Different types of school gadgets are often designed to fulfill certain functions that students need, or to help students study and learn more easily. While mobile phones may seem like distractions for many students, there are a number of applications and programs that can be used with such phones to assist with learning. E-readers and similar devices, such as tablets, can also be used by students to help reduce textbook costs and make learning easier and more interactive. There are also more specialized school gadgets like smart pens, which can be used with special paper to make handwritten work behave more like digital media.
School gadgets can refer to a wide range of devices, though they are typically meant to assist students with learning. Many common electronic devices, such as computers, can be used in and out of the classroom to help students learn and complete assignments more easily. Other devices, like mobile phones, can also be used by students to make learning easier or more interactive. Applications developed for mobile phones, especially smart phones, can be used to make such phones act as school gadgets, allowing students to record audio and video from class for later reference, providing tools such as calculators, and facilitating conversation between students outside of class.
Other types of school gadgets include e-readers and tablet devices that are portable and allow a great deal of digital media to be easily carried by a student. Many e-readers provide textbooks for students at lower prices than physical books and with greatly reduced weight compared to carrying such books. Some of these e-readers even allow students to share texts or “rent” books for a semester at a lower price than fully purchasing the text. Tablet devices can also be used as school gadgets, allowing students to access not only text, but also audio and video media that can help students perform research and understand subjects.
Some school gadgets are more practical in nature, and allow students to learn and study even more easily. Smart pens, for example, can be used to make taking notes and recalling information from a class easier. These pens often feature microphones and speakers, and when used with specially printed paper, can allow students to easily import handwritten materials into a computer. Smart pens can even allow students to record audio from a teacher in class, while writing down notes, and then play back audio that was recorded based on what section of the notes a student has selected with the pen. These school gadgets can make learning easier, especially for students who may learn best through both aural and visual means.