Technology Resources for Students

There are several technology problems students encounter when completing class assignments at home.  Below are possible solutions to several of them, along with links to related websites at right:

Problem: I don't have Microsoft Office on my home computerPossible Solution 1: If you have access to the internet, you can now get online "Office" applications through Google Docs.  Anyone who is familiar with Microsoft Office formats, will be immediately comfortable navigating and using Google Docs.  Google Docs has equivalent programs for Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, Excel & can recognize files from these programs.  Simply sign up for a Google account and you can start writing and editing documents/presentations/spreadsheets online from anywhere you can access the internet--school, home, The Boiler Room, etc.  You can also "share" these with other collaborators for team projects.Possible Solution 2: OpenOffice.org has an amazing equivalent to Microsoft Office available for FREE on its website.  OpenOffice is developed in part by Sun Microsystems and is very safe to download and install.  Anyone who is familiar with Microsoft Office formats, will be immediately comfortable navigating and using OpenOffice programs.  OpenOffice has equivalent bundled programs for Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, Excel & others commonly used by students.  Each of these programs can be asked to save documents in common Microsoft formats (.doc, etc.) so that they are immediately compatible with Microsoft programs on other computers.   Problem: I can't access files from my home computer at school or vice versaPossible Solution: Again, Google Docs is the answer for you.  Simply upload the document to your Google Docs file in its original format or translate it into a Google Document, then retrieve it from any computer that has access to the internet.

Google Docsdocs.google.com OpenOffice Website:  www.openoffice.org Google Docsdocs.google.com