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Adjusting to the life of a college student is difficult and overwhelming, only if you let it be. Seeking help through online tools is the best way to alleviate the stresses that come along with managing your student life as well as your personal life. I have compiled a list of the three most helpful online tools that I believe all college students should benefit from.
One note
OneNote alone offers a plethora of great tools for college students to utilize. OneNote strives to make note taking and notebook organization a lot less stressful by providing specific features to save time and reduce the amount of unnecessary work we are giving ourselves. After conducting further research on guidingtech.com; I narrowed down the list to three beneficial features.
1. Note Taking Time Saver
OneNote allows for a place to store and type up your notes on a laptop or mobile device. Not only can you type your notes, but you can also record audio and video, in which OneNote would then transform the recordings to text. This would be both a huge time saver as well as aid in a more precise recollection of a lecture.
2. Organization
OneNote also allows you to effectively organize your notes. The section grouping feature allows you to separate your notes by class, subject, term, or whatever best fits your needs. You can create as many different sections as you would like, ensuring an organized digital notebook.
3. Math calculations
The math calculations feature is specifically unique to OneNote and leaves all other online math tools in the dust. OneNote allows you to type in a any math formula or equation and will provide further help and explanation on the given equation and how to find its answer. Though typing math formulas can be a grueling process in itself, which is why OneNote allows you to draw the formula on a tablet or mobile device. From there, the formula will be transformed to text and OneNote will provide you with its knowledge.
Below I've attached a great video on learning the basics of OneNote for students.
IFTTT
After coming across the article “The Best IFTTT Recipes for Saving and Managing Your Money”, I immediately knew that this was an online tool I needed to share with other college students. For many students money is a sore subject, though there are online tools that can be utilized to help make things easier. Below are three ways that IFTTT, otherwise known as If This Then That, can help you better manage your money.
1. Saving money
IFTTT allows you to track when prices drop on items you want to purchase. For instance, Best Buy has its own channel on IFTTT so you would be able to create a recipe to get emails every time specific items drop in price. Essentially this feature is displaying ‘if Best Buy products drop in price, then email me the updates'. This would especially come in handy when buying on a student budget and needing to purchase new and expensive technology for school.
2. keeping track of spending
IFTTT can also be utilized to keep track of spending, for college students this is a great way to stay on top of your funds and aid in budgeting and/or saving your money. To do this, all you will need to do is take a photo of your receipts and place them into a specific photo album on your mobile device. From there, IFTTT will transfer these receipts to a google spreadsheet. In this case the IFTTT recipe would be ‘if receipt is captured and placed into said album, then transfer details in a google spreadsheet.
3. Freebies!
Who doesn’t love getting things for free? A certain recipe on IFTTT allows you to be notified when apps, games, or music go from paid to free in the app store. The specific recipe would be ‘if an iPhone app goes from paid to free, then notify me’. I’ll have the recipe linked below and I highly suggest checking out all that IFTTT has to offer while on the site.
The final online tool worth mentioning is LinkedIn. After reading the article “44 Social Media Tools Recommended by the Pros” I became more familiar with the LinkedIn platform and concluded that this is a great tool for students preparing for their future careers. LinkedIn can be accessed both from laptop/desktop and mobile/smart devices. LinkedIn is a large professional community that allows you to search for jobs and internships, find people you know within your career field, and to learn new skills.
College students are completing their education all the while preparing for their future careers. It is never too early to get connected and to put yourself out into the community. This online tool is great for just that; building and strengthening professional relationships, becoming involved in your careers community, and to learn from other professionals in your field.
Originally published Sept 22, 2021
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