With college starting up again after the holiday break and what I’m sure is many students heading back to school with a shiny new iPad, I figured it might be good to offer a list of apps I’d find useful as a student.

• Penultimate: By far the best note taking app I’ve found. You can choose between several pens, inks, and paper types, and the writing is incredibly smooth when using a stylus or your finger. Highly recommended! ($0.99)
• Kindle/iBooks: Since both apps are free, they are definitely worth the pick up. Books are generally cheaper than their printed counterparts in either store, and the apps afford you the opportunity to lighten your book load so you’re not carrying around a bunch of 600-page hardcover textbooks all day. (free)
• Evernote: Great note taking app that allows you to record sound, add photos, and more. Plus, you can sync with a free online account and with other devices, like  your laptop, iPhone or Android phone. (free)
• Pages/Keynote: Make editing papers or presentations on the go easier with these 2 apps. The Mac versions of Word and Powerpoint are pretty great if you have some downtime between classes, or you realize you forgot a slide right before that class where you’re making a big presentation. ($9.99 each)
• Dropbox: Dropbox may be my favorite app. Download it on your computer to sync folders to an online account. With Dropbox for iPad (or iPhone or Android), you can access those files and if you have the right app, modify them. Dropbox is free up to 2+ GB and incredibly handy if you’re running around to a bunch of computers on campus every day. (free)
• iStudiez: This neat little app is a great planner for students who like to keep everything in one place. Add courses, instructors, and assignments (with grades/weights). Organized into a really nice interface, you can get a good view of your day-to-day schedule with upcoming assignments & reminders. The free version limits you to 1 semester, 3 courses, and 7 assignments, but is a nice way to try before you buy. (free/$2.99)
• Dictionary.Com: A handy reference for any student to have with him/her. Get everything you can get on the website right on your iPad (without an Internet connection). (free)
• Angry Birds: It just wouldn’t be an iPad app list if I didn’t mention Angry Birds. As a part time college professor myself, I should mention not to play this in class, but that it’s a good way to relax in between classes or if you need a break! Fun, addicting, and worth the $5. ($4.99)
• (Honorable Mention) iAnnotate: This gets honorable mention because I’m not sure students will use it enough to warrant the $10 price tag. iAnnotate provides a really easy way to mark up and modify PDFs. If your professor sends you a PDF, you can make notes right on your iPad with it. It also integrates very nicely with Dropbox. ($9.99)

Students! Do you have an iPad? What do you use to keep organized? Sound off in the comments.

What Content Should You Have on Your Personal Website?

Home Page

• Short paragraph about you (and maybe a photo)
• One or two sentences about your website (what they will find, etc)
• A “Call to Action.” Point them to the content you want to see most
• How to reach you (email, phone)

About Page

• Extension of Home Page paragraph- include info you want them to know. Where you went to school, your skills, your hobbies (relevant or irrelevant). You want to the reader to feel a little bit of a connection with you
• Optional- Extension of “About this Site” from Home page- why did you start it, who is it for, another call to action, etc.

Portfolio/CV

• A showcase of your best work- title, screen shot (if applicable), description, and link (if applicable)

Resume

• Your Resume- You may have covered a lot of this on the About/Portfolio page, but a resume is more formal, and a lot of people will want to see it
• Try to include a word (.doc) and PDF (.pdf) version as well as the web based version so the visitor can download it
• How to reach you

Optional- Contact Form

• Include a contact page or form if possible.  Forms are more user friendly
• Include at least an email address
• You can get a Google Voice number as your “professional” phone number if you don’t want to post your home or cell on the Internet

On Blogging

If you’re going to blog, make it relevant and do it regularly. Here are some tips:

• A blog and a journal/diary are not the same thing (or don’t have to be). Blog about work you’re doing, news in your professional field, etc. Use it to demonstrate that you know what you’re talking about.
• Try to blog at least once a week. If you’re at a loss for content, just post a link to a relevant story. If you’re busy, post that! Posting regularly shows you’re serious about it.

Resources

Website Templates (For Do-It-Yourselfers)

• Resume/CVs from Theme Forest
• Free Resume Template from Alex King
• Free Website Templates

Website Creators

• KompoZer
• Dreamweaver
• Google Sites
• WordPress.com

WordPress

• Manifest Development Unofficial Documentation
• Official Documentation

Examples

• Joe Casabona
• Phil Casabona
• Michael P. Hill
• Steve Yates
• Meagan Fisher

• January 20: Inauguration Day Thoughts
• February 9: Learning a New Skill
• March 31: The Basics of Twitter
• April 10: What I Learned in College
• August 9: College Advice for my Brother
• August 21: What Developers can Learn from Home Improvement
• September 11: What Happened to the Respect We had for Each Other?
• December 9: Droid Does

You should also check out the Safe Social Media Series, and the Quick Tips for 2009.

First off, I’ve complied a list of posts that I’ve written throughout the years that are in the same breadth as this. They are tagged with College Advice. Some of the good ones including the “10 [whatever] for College Students.” But this post goes beyond that; there are tons of lists out there for best software, books, movies, hardware, etc. for college students. This is the other stuff.

Get Involved

This is by far the best way to make friends. Join an intermural team or some organization on campus. You’re meeting like minded people and you’ll be forced to work together with them, which can form good bonds. The best friends I made at school I made through the campus organization USPB.

Be Welcoming, but Suspicious

This seems a little pesimistic, but it’s still true. Be open to making new friends and meeting new people, but don’t be completely trusting of people right off the bat. This was something I learned the hard way. I was too trusting, assumed they knew more than me, and I was manipluated because of it. Keep people in check; you’ll know if and when you can fully trust them.

Hang Out in the Lab

As a CS/Software Engineering major, we had a lab specifically for us to work on projects and assignments, as did most majors on campus. Do your work there sometimes, even if it’s on your own computer. Chances are someone else in your classes will be there and it’s a good way to learn about your classmates, work with them, and brainstorm together on how to solve that problem.

Ask the Teacher Questions

This was another thing I learned later than I would have liked. The teachers are there to help and guide you. They have office hours specifically for it. Visit them then and have a couple of questions ready. Ask questions in class too. There is an old adage that if you’re thinking of a question, chances are someone else in the class is too. So don’t be afraid to ask.

The “Know-it-Alls” Don’t Know Much

Especially in tech oriented majors, there will be students who think they know everything. They Do Not. I’ve seen at least one every year. He will try to answer every question, argue with the teacher, and skoff at you for asking “stupid” questions. Just remember when it comes down to it you will know more because, just like Socrates, you know you don’t know. On a personal note, I seriously hated that kid. He would argue with me all the time. And guess what; he was always wrong.

Keep an Open Mind

College is a time for education and growth in and out of the classroom. I became a better professional, but I also became a better person because I kept an open mind and listened to my friends when they offered constructive criticism. This might contradict my point eariler about being suspicious, but don’t listen to everyone all the time. Use your discression.

I hope this advice helps. It’s stuff I wish I knew going into college (aside from the get involved thing, which I did early and often). I’ll leave you with this: remember who you lend out stuff to. If you don’t you will never see it again.

Over at Nettuts, they’ve posted an article titled, “Should You Attend University for Web Development”. Reading the article, I found it pretty interesting that a lot of people feel college isn’t necessary for web development and that their schools are behind the times when it comes to web development. I’m not going to defend my school and say it’s totally up-to-date, because it’s not. I do feel however, that that’s the nature of the beast when dealing with web development and computer science in general. As I wind down in the Masters program, set to graduate in May, I can tell you these two things after six year of college: the CS program should not be about the what but the how, and college is just as much a social thing as it is an academic thing.

First, let’s focus on the academics. Computing, no matter what your focus, is an ever changing field. It would be impossible for every school to stay on top of every technology is out there. I’m not being an apologist, I am speaking the truth. The idea should not be, “I’m learning C#,” or “I’m learning PHP.” It should be, “I’m learning how to program, using PHP.” I learned what Object Oriented Programming is and I can apply that to any language. I’ve learned the semantics of an imperative and a declarative language. I learned algorithms, and should be able to implement them as long as I know how certain language behaves, and I’ve learned how to teach myself that. Heck, my school doesn’t even have a web development major, and I consider myself a damn good web developer.

Beyond that, you learn the social skills you should have whether your profession be computer scientist, web developer, engineer, etc. There is a huge focus in our program on team building and communication. Human interaction isn’t something Google can teach you (yet). In our Masters program (in Software Engineering) we learn about process, eliciting requirements, etc. While you can learn some of this stuff with experience, hearing about it in a classroom certainly expedites the process.

But college isn’t just about academics. I will attribute a good amount of my social skills, professionalism, and 90% of my connections to going to college. I got involved in extracurriculars, networked, and made some amazing friends that challenged my way of thinking and got me to try new things. Again, that isn’t something you’re going to find on Google.

College should not just be about teaching you X. It should teach you how to learn. You should get some leassons in being social. It should give you some experiences you can’t get anywhere else. Those who say, “I don’t need to go to college to be X,”  aren’t looking at the big picture and will never be the best at what they do.

Email correspondence is my normal and most practiced form of communication because of the convenience for both parties. It allows you to quickly send a message to someone and know (in most cases) they will get it the next time they check their inbox. I feel it’s also better than instant messaging or phone conversations in some instances because it allows me to think about what I want to say. However, with the amount of emailing I do, I notice many people don’t know how to write what I deem a proper email.

Since I am a TA, I get a lot of emails from students like this:

Hey do u take off for late assignments

This is sometimes forgivable as it’s mostly freshmen who are relatively new to email as the defacto form of communication. I am sure when I was a freshman my emails weren’t up to my own current standards. However, even dealing with clients I get some of those emails that come off as less than professional. Using SMS shorthand or incorrect punctuation, spelling errors, etc. are some of the problems I run into. Here is an example of what I would say is a proper email:

Joe,
I hope all is well. I was wondering if you took off for late assignments.

Thanks,
Jim Student

The later email includes some important details the sooner email lacked. Here are some ground rules for a good email:

• Address/Greet the person you are writing. It looks better and it ensure you know who are you contacting. The greeting might not be necessary, but it shows you care at least a little.
• Use proper grammar. This isn’t instant messenger and your emails will be read more carefully. You don’t want to be judged on simple grammatical errors. Also, use real words- not shorthand. “U” instead of “you” might be ok for texting or IMing, but it’s not for email.
• Spell check! I’ve been guilty of this from time to time, but now that most browsers have spell check built in, there is really no excuse. This goes along the same lines as grammar checking- and this is much easier to avoid.
• Sign your name. Let the person you are contacting know who is emailing him. Usually for the first email I will also include my last name, and then drop it in any replies. This one drives me crazy because, especially with my students, I deal with a lot of people and don’t always recognize the email address.

These four simple checks will make for an infinitely better, more professional looking email which in turn reflects better on you. Did I leave anything out? Disagree with me? Let me know in the comments.

In the last two installments of this series, I mention 10 Items and 10 Websites for college students. Now, here is some essential software for college students.

Microsoft Office

This is a Software Suite you will use every step of the way throughout college. Familiarize yourself with Word, Excel and Power point. Not only is it the best of its kind, it’s pretty much the standard in college and the real world.

Free Alternative: Open Office- With Open Office you can create and open Word, Excel and Power point files. A great alternative if you don’t want to shell out the $100 for the student version of MS Office.

MS Outlook

With Calendar, Address Book, ToDo List and Notes, MS Outlook is a nice one stop shop for organization. This also comes with the MS Office software suite. It also syncs with most smart phones and PDAs.

Free Alternatives: While I haven’t seen something quite like Outlook, there are a number of tools (mostly web-based) that can help you out. Online, I use Google Calendar, Remember the Milk for tasks and Google Notebook for notes. As far as desktop software goes, Thunderbird is the way to go for email. Plus with Lightning, you can get a calendar built right into Thunderbird.

Anti-Virus Software

Let’s face it. You will be on a residential network with possibly thousands of students using the internet. Most wouldn’t be able to spot a virus. Anti-Virus software is essential all of the time, but especially if you are moving out of the house and onto a shared network. My school made me install their brand of computer protection, but if you have the choice, I recommend Norton Anti-Virus.

Free Alternative:- AVG Antivirus. It’s pretty rock solid and a nice free piece of software.

Those three, I feel, are the most important pieces of software. Below is a list of free software that might not be exclusive to college students, but still very helpful.

• ITunes- I am not a fan of ITunes. I use Windows Media Player 11. However, living on campus, where a majority of people on your network use ITunes, it could make discovering music easier. With MyTunes Redux, it is easier to share music with your friends. There is also something out there called ITunes U, which allows schools to add content to ITunes for its students to download.
• Picasa- Photo Organizing and Editing by Google
• Ad-Aware- Free Spyware cleaning program.
• AIM/Google Talk- Instant Messaging programs are pretty essential in college. IMing is the quickest and easiest way to get in contact with someone, especially since most campuses are pretty well connected; not to mention IM makes it easy to keep in touch during the summer and after graduation.
• FireFox- The best, most secure browser, period.
• Skype- Free VoIP (over the internet phone calls) and very cheap calls to US and Internationally. Great if you have a prepaid cell phone (or no cell phone).
• FoxIt Reader- PDFs in college are inevitable. While Adobe Reader is the more popular PDF reader, FoxIt Reader is much more lightweight and very easy to use.

As a Comp Sci guy, IDEs, Linux and notepad got me through my Undergrad program. What software helped/helps you?

Last week I wrote about 10 Things Every College Student Needs. Now I want to tell you about something a little cheaper and possibly more useful than some of the stuff I listed. Here is a list of 10 essential websites for every college student.

Facebook

This website is the de facto site in social networking for college students. If you don’t already have one, get one. You’ll want to keep track of all those people you meet, get to know them and view their pictures from the weekend, on top of all of the other things you can do on Facebook.

Webshots / Flickr

You do have photo albums on Facebook, but you will want a public place to add photos for people without Facebook to see. Webshots seems to be the most popular one among college students, though I prefer Flickr.

Half.com

Half.com is the site I use to buy and sell most of my textbooks. A subsidiary of Ebay, it’s easy to use, you will find books cheaper than your school’s book store, and if you sell on Half.com, you will get more money than selling back to the book store.

JourneyEd

This website is great for student discounted software. A student is usually able to get deep discounts on software for educational purposes- For example, you can get MS Office Pro ($599 value) for $84. You can also grab Adobe Photoshop ($999) for $189. If you are even in need of software as a student, this is the place to go.

EasyBib

A great Bibliography generator for MLA style. If you need APA, you can try BibMe.

Rate My Professor

This is a good site to get a feel for the kind of professors your school has to offer. It comes especially handy when it’s time to make a schedule. While it’s not always accurate, it does give good advice on the teachers you are looking to take.

Student Central

This site lists any part time jobs, full time jobs or internships right through your school.

Wikipedia

Know it. Love it. Many professors don’t allow citing Wikipedia directly, but you can usually get a good start by going there and looking at the other sources for the articles.

Online Note taking Sites

To be honest I’ve tried a few, but nothing really worked for me. However, there are some great one-stop resources out there for students. I personally recommend MyNoteIt. Of the ones I’ve used, it’s the best. There is notes, a calendar, to-do list, and a social networking aspect to it, so your friends can get in on it too. Another successful one I’ve seen is Stu.dicio.us.

Your School’s Website

In most cases, this is the best resource at your disposal. From the University of Scranton’s website, I can get a listing of classes they are offering as well as my current schedule, a student and faculty directory and information about just about anything else on campus. Familiarize yourself with the school’s website and I think you’ll find it will come in handy

I know there are a vast amount of resources out there and I most likely missed a couple of sites. What has helped or is helping you as a student?

As we approach August and people gear up to go back to school, it is time to think of what essentials students need at school. As a fresh college graduate reflecting on what got me through, I’ve realized there were a number things most colleges don’t tell you about. I’ve complied a list of items that were essential for me and I’d imagine apply to most college students.

A Laptop

Here is the big ticket item. I’ve written before on why colleges students should buy a laptop over a desktop; portability around campus, coming home, etc. It’s really about the freedom to take your laptop with you. Going away to college gives you a lot of freedoms, and the ability to work where you want should be one of them. The laptop I linked is one I recommended to my friend and my brother. If you do not like HPs, I’d at least recommend these specs: dual core processor, 80+GB Hard drive, at least 1.5GB RAM.

An Mp3 Player

On the topic of portability, one thing that I took everywhere with me is my mp3 player. I do not own an iPod for personal reasons (I don’t like them, I think they die to easily and I’m not a fan of iTunes), but I’ve linked one here in the title, and my personal one, a Creative Zen Vision:M. Either way, every college student needs one for use while studying, at the gym, or for some quite time in the dorm room.

A Good Set of Headphones

One thing I used (and still use) a lot are my big, over-ear headphones that drown out all ambient noise. Fact of the matter is if you’re going to use an mp3 player while studying, you’ll need headphones like these. Even studying in the crowded office where I worked, I was able to concentrate better with these headphones. Though admittedly if you will be using an mp3 player for the gym, these might be better. I have both sets, and use them both a good amount.

A Digital Camera

This is something I lacked my freshman year, and regretted it a lot. You will want a small point and shoot digital camera to take pictures when you are out with friends, or even of just random stuff on campus. This is another thing no college student can live without (or at least no college student with a social life).

A USB Flash Drive

Very important, especially if you will be working at multiple computers (and most students do). This will allow you to take your important papers, spreadsheets and presentations with you where ever you go.

An External Hard Drive

You wouldn’t believe how many people I know came to me saying things like “Joey, my computer crashed. How do I get my stuff back?” My usual response was, “It looks like you’ve lost everything.” That’s why I can’t stress enough the importance of backing up your information. A big enough external will allow you to back up all of your documents and any other non-recoverable information. I learned finally after my second hard drive crash.

A Good Planner

This is one they usually tell you about when going to school, but it’s still important to find a good one- one that works for you. It took me about 2 years to actually find a good one. I’ll always recommend a PDA because I’m a computer nerd, but as long as you find one that helps you stay organized, you’ll be in good shape.

A Cell Phone

Probably an unnecessary item to list, but essential none the less. A cell phone is a complete necessity for any college student, especially because now campuses (like the University of Scranton) are doing away with land lines in dorm rooms.

A File Cabinet or Box

Going back to staying organized, something that will help you keep track of the multitudes of papers, forms, etc. is important, especially because you don’t know which forms and papers will come in handy down the line.

A Few Good Movies

My Freshman year, we watched just about a movie a week. Good for when you don’t feel like going out, or just putting one on in the background, it’s always good to have a few movies around. And not just classics. Go for movies people probably have never heard of. My Freshman year I was introduced to Donnie Darko, Boondock Saints and Poolhall Junkies.

Phew! I know it’s quite an expensive list, but these are all things you will want while at college, even if you don’t realize it at first. The surprises for me were the Flash Drive, the Digital Camera and the file box. But once I got them, I used (and still use) them over and over again. Are there any essentials I am missing? Or maybe something you feel shouldn’t be on here?