Resorting to e-books rather than books, the need for digital literacy has become paramount in the current transformation age, and as for a student, the need to get a grip on new ways of learning is immense. For that to happen, a student needs to be on toes and develop the skills required to navigate their way through the internet.
One thing can help students along the way to get what they require in a click; Google chrome extensions. It is the answer as these are programs available on your browser easily accessible when needed.
Web browsers provide limited functionality stand alone, and students move towards installing chrome extensions. The extensions can be used for multiple reasons, and one of them can be to remove pesky ads. But getting the most useful chrome extension is the key because you cannot clutter your Chrome header with unlimited extensions.
These extensions are available on Chrome Web Store where you will find third-party extensions and the ones that Google created. But which is the best fit for a student? Let’s scroll you through the best chrome extensions that’ll help students on their day to day tasks.
Grammarly
Grammarly is the best extension for your thesis and writing projects as it will fix grammatical errors and plagiarism as well. Students have to write lots of emails which at times end up with sentence structures going bizarre. Email isn’t a tweet where you can choose slang as the writing style; they require focus and a solid structure.
Grammarly extension will open within a click, or it will provide suggestions whenever you are typing. A small green icon will appear and will prompt you to fill the required suggestions. Then again it works on pre-designed algorithms but is a great tool. You have to sign up for the premium Grammarly subscription to get the full feature.
Adblocker
Students have a constant need to surf the web, whether its downloading multiple songs, movies, papers and much more. This inevitably brings in websites that inject malicious ads on the browser such as pipechannels.com that is a severe malicious virus that takes control of your browser and pops-up multiple ads.
Having an adblocker will block malicious domains and disable its tracking. Adblockers provide multiple features that protect against flashy ads, YouTube commercials, and random pop-ups. Make sure you choose an adblocker that does not include a whitelist algorithm for websites.
Blocking these ads will instantly increase any students browsing speed and decrease the CPU and memory usage to a minimum.
VPN to Spoof Identity Online
Learning has become limited due to geo-restrictions as students cannot access information from different countries due to geo-blocks. Some websites can only be accessed if you are residing in the country. To bypass that, a student shining sword is a VPN to bypass online restrictions.
A VPN will allow students to spoof their IP address and allot them a new IP address. Hence the student can access any website over the web without worrying about his/her privacy and security. However, students are advised not to access textbook torrents website without a VPN.
This is because torrenting is illegal in multiple countries and the laws pertaining to torrenting varies. You may or may not end up behind bars. Having a VPN will encrypt the network connection on peer to peer servers allowing to torrent files for studies, movies, e-paper and what not.
Google Dictionary
Your browser would be incomplete if you lack Google Dictionary. The internet is a vital source of learning where new possibilities spring up. Have you ever come across a sentence or word which you didn’t know the meaning of? I faced it, and I’m sure many others as well.
Instead of searching the word on a new tab which would divert your attention and time. Having a Google Dictionary chrome extension would mean you can click on the word and find its meaning without leaving the page.
Google Dictionary is useful when trying to learn a new language or finding a new word. It’s easy, fast and intellectual.
Google Docs PDF/Powerpoint Viewer
This is a handy extension that will open a list of programs to view things. It will allow students to automatically launch PDF and Powerpoint links in Google Docs, simple! Instead of going out of the tab or browser and wasting time on downloading the PPT presentations that you want to cross check.
The hurdle of downloading the file is removed which can further be customized as well to deal with documents.
Words of Wisdom for Students
The medium of learning may change, but the learning process never stops. Students face gridlocks in their school and university life due to inaccessibility of tools for education. Hence, try these chrome extensions, and your knowledge graph would expand as these tools will aid you along the way.
Each extension serves a purpose to help you achieve a stress-free learning curve and make you access what you are looking for efficiently.