Article by: Andrea Eldridge
Student needs to succeed are great these days. As the new school year looms, families everywhere are shopping for new computers, laptops and tablets. Yet just as no outfit is complete without the perfect shoes, there are some techno accessories that can not only simplify homework and term paper completion, but may save you from an agonizing night helping little Jane recreate the science project lost to a virus attack . Even more importantly then everything else, there are actually tools that can help aid over-all student success. Here are some must have gadgets to add to your back to school checklist.
#1 The best flash drive for students: Now that computers in the classroom are as common as pencil sharpeners were when we were in school, your kids are likely going to need a reliable way to get their ongoing projects from class, to home, and back again. A portable flash drive is a great way to keep their homework always at their finger tips. We like the cute designs offered by Emtec, since your child is more likely to keep hold of their turtle or Nemo style flash drive than a similarly priced offering from your office supply store. Not only will you rest easier knowing that there’s an available backup of your child’s ongoing projects, you just may achieve the parent nirvana of never again having to run home to retrieve Jane’s book report.
#2 An easy back up solution: If all your kids work off a single computer at home, chances are that a virus, errant soda, or hard drive failure could cause some major pain and suffering for all the members of your family. Invest in your sanity with an automatic backup drive. Clickfree Automatic Backup is an inexpensive, painless solution. Simply plug the drive into your system and it automatically tracks down over 400 different types of files such as documents, photos, music and videos. If everyone in your home hides their stuff in a different place on your computer, you won’t have to worry about missing Johnny’s year long treatise on spiders, or your husband’s irreplaceable Beatles live tracks.
#3 Backup Battery Charger: From laptops, to tablets, to Smartphones, kids these days are using all manner of handheld electronics to organize and manage their school requirements. All those goodies require power, and there’s no guarantee that there will be an outlet handy when Suzy needs to pull up last week’s English notes and discovers that her iPad has died. To prevent this from happening, use a backup battery charger. This item can be crucial for student success. You might want to consider packing the XEMax from Revolve electronics (Revolveusa.com $130, http://goo.gl/qXZAA) along with her school lunch. The Exmax is one of the few battery backup chargers strong enough to recharge a laptop, it can even power more than one device simultaneously. Save your kids the frustration of outlet camping this year, and let them spend their lunch hour doing something more productive, like catching up on the latest Justin Beiber gossip (ok, so this one might actually help social success more than student success).
#4 The Ultimate Portable Printer: Finally, while we can look forward to the paperless classrooms of the future, we aren’t there yet. It’s unlikely your child will be able to get that A he’s hoping for on his science project without a reliable printer to give life to those charts and diagrams he painstakingly created. A trip to the office supply store to stock up on ink for the old printer you’ve been nursing may cause you to reconsider the economic viability of hanging on to the old relic. If so, consider Canon PIXMA iP100 Mobile Photo Printer. This little guy can handle just about any homework assignment, print photos, and still take up less space than a Velcro Trapper Keeper. Weighing in at less than five pounds, this tiny dynamo can even get tucked into a backpack to accommodate your little procrastinator’s last minute edits. One of the smallest printers on the market, this would make a great addition to the tight quarters awaiting your college-bound teen, and the optional Bluetooth adapter will allow wireless printing from a multitude of devices.
Do you have a school year dilemma that a techno gadget may be able to resolve? Contact me at facebook and we’ll scour the internet to help ensure student success in 2011/2012.
graduation picture by: James Almond
