According to Longman definition of a student, a student is a person studying at a university or any higher institution.
The outbreak of the coronavirus all over the world in 2019/2020 made the importance of digital tools and kits for students evidently clear. In Nigeria, the aftermath of the pandemic has made the government and various heads of different schools recommend and push for the adoption of digital tools and kits among students; as digital tools help in improving the administration of academic processes, enhancing collaboration, and facilitating smooth communication between teachers and students.
What Are Digital Kits?
Digital kits are electronic tools that are designed for individuals in different fields. Digital tools and kits have become a basic asset to all students as we live in a digital world which advances every day and seeks to make the lives of students easier. There are a plethora of digital tools available for students in Nigeria.
Examples Of Digital Tools: Applications
• Google Classroom
Google Classroom is a free web service created by Google primarily for schools. The main purpose of the web service is to streamline the process of file sharing between teachers and students. The service was first developed on the 14th of January 2015. It integrates docs, sheets, slides into a cohesive platform to help manage teacher and student communications. Some of its features include assignments, grading, communication, mobile applications, originality report, etc. Google classroom has been a tremendous digital tool for Nigerian students as it makes life relatively easy for them.
• edX
Created by Harvard and MIT in 2012, edX is an American massive online course provider. It hosts online courses in various disciplines to students all over the world. Some of its courses are free while most are paid and upon completion, a certificate is issued. Nigerian students are not left out as many young Nigerian students especially university students frequent edX and its services. There are more than 3000 courses on edX, therefore it is the go-to place when sourcing for knowledge.
• Solo learn
Solo learn is an app that teaches how to code. It is available on Android, iOS, and the web. It is a community-based learning platform that offers free courses. It allows users to learn various programming languages through a series of short courses, code challenges, and quizzes. A major plus is its adoption of a student-centric open crowd learning rather than the conventional institutional instructor-centric learning.
• Evernote
Evernote is a cross-platform developed by the Evernote Corporation. It is an app designed for capturing ideas, note-taking, task management and it also serves as a digital file cabinet.
The app allows users to create notes which can be in audio forms, images, and text drawings. It proves a handy digital kit for Nigerian students due to the information and services made available.
• Dictionary
A dictionary which is also called a wordbook is a collection of words from one or more languages. It can be in book form arranged orderly in alphabetical order or in a digital form. The listings include spellings, pronunciation guides, history, and definitions. One of the great things about a dictionary is how you can learn so much about a topic without discomfort. English has many dictionaries and some excellent ones are;
– Oxford Dictionary – For enhanced clarity, oxford dictionary features pictures, synonyms, audio pronunciations, and usage of those words in examples. It defines words in both American and British English.
– Google Dictionary – Renowned as one of the most all-encompassing online word dictionaries, google dictionary provides features like synonyms, antonyms, and audio pronunciations. It displays the present tense, past tense, present participle, and past participle of words.
– Wiktionary – Wiktionary provides outstanding features like etymology, pronunciation, anagrams and autosuggestions.
Examples Of Gadgets Students Should Have
• Smartphone – A smartphone is a portable device that makes it possible to always be in touch. Smartphones have multimedia features that include listening to music, watching movies, and reading e-books. It allows easy access to the internet, phone calls, and sending of emails. With a smartphone, you can access anything as long as you have the required applications and a good internet connection.
• Portable phone charger (Power bank) – A portable phone charger which is also called a power bank is a reusable battery that can be used to charge various devices like a smartphone or a laptop in the absence of electricity. They come in a variety of forms and battery capacities that is measured in milliamp-hours. The battery capacities range between 2,000mAh to 5,000mAh. As a student, owning a portable phone charger is recommended because smartphones do not have a long life span and It is convenient for carrying around in school bags and purses while some might just fit into your pockets ensuring that no matter where you are you’d never worry about a low battery.
• Hard drive
Hard drive is a hardware component of a computer used to store digital information ranging from pictures, documents, music, and videos. It is a handy digital tool because of its vast memory, some containing as much space as a terabyte. It is easy to carry about in bags and purses and is connected to smartphones and laptops with the use of USB cables. If you have large data to store, you can purchase a wireless external hard drive.
As a student, you can transfer all your study materials to these storage devices to keep your information safe from system crash or theft.
• Calculator
A calculator with more than basic arithmetic functions (+, -, x, /) is often marked as “scientific”. It usually can compute goniometric functions, logarithms, powers, and roots. Sometimes it is programmable, i.e it allows to store a sequence of calculations and then repeat it with different numbers. It has a higher range, using exponential notation. Anybody who performs calculations with those functions would need it. They are usually scientists, researchers, engineers, and students. Although today, there are scientific calculator applications for mobile phones; students may not be allowed to use their phones during tests whereas the calculators are allowable.
As a student, Digital kits have been made easily accessible to make life easier. These tools work in handy and brings about comfort and efficiency.
