How can you use the computer in your academic pursuits?

Word processors

Word processors can be your best friend when it comes to taking down or referring to notes. While most systems today come with Microsoft Word preinstalled, you don’t have to worry if your system doesn’t have it. There are many word processors available online for free download such as LibreOffice Writer and WPS Office Writer. Google docs can also be used for easy sharing of notes. But if you want something that is basic, Notepad is your best option. You can use word processors to take down important notes and research points and neatly arrange them for easy reference. You can also organise the notes and take printouts or share them with your friends over email.

Presentations

Since classes are happening online these days, presentation software is in much demand. Many times your teacher might ask you to make a presentation on a topic for the class. To aid you in this effort are a plethora of presentation software. While Microsoft Powerpoint is a classic software which lets you create beautiful presentations and display to the class, there are several other free software available online for download. There are also websites such as Adobe Spark and Canva that let you create amazing presentations in a jiffy.

Presentations are a quick way to revise topics as most presentations made by the teacher or students contain important points related to a topic.

Sticky Notes

Most computers, be it with a Windows OS or a Mac OS, have gadgets or apps for sticky notes. You can list to-dos, draw up a study plan for the day and make other small notes on these sticky notes and pin them to your desktop. Every time you turn on your computer and visit the sticky notes app, you will know exactly what you need to do. Time to start planning!

Bye-bye Math fear

How does the computer help you ace in Math? Through some amazing tools and software. There are tools such as the calculator that you can use to calculate or verify your answer. The calculator also doubles as a converter where you can check for currency and weight in different measures. It can also tell you the time difference between dates. Spreadsheet software on the other hand helps you organise data while also calculating simple and complex math problems such as multiplication, cube root and the likes.

Bring out the artist in you

To channel your inner artist and to help you with poster-making and other design works, the computer offers you software such as Microsoft Paint and Adobe Photoshop. There are also open source versions such as Gimp that can be downloaded for free. Websites such as Canva and Adobe Spark also help you make posters and edit photos for free. So, what are you waiting for? Create that amazing poster and leave everyone in awe.

Towards unlimited knowledge

Undoubtedly, the biggest role the computer plays in helping with academics is the access to the Internet which is home to the World Wide Web of information. The Web has answers to almost all your queries and is your best friend when it comes to research and some extra reading.

In the next edition of Open Source, we tell you how the Internet and the World Wide Web can help you with academics.

 

Picture Credit : Google