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6 Must Have Apps for Incoming College Students

Here me out. I was in your shoes three years ago. An incoming Freshman with little to no knowledge about how to navigate the collegiate atmosphere. As an only child, I looked to my parents for advice regarding what college would look like and what I needed to do to make it everything I perceived it to be. Now, looking back, I can say their advice may have been a bit outdated . Because of this, I was in over my head when I started my journey as a first year student. I am here to tell you about the mistakes I made and what resources you can use to make your transition a bit smoother. Here are some of the user friendly important apps you can utilize. Enjoy!

Quizlet:

Remember the digital notecard platform you used in middle school and high school to study vocab and memorizing human anatomy? Quizlet? Yeah, use it! Usually, the material first year students need to study has already been made as a Quizlet set by another freshman year student. Instead of wasting your time (and paper!), like I did making a new set of terms, simply thank the previous student who wasted their time making the set and start studying here. Use this application with the mentality to study smarter instead of harder in order to optimize your time!

Renting Textbooks:

Prior to the start of my classes, I looked over each syllabi and noted which novels and textbooks I need for these courses. I decided to order most of my books through Barnes and Noble while buying my textbooks at full price. Once I purchased the required readings, I noticed the giant hole that had grown in my wallet. Yikes college readings are expensive! I learned from this mistake and made a mental note that the following semester I would RENT these required readings. Since that expensive semester, I have looked at other options for renting books such as Amazon and at the least expensive option, renting books from my campus’ bookstore. 

UberEats/Postmates:

I have some news for you, the dining hall at your university may not be everything it is perceived to be. Freshman year I made sure to use my meal plan in order to be conscientious about overspending during my first semester; but, occasionally, the repetition of the meals would get the best of me and I would crave something other than stir fry or cereal. Uber eats and Postmates is perfect for when you want to spice up your palette and take a break from on campus dining. You can order at any time and have your meal come straight to your door. This app is perfect for late nights filled with studying when you can’t muster up the energy to leave your desk. 

Duolingo:

Many first year students are required by their universities to take a foreign language during the first semesters of college. I took Spanish throughout highschool; but, during the summer leading into my first semester as a college student, I wanted to brush up on some of my skills. To do so, I used the application Duolingo to practice some of the tricky verb conjugations that usually left me stumped on Spanish exams. Throughout my first year at my university, Duolingo came in handy for studying for spanish exams. 

Loop chat:  

Social applications such as Loopchat allow students to expand their social communities through person-to-person messaging. If a student has a question regarding classes, thoughts on a specific professor, details for social gatherings on campus, or just wants to reach out to another student, this app is a must have. Diving into the social scene on a college campus may be unnerving for some; but, using Loop Chat can help you overcome these struggles.

PEERSedu:

PEERS edu is a peer to peer tutoring application that has allowed me better navigate and understand my course materials through other students. With PEERS edu I am able to ask for a fast or quick tutoring session when I have available time and for any set duration. I am a Communications major and an English minor and spend a lot of my time writing papers for my professors. With a few taps of my screen, I am now able to access a network of tutors through PEERS edu and can quickly  converse with someone regarding my papers and assignments. 

These are just a few examples of the apps I have used over the duration of my college experience. There are plenty more; but, these are the applications that have facilitated my college lifestyle both socially and academically. I hope you take them into account before you set off on your own collegiate journey. For my fellow college students, what applications do you think belong on this list? 

Get more details visit: https://peersedu.com/be-a-student/

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How to Keep Your High Schooler Connected During COVID-19

Covid-19 has had an impact on all of us. Because of the virus, we may feel limited to what we can or cannot do on a day to day basis. Staying connected to friends, colleagues, and family during these times has been one of the challenges we face. Some of us are now accustomed to the Zoom virtual classroom, Facetime, or Google Hangout in order to stay connected with teachers, family, and loved ones. Although these virtual platforms can connect us with many people across diverse geographies, most students are feeling the effects of the lack of face-to-face interaction traditional school environments have always offered.

I am a rising senior at my university and have been using virtual platforms like Zoom and Google Classroom to stay connected with my fellow students and teachers. Although I feel like I have been able to attain some form of higher education, this virtual setting does not compare to the face to face relationships I had with my friends and professors on campus. Towards the end of last semester, I unfortunately found myself with little to no motivation as I sat at my desk listening to my professors’ lectures. Because of the pandemic, parents and students may both be wondering how the lack of social interaction may affect their future in the long run. Although these thoughts may be frightening, there are multiple methods students can use to stay connected while promoting academic and professional growth. Here are some things your child can do to make the most of their education during this time.  

1. Find a mentor and set up some advisory time

Throughout my academic career, my experience has been shaped by the mentors I have accumulated over the years. Discovering a mentor may be challenging while we are required to stay at home; but, you can use these websites to discover potential academic facilitators: ICouldbe is an e-mentoring application that connects students to potential mentors with similar career passions. These mentors help guide discussions centered around preparation after graduation. Imentor is another platform created for first generation college students and is driven by the belief that all individuals deserve equal access to education. 

2. Connect your student to a larger Peer 2 Peer group

The application PEERS edu believes that students have the ability to become mentors and facilitators for other students. With this new peer-to-peer technology, students have another resource to use to avoid feeling isolated while accomplishing their studies. This application can connect your child to a network of other high school and college students for peer to peer tutoring in any desired field of study. This application can provide your child with a quick tutoring session anywhere at any time. In addition to using this app for help with their online classes, your child can also use their skills within this gig economy education app as a tutor and make some quick cash during their free time! Encourage your child to try this peer-to-peer application to help boost motivation and stay connected with other students. 

3. Get involved with a virtual internship

During this time, strive for professional growth by searching for virtual internships. This summer, I was scrambling to find an opportunity to gain experience in the workplace, but I continued to reach out to as many individuals as possible. By building a Linkedin profile I was able to expand my network and identify potential opportunities. I also used indeed to narrow down my search and discover potential virtual internships.Your school may provide its students with Handshake, a platform designed for students to discover potential internships in any desired area. The process can be tedious at times, but the exposure to the interview and search process is very beneficial in the long run!

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Why Become an Online Tutor?

The tutoring industry has been thriving due to the high demand for homework. Especially in East Asian countries, enrolling in after school tutoring programs seems to be a necessity for many students. In the U.S., tutoring services are also very popular. Unfortunately, due to COVID-19, most in-person tutoring sessions have been cancelled due to social distancing. However, students are still taking online classes and in need of more tutoring than expected. In this article, we will share the benefits of becoming online tutors in our world today.

Flexibility:

We all know that registering for a tutoring session is time consuming and not an easy process. Moving everything online makes tutoring a lot easier. On the PEERS edu app, once tutor lights are on, students are able to immediately start a session with their tutors.

Earn side income:

Why not to earn a side income by largely maximizing your spare time? Every minute counts towards your session fee, and it’s flexible because you can work as a tutor in your spare time without having a strict and tight schedule.

Utilize the knowledge you have to help others in need:

Many subjects we learn from school may not be used during our jobs; however, becoming a tutor definitely would allow you to use your previous learned knowledge. In addition, helping someone who is eager to get help on their homework is a satisfying experience, isn’t it?

 No apparent cost to become a tutor:

As long as you have a phone or a laptop, you can become an online tutor! These electronic devices are commonly owned by most people, which means that becoming an online tutor has no apparent cost!

 PEERS edu is the app where you can become an online tutor! Teach in any subjects matter that you are knowledgeable in, and you will be rated by students who register sessions with you. That sounds super cool! More people will register to have tutoring sessions with you because you did great previously. Let’s have a job as an online tutor today! Don’t let the pandemic stop you from earning money and helping others. How likely are you going to become an online tutor provided that there are so many benefits?

Visit www.peersedu.com to get more information!

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How to Efficiently Learn a New Language

This quarantine, those that aren’t in school and can’t go to work are struggling to find new hobbies to keep busy can be difficult. But rather than letting your brain rot with Netflix shows and Tiktoks, why not do something that might actually make you smarter and possibly more valuable in the job market? According to the Zip Job blog article by Caitlin Proctor, being bilingual or multilingual is one of the top fifteen hard skills employers are looking for in a candidate (Proctor). Being bilingual also provides a lot of brain benefits such as delaying the effects of dementia and increasing your cognitive functions. So why not work a little smarter by trying to learn a new language?

 Being bilingual has always been considered a truly valuable skill that employers love in their applications because it allows them to have more diversity and allows them to have a connection with more clients. By being bilingual, you become the bridge between two cultures. A language barrier would be broken down between your company and a potential client which would be largely credited to your ability to communicate. Communication is fundamental to thriving in society, so why not connect with more people by learning a second language? But don’t be intimidated by it yet. Here are some tips to make language learning easier. 

 Repetition

As with many other activities, practice makes perfect. By continually repeating sentences or phrases you’ve learned, it makes it easier to remember and reply in conversation. As well as saying the phrases, it’s also important to write them down so you know exactly what the phrase looks like if you come across it again in your lessons or in the real world. 

 Find a Practice Buddy

Whether you download a tutoring app that connects you to an online language tutor or you happen to have a friend that speaks the language you are learning, a major contributor to effective language learning is to actually utilize what you’ve learned in conversation. Having someone encourage you and correct your mistakes makes the learning process more enjoyable, as well as more effective in making your speech more precise and natural. 

 Watch and Listen

There are dozens of music streaming and video streaming services available to connect you to entertainment from all over the world. Having these sources available to you make them great tools to understand how the language works but also test your current knowledge. For example, I am learning how to speak Korean. Spotify has tons of Korean music that I listen to and test to see how many words or sentences I can translate in songs. If the language you’re learning uses a different alphabet system or symbols, look up romanizations to help you understand pronunciation and spelling and pair words and grammar together if you haven’t fully mastered reading or writing. You can also find streaming services that stream foreign films or shows and practice with and without English subtitles. If you’re learning an Asian language, the service Viki allows you to see both the English and Asian language subtitles so you can compare and contrast and identify words in Mandarin or Japanese etc. Youtube also has videos from a show called Extra that has episodes in multiple languages such as Spanish or French for beginners. So there you go! You can learn a new language and get to engage in some great new entertainment. 

 Start with the Basics

While it may seem self explanatory and obvious, there are some people out there who just jump right into grammar without really any understanding for vocabulary or pronunciations. The best thing to do is to start with simple vocabulary. Find maybe ten commonly used words every other day to add to your vocabulary. Try to find how they’re used in sentences to help solidify them in your head. Then once you have a good batch of words, then you can add the grammar and conjugations to enhance the meanings of those words that you can hopefully transform into a full sentence. There is no diving when it comes to language learning. It is all baby steps. Last thing you want to do is to offend someone unintentionally because you mistakenly called someone ugly instead of cool. (Believe me, I have done this). 

 Accept that the Path of Language Learning is Long

Learning a new language is not like learning to ride a bike. You can’t just get on the bike, start pedaling and suddenly you’re a natural. It takes a lot of time and dedication to make sure that you are properly learning the language and that you’re dedicated to learning for yourself and to honor another culture. So take it day by day. Don’t overload yourself with knowledge every single day. Take breaks. Spend a couple days with a handful of words that you can slowly build up over time. It’s not a race. Enjoy making mistakes and learning to correct them as you go. It only makes you a better learner overall.

As an example app that connects you to a tutor and provides you with more conversational language practice is PEERS edu. It is a private tutor service app where you can buy credits and find a quick tutor that will help you with a variety of subjects. You can find a tutor that teaches the language you’re learning whenever you want and however long you want. It’s a great way to get quality education and practice speaking with a native speaker who can correct you and help you speak more naturally. It is free in the app store, so try it out! 

 Language learning can be really fun if you put enough effort into it. Connecting yourself through language to a different culture is a way to find a connection to a different part of the world without leaving your home. I’d like to believe that if everyone learned a second language, different societies and people would be a lot closer and less divided than we are today. So rather than sulking at home, be a contributor to global connections through language and start learning a new one today! What can you gain from learning a new language?

Visit www.peersedu.com to get more information!