USEFULL WEBSITES EVERY STUDENT SHOULD KNOW
IMG SOURCE: https://www.constantcontact.com/blog/how-to-market-to-college-students/
The pandemic in 2019 required the move to online education. Going online after doing face-to-face for so long was difficult. Thankfully, the internet provides us with a wealth of materials that came in handy at this time.
EdTech, an acronym for education and technology, refers to modern technical applications in the classroom, such as hardware and software. Technology is used by Massive Online Open Courses (MOOCS) to reach a huge global audience of online learners (Frankenfiel, 2022).
Here are some websites every student should know about to help them make online learning easier.
USEFUL WEBSITES FOR STUDENTS' RESEARCH OR THESIS
ResearchGate
IMG SOURCE: https://telegra.ph/ResearchGate—find-and-share-research-10-01
Looking for a website where you can access research publications for free? Or a website where you can share your research experience or get advice from other researchers? Then, ResearchGate is for you.
ResearchGate is a social networking research website for scientists and researchers where you can publish your research, find collaborations, and ask or answer questions from other researchers. It was founded in 2008 by Ijad Madisch, who is a Syrian-born German computer scientist and virologist. The website has access to over 130 million research publications and over 20 million researchers. According to Madisch, he invented the website due to the inefficiency in science where progress and data from failed research are wasted as only successful research papers are published (Hardy, 2012). Researchers also realized in the past that research was always done privately, which hindered the success rate and productivity of the study. That is why Researchgate was created to promote the concept of “open science” (Lin, 2012).
So, in short, ResearchGate is like the Facebook website for scientists and researchers because it enables a researcher to socialize and exchange information with other researchers or scientists, and they can also collaborate with each other. Also, if you belong to an institution, the website will automatically suggest peers from the same institution, which could allow you to see their publications or collaborate with them. As a result, it is extremely similar to Facebook. All you have to do is create an account and customize your profile. After that, you’re free to look through publications or work with others.
BASE (Bielefeld Academic Search Engine)
IMG SOURCE: https://www.base-search.net/about/en/privacy_statemnt.php
BASE (Bielefeld Academic Search Engine) is one of the world’s biggest search engines, focusing on academic web resources such as papers, journal articles, digital collections, images, videos, and research data. The service area is global, and the number of documents provided is 312,577,841. The number of content providers is 10,179. Furthermore, BASE provides services like content providers that are only indexed after being verified by trained staff at Bielefeld University Library. They also only include document servers and journals that meet our strict standards for academic excellence and applicability. Language-based search (find search terms in more than 20 translated languages) is also one of its features. The display of search results contains accurate bibliographic information and several sorting options (by author, title, and date). Additionally, the researcher has the opportunity to “refine your search results” (by author, subject, DDC, year of publication, content provider, language, document type, access, and terms of re-use) (Top 5 Websites for Academic Research, 2021).
Refseek
IMG SOURCE: https://i.pinimg.com/originals/f6/02/2a/f6022aaee68aee72e94253e9a926d2a0.png
Students and researchers always struggle to find the best articles and academic information for their research. That’s why refseek is here to help, refseek has been helping students since 2008.
Refseek is a web search engine for researchers and students like you that aims to make academic information easily accessible for everyone. RefSeek offers students important subject coverage without the information overflow of a general search engine. It aids students in making academic knowledge and intriguing concepts visible, which are frequently obscured by sponsored links and commercial results. More than five billion academic sources, including journals, books, websites, encyclopedias, and newspapers, are searched by RefSeek (About | RefSeek.Com, n.d.). It also offers suggestions and narrows down relevant databases to one’s needs as well as searching for online documents. In addition, its unique system provides students with complete subject coverage without the information overload of a general search engine, improving the exposure of academic knowledge and appealing ideas that are typically buried in a mix of sponsored links and commercial results.
USEFUL WEBSITES FOR STUDENTS' PRESENTATION
SlideBean
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Slidebean is a tool that makes it simpler for presenters to produce slides that appear professional. The program offers a library of design templates, a choice of high-end typefaces, and high-end color schemes that aid in defining the overall look and feel of presentations. The design of Slidebean also makes it easy to access any materials you might need to make a presentation. Users of Slidebean can also divide their work on content from their attention to design thanks to this feature. This property is advantageous since it enables people to focus on various facets of a presentation simultaneously (Slidebean Review, 2020). Moreover, Slidebean is a viable substitute for tools like Keynote and Powerpoint. Presentations are kept in sync and may be shared with anyone, whether they are using a PC, mobile phone, or tablet, even without the user’s involvement. The numerous pre-med templates allow users to create presentations without having to start from scratch, saving time and effort. Purpose-built templates also make it feasible to create pertinent presentations that comply with company criteria (Azofeifa, 2020).
The launch of Slidebean All Access was announced on April 19, 2022 by Slidebean, a comprehensive fundraising portal for companies. All Access is a comprehensive subscription to a wide range of tools and services for every stage of startup development. By adding more services for founders, this upgraded platform offering improves Slidebean’s popular pitch-deck presentation builder created for companies (Slidebean Launches “All Access” Platform Expanding Products And Services Supporting Startups, 2022).
Google slides
IMG SOURCE: https://learninginhand.com/gslides
Google Slides is the presentation software that is accessible through your Google account. The design is extremely similar to PowerPoint and is available to use for free to anyone with a Google account. G Suite, the commercial version, contains the same features but with extra storage and management capabilities (Velarde, 2022).
The use of Google Slides is quite simple. The controls resemble documents and sheets quite much. This is also for business workers, instructors, and students who require quick and simple access to productive presentation software. It also offers a few general templates, but not many. Nevertheless, presentations can be created from scratch. The graphics are average and basic. The shapes are classic and universal. You can upload photographs from your computer, Google Drive, a URL, or a web search. A YouTube link or Google Drive file can be used to upload videos. Similar to images, GIFs can be inserted. Basically, it is possible to add anything from your Google Drive. Plus, there are certain “add-ons” that may be integrated for icons, stock photos and audio are readily available. Both the transition between the slides and the elements inside each slide can be animated.
Canva
IMG SOURCE: www.canva.com
Creating social media graphics, presentations, posters, documents, and other visual content is made possible by the Australian graphic design software Canva. It is a visual design application that aims to make the digital design process simpler. With a straightforward drag-and-drop interface, it supports project-based learning and image editing. Even the most demanding image-based projects can be done by Canva on most computers with fluid interaction because it is geared for Chromebooks. Users can use the templates that are included in the app (Lancet & Zukerman, 2014).
Canva Pro and Canva for Enterprise are paid subscriptions that are available for the platform’s additional capabilities. Canva Free includes over 250,000 templates, over 100 design types, hundreds of thousands of pictures and graphics, collaboration, and 5GB of cloud storage. Pro costs $119.99 a year and includes all of the free features as well as brand kit upload possibilities (Edwards, 2022).
However, what makes Canva different from others? It has a ton of features, but many of them are educational in nature. Canva has a wide range of functionality, which has helped it become popular with millions of users. Everyone may access and use Canva for free. You can make engaging designs for projects, marketing campaigns, or social media using it. It is also convenient to use because it offers multiple templates and fonts. Canva includes a library of various backgrounds, layouts, photos, fonts, and stickers. The only thing you need is imagination. It also has a user−friendly interface. Additionally, you can form a team on Canva. By sharing editable links, you may control the level of access your team members have and collaborate with them.
PowToon
IMG SOURCE: https://www.powtoon.com/
PowToon is Web-based animation software that allows you to quickly and easily create animated presentations by manipulating pre-created objects, imported images, provided music and user created voice-overs. PowToon is used to create engaging, creative presentations that capture attention, and can be similarly used for educational assessment and content delivery. There is a free version available, as well as a paid subscription that allows for more features.
PowToon can be used by educators to create animated presentations of content for students to view. Using Audio/Video rather than standard presentation tools moves users away from over-reliance on text to convey ideas and users are able to create more engaging experiences for their audience. Moreover, it is easy to use since here is no software to download, as PowToon is web-based. PowToon provides many customizable templates for beginning users, as well as a blank canvas for the more daring.
With PowToon you can share a video animation with anyone via a public link. Also, you can download the animated presentation as PDF or a PowerPoint PPT file and it supports sending presentations directly to YouTube, though a watermark is on the bottom of the video and the quality is rather low.
Conclusion
Since the pandemic started, students were forced to leave face-to-face classes and started learning virtually. And, as much as we’d want to say that things had gotten easier since online classes had begun, they haven’t. This is the time when students research and discover websites that make their school lives easier. Websites like ResearchGate, BASE, Refseek, SlideBean, Google Slides, and Canva are a few of the many websites that students use. These websites help you access research papers, give information that focuses on academic web resources, and even help your presentation be as creative and professional looking as you want it to be while editing with your classmates in real-time. Now that face-to-face classes are back, students still use these websites to gain better knowledge and to excel in the academic field.
References
Azofeifa, A. (2020, March 18). Slidebean Presentation Software Pros and Cons [Blog Post].
Retrieved from: https://slidebean.com/blog/slidebean-presentation-software-pros-and-cons
Edwards, L. (2022, May 10). What Is Canva And How Does It Work? Tips & Tricks | Tech & Learning. TechLearningMagazine. https://www.techlearning.com/how-to/what-is-canva-and-how-does-it-work-for-education
Frankenfiel, J. (2022, august 13). EdTech Definition and Uses. Investopedia. https://www.investopedia.com/terms/e/edtech.asp#:~:text=What%20Is%20EdTech%3F,and%20improve%20students’%20education%20outcomes.
Hardy, Q. (2012, August 3). Failure Is the Next Opportunity. The New York Times.
https://archive.nytimes.com/bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/08/03/failure-is-the-next-opportunity/?module=Search&mabReward=relbias%253Aw%252C
Lancet, Y. & Zukerman, E. (2014, January 7). “Canva review: Free tool brings much-needed simplicity to design process”. PC World. https://web.archive.org/web/20210913112828if_/http://www.pcworld.com/article/2079100/canva-review-free-tool-brings-much-needed-simplicity-to-design-process.html?jsh=m%3B%2F_%2Fscs%2Fapps-static%2F_%2Fjs%2Fk%3Doz.gapi.en.YCaTE6pKa8o.O%2Fm%3D__features__%2Fam%3DAQ%2Frt%3Dj%2Fd%3D1%2Ft%3Dzcms%2Frs%3DAGLTcCOq2VV885Tnn9w2oxjlt740bzdYAw#id=I0_1419169851339&parent=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pcworld.com&pfname=&rpctoken=42051390
Fisher, S (April 26, 2021) Powtoon Review. Retrieved from: https://www.lifewire.com/powtoon-review-1358131
Mersad, S (May13, 2014) Product Review: PowToon
https://www.techlearning.com/news/product-review-powtoon
Lin, T. (2012, January 16). Cracking Open the Scientific Process. The New York Times.
https://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/17/science/open-science-challenges-journal-tradition-with-web-collaboration.html?_r=4&pagewanted=all
Slidebean Review. (2020). Compare Camp. https://comparecamp.com/slidebean-review-pricing-pros-cons-features/
Slidebean Launches “All Access” Platform Expanding Products And Services Supporting Startups. (2022, April 19). CISION PR Newswire. https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/slidebean-launches-all-access-platform-expanding-products-and-services-supporting-startups-301526228.html
Top 5 Websites for Academic Research. (2021, November 7). Goseeko. https://www.goseeko.com/blog/top-5-websites-for-academic-research
Velarde, O. (2022, February 4). 15 Best Presentation Software for 2022 (Full Comparison Guide) [Blog Post]. Retrieved from: https://visme.co/blog/best-presentation-software/#googleslides
About | RefSeek.com. (n.d.). About | RefSeek.Com. Retrieved September 15, 2022, from https://www.refseek.com/site/about
