need to make sure that what you get is compatible with the school’s needs and abilities.

Here’s what you should look for

If the school asks for a Windows or Linux laptop, these come cheaper now than ever before, and you can get astounding quality and performance at no more than a few hundred dollars. If you can afford it, you want to choose nothing less than a 1080p, IPS LED screen that offers sharp resolution and wide viewing angles. An Intel Core i5 processor for processing power, 8 GB RAM for speed, a 2 GB graphics card that keeps up with moderate demands, a 1 TB hard drive for storage, and a backlit keyboard for nighttime work. A capacious battery is a great plus. If it’s a Mac that’s required, the choices tend to be clearly stated.

Ask the student that you’re buying for

The school’s recommendations may help you learn about the minimum requirements for the course. Such a computer may not meet the minimum requirements that the kid has in mind, however. If it’s a gaming enthusiast that you’re buying for, it’s a whole other ballgame.

Many students heading out to college decide to buy two computers: a light, inexpensive laptop for everyday work at college, and a powerful desktop for gaming purposes. Only a desktop can handle a gaming-level graphics card, after all. In some cases, a desktop maybe all a student wants.

Buying a fine laptop isn’t hard work. You only need to head in armed with information.

______________________

Today’s guest post is from Aimee Kirk. She has some extra time on her hands now the kids are grown, her youngest now at college. So she is spending that time writing articles and has taken up a new hobby in the form of digital art.

tech gadgets, technology

Tech Advances That Benefit Students

 

techSlowly high school is trickling to an end. Many parents and students are already waist deep in the college application process. Unfortunately, simply receiving that much anticipated college acceptance letter does not inevitably lead to a joyous (and expensive) graduation ceremony. Getting into college, in some ways, is the easiest step.

According to US News, one in three freshman drop out of college within their first year. And to make matters more dire, some national universities only have a retention rate of 58%. While students drop for a variety of reasons, recent technological advancements can help students at least ensure they do not drop out due to academic difficulty. Here are a few pieces of modern marvels that students might want to consider investing in:

Gamification of Education

As a student, nothing is more aggravating than doing homework, discovering you did every single problem wrong, figuring out what you did wrong, and then remembering you know have an ‘F’ that will drag down your grade. It’s aggravating and demoralizing. You might ace the test, but it might not be enough.

One solution is to ensure you’re enrolled in classes that utilizes technology and gamification to help students learn. Many on campus and on-line courses utilize a personalized learning environments to guide students through their coursework without penalizing them for not getting it right the first time. ASU has branched out by incorporating into many of their Astronomy and History classes online personalized learning environments.

The Astronomy course, HabsWorldBeyond, presents complicated math problems and then allows you to create a hypothesis, test the hypothesis, and then discover exactly where your calculations went wrong. The end goal here is to learn. Not to understand complicated concepts from the get-go. (I would recommend trying to sign up for courses that utilize some type of gamification.)

Students can also stream line the learning process by picking up educational tabletop games. Rather than spending hours building flash cards and trying to will yourself to memorize them, you can pick up a game that will allow you to actively engage with and/or utilize that knowledge.

Here are a few educational games to check out:

  • Covalence: A Molecule Building Game by Genius Games
  • Meltdown: A Cooperative Chemistry Game By Play EFG
  • Antimatter Matters: A Quantum Physics Board Game (Really!) by Elbowfish

You might also check out if you can find any board games in a language you are attempting to learn. Instead of getting an English version of Monopoly or Catan purchase a Spanish, German, French version.

Smart Pens

Smart pens (AKA digital pens) can revolutionize how students take, store, and find class notes. Instead of lugging around a heavy laptop or carrying around five different notebooks. The student just carries a lightweight pen and one notepad.

Everything written with the digital pen is stored in the smart device and can be transferred over to one of their electronic devices. Once transferred over, the software and apps created in conjunction with the pen can be used to turn their hand-written notes in text. The notes can then be transferred to whatever word processor the student prefers. (And at that point students can sort the notes by subject.) The text version of the notes can then be quickly searched with a simple Control F when the student needs to study or complete assignments.

Some smart pens even have the added capability of taking audio recordings as the student which can then be played back allowing individuals to hear the lecture while looking at the attached notes. If you’re interested in further research on smart pens here are a few models if you might want to check out)

Recording Devices

Recording devices are valuable tools in their own right and far cheaper at this point than a smart pen. Just as re-reading a book can lead to a more advanced understanding with each exploration, re-listening to lectures can grant greater understanding of the subject matter with each listen.

They’re particularly useful when trying to learn a new language (something that many majors require). Sometimes in language classes (particularly higher level ones where the professor won’t speak English) re-listening can help by allowing students to look into words, phrases, and concepts that went right over their head the first time around.

If you do decide to invest in a recording device, you might want to hold off on recording any of the lectures in small classrooms until you can ask for the professor’s permission.

Apps

As of July 2015, both the Android and Apple app stores had over 1.5 million apps. While downloading the latest free game of the week, future and current students might want to search for apps that can help them study, complete their assignments, and supplement their education. I imagine at this point, if you think of an educational topic and then think, I wish there was an app for that, there probably is an app for that.

There are flash card apps that help students study without investing money and time to creating paper flash cards.

There are apps to help students with their math homework. Students scan the math problem or input the math problem and the app creates a step by step solution to the problem. While the apps can be used to cheat, more savvy and dedicated students can utilize them to ensure their problems are correct and discover where they might have gone wrong.

Finding apps that offer knowledge or simulations of the subject matter they are taking can be a good supplement. These astronomy apps might be useful for students enrolled in an astronomy course.

The successful completion of college can be a difficult endeavor. Students can’t always control all aspects of their life that might derail their college education, but they can give themselves the best chance to succeed academically by investing some of their funds or just some of their time finding the right technology to supplement their education.

_________________

Today’s guest blogger, Samantha Stauf, was a first generation college student. Since Samantha graduated two years ago, she’s spent her free time writing articles meant to help current students succeed. You can find her on Twitter at the hashtag @samstauf.

technology

Protect Your Tech at College

 

tech at college

Young people love their tech, and love sharing content — movies, music, pictures, software and games, not to mention information for classwork and projects. They also go all over the Internet to make purchases, sign up to websites and access information, often putting important personal and financial data online. The fact that most colleges do not offer great Internet in dorms or on campus can only mean that there’s often a great deal of sharing that goes on.

The problem is that as tech savvy as college students usually are, they haven’t had much experience facing up to the consequences of carelessness. Malware infections could wipe out important data, projects included, lose people money, and spread among friends.

There is of the problem of actual theft and damage, too

Hundreds of colleges publish detailed antitheft guides for the benefit of students. They do it because it’s a prevalent problem — each campus reports around 100 laptop test thefts each year. Libraries, study areas and cafés tend to be high-risk areas.

Colleges aren’t well-prepared

Going by a study by BitSight Technologies, colleges simply aren’t well-prepared when it comes to protecting the interests of their students when they use their tech in college. Not only do college students experience high levels of infections by trojans, worms and viruses, there is often the possibility of adware infection, as well. Surprisingly, Apple computers, which tend to be popular on campuses, tend to be particularly under assault with malware such as Flashback that is specific to OS X. Colleges are not particularly well-prepared against physical theft, either. Most colleges do not buy insurance to cover their students. It’s every man for himself.

Students, who tend to be under considerable financial strain paying for college, can hardly afford to have their tech stuff damaged by malware, to lose money to identity theft (which tends to be a particularly serious problem in Britain), or to lose or break their stuff. It’s important to take precautions. 

Protecting your tech against online attacks

Malware: Colleges tend to offer students free anti-malware scanning and security software such as antivirus. It’s always a good idea to ask for it, rather than pay. When it comes to mobile devices, it’s important to use devices that haven’t been jailbroken or rooted. These processes can undermine inbuilt security measures. It is also important to learn how to discriminate between good software and bad (usually free) software.

Theft of financial information: Since students tend to do a lot of their internet use at public access points such as cafés and libraries, they tend to be exposed to a far greater level of risk than people who do their work at home. It’s important to remember to never access bank accounts or use credit cards at public places. It’s a far better option to do such work on a safe, personal connection — such as might be provided on a mobile Internet access plan. 

Protecting your tech against physical damage

College tech stuff tends to not be very long-lived. Whether it is dropping a laptop or gaming console or spilling liquid in one, bad things happen to good equipment in colleges. Improper use is also a prevalent problem. Students, for instance, may attempt to save money on their personal printers by using ink refill kits, or purchasing remanufactured cartridges at stationery stores. It’s a far better idea both for print quality and equipment life to simply look for discount cartridges online. Discount HP, Epson and Canon ink cartridges can be sourced here, for instance.

Protecting against theft

Finally, making sure that no one steals your stuff comes down to simple common sense — you don’t want to leave your equipment in a dorm room that isn’t locked, or leave it on a table at the library when you go to the bathroom. Theft is common.  Installing encryption and tracking software can be a good idea, too, if someone does get their hands on your computer.

John Sollars started Stinkyink.com in 2002, a printer cartridge supplier in the UK. He knows a thing or two about printing and he enjoys sharing his ideas and insights online through blogging.e