So you’re sitting on your computer, staring at the screen. Most likely your Facebook homepage is up and you’re just sitting on the edge of your seat, waiting for that next update to come up on your Newsfeed. SNAP OUT OF IT!!! Contrary to popular belief, there are other things to do on the Internet besides Facebook. Some websites are entertaining, but there are some that can also help you in your college career (which includes procrastinating). Here are those websites:
www.prezi.com
Sick of boring presentations and slideshows? Prezi is here to help! Prezi is a website where you can create fun and exciting presentations— for free! It’s totally easy and fun to use. There are three different levels of membership on Prezi, the first being “Public”, next “Enjoy”, and last “Pro.” The “Public” level of membership is free to all users and gives you access to creating presentations online and downloading them to be presented offline. If you’re willing to lay down the dough, you can upgrade (for an annual fee) to either “Enjoy” or “Pro,” which give you more freedom to work offline and gives you more storage space. As far as college goes, we know free is always better and in this case, you get a lot out of the free membership. It’s definitely something all college students should try out next time they want to impress their professors and classmates with a presentation.
www.google.com
I know what you’re thinking— Google? Really? Like I don’t already use that. Many college students use this very popular search engine, but a lot don’t know about the other amazing tools Google has to offer. By creating a free Google account, you have access to a ton of different services that they have to offer. Some of these include, but are not limited to, Gmail, Google Docs, Google Alerts, Picasa, and Google Maps. These can help you organize your e-mail, work on group projects, get alerted on the most relevant news to you, edit and share photos, and figure out how to get to Chicago with your friends. Next time you go to Google’s site, click on the “More” tab at the top of the page to explore what Google has to offer even further.
www.stumbleupon.com
WARNING: This website has been known to suck time out of your busy day. Well now that you are fully prepared, jump on in to Stumble Upon. Once again, to use this website you need to sign up for a free account. Once you’re signed up, they give you the option to choose different interests. Anything ranging from pop culture to books to online games to pretty much anything you can think of. You go through and check the interests that you would like to see and click “Stumble.” It does exactly what it sounds like. Based on your interests, you “stumble” around the web onto related websites. I’ve found many different YouTube videos, funny pictures, interesting blogs, and much more. The fun part is, you find something new every time you log in. I’ve definitely found this to be a good tool when mastering the art of procrastination…
www.ratemyprofessors.com
Rate My Professors is another free service site for college students. This website gives ratings to professors at universities all across the United States, UNI included. All you have to do is search for the University of Northern Iowa and it quickly comes up with a long list of professors in alphabetical order by last name. Once you find the professor you’re looking for, it gives them scores for easiness, helpfulness, clarity, and overall quality. It even gives a “hotness” level of all professors! Along with these ratings, there are also comments that students can post describing how good or bad the professors are. This is a very helpful tool when trying to avoid the professor who gives out homework assignments every night!
Next time you open up Mozilla Firefox or Internet Explorer, try exploring these websites. Have a website that you think would be useful to a Collegiette™? Comment and let us know!