In this digital world, it is difficult to keep up with advanced technologies and trends as they seem to evolve constantly. From online learning platforms and industrial technologies to smart home gadgets to advanced communication methods, there are many ways technology is transforming daily life. When it comes to students using the latest tech tools and solutions, it is important for them to stay safe and get the most out of the available options when using advanced technologies.
What Should Every Student Know in a Digital World?
Since technology is growing and becoming more complex, here we have listed some important things every student should know in this digital world to enjoy a seamless and better learning experience.
1- Protect Your Privacy Online
As more and more students are using internet-connected devices to access learning materials online and attend classes via video calls and conferences, protecting privacy online is more important than ever before. Whenever creating an online account or downloading a free eBook, students need to make sure they are not sharing excessive personal information and details online. Always visit online learning platforms and education websites that have strict privacy policies to protect your personal data. In this digital era of life, ID theft can be very costly for anyone. This is the reason; students need to stay vigilant whenever they share personal information or data online with education websites or other online platforms.
2- Don’t Use Public Networks
Students usually love to connect their devices to free and public networks when they want to complete their assignments or just to check digital notifications. This can leave their devices and personal data vulnerable. That’s why it is always recommended to avoid using public and unsecured networks until there is an encryption solution like a VPN available. Whether it is the Wi-Fi connection of your college library or free internet in a café, don’t connect your devices to such networks without using VPNs. This helps you avoid lots of internet security issues.
3- Use Strong Passwords
When creating online accounts or profiles, always use strong and hard-to-guess passwords. Students need to make sure that all the passwords for different accounts and profiles are unique. Cybersecurity experts also suggest changing passwords once every three months. Thanks to online password managers, users can save all their passwords in one place for easy and quick access to all their online accounts without submitting credential details manually. When you are using Google Chrome and sign in to a new profile or account, the browser asks the user to save the password or not. In this way, you can save all your passwords in your Google account.
4- Stay Safe When Shopping Online
Whether you want to buy course books online or looking to buy daily essentials from an online store, it is important to be smart and stay safe when buying stuff online. Make sure you are buying from reliable online stores and eCommerce websites. Because famous online stores and websites keep their customers’ details protected from third parties using a variety of security measures and tools. Before you submit your confidential details, check ‘HTTPS’ in the URL of a store or website. This is the green signal to make sure all your details will be encrypted automatically to protect details from cyber criminals. Also, use trusted and secure payment methods like PayPal or credit cards when buying stuff online.
5- Share Limited Details on social media
Social media is not only a great way to connect with family and friends, but it is also popular among students to gain access to online learning communities and free educational materials. Since everyone is on social media, students should also take advantage of this useful platform. But they should share limited personal details when creating profiles and not share anything in posts. Sharing excessive information on social media is an invitation to cyber criminals. They can use social media data for ID theft and other malicious purposes that can hurt the reputation of students.
6- Backup Your Personal and Educational Data
Backing up data is one of the most important things every student should know in this digital era of life. Creating data backup for both personal and educational data helps you retain all your data in case of device failure or cyber-attack. This ensures you have a copy of all your important data that you can access immediately right after losing it. Cloud storage solutions like Google drive is one of the best ways to back up data like eBooks, research papers, student ID, documents, and other important documents.
7- Effective Communication and Collaborative
Students are not required to attend study groups physically anymore when it comes to working on group projects. They can communicate and collaborate on group projects and assignments using document collaboration tools like Google Docs and more. They can also use a variety of social media apps and websites for effective, and instant communication regarding educational tasks, and assignments and to stay connected with class fellows and educators.
8- Be Wary of Suspicious Emails and Links
Students usually receive lots of emails from credit card companies, loan providers, scholarship providers, and other educational institutes with enticing offers and deals. But they must be careful about suspicious emails they receive. Such emails usually contain malicious links asking students to open links for more details or information. Most such emails involve phishing attacks. Don’t open an email or link that you find doubtful. Before clicking, you should contact the sender (company) for verification. If you receive lots of emails from the same addresses, mark those addresses as spam to avoid further messages.
Final Thoughts
Many students can understand and learn about this digital landscape to stay safe and protected while hunting their academic goals. Every student should keep these things in mind and cautiously adopt the latest technologies and tools to improve the learning experience. Teachers must also educate students about the latest tech innovations and tools that can help them succeed in this age of technology.
