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A school principal’s primary role is to be the leader of a learning institution. This means that he/she is responsible for things such as teacher evaluation, student discipline, and general organization of a learning institution. Though these tasks sound straightforward, they can be pretty challenging even with the help of a dedicated deputy principal.
However, thanks to advancements in technology, school principals can now work smarter than ever. Basically, there are four tech gadgets that every school principal must own because of the way they make work easier for them. In coming up with this list of gadgets, portability, usability, battery life, and convenience were the main factors considered.
Here are the four gadgets in order of their importance:
1. Laptop PC
Laptop PCs are must-have gadgets for people who lead others. With laptops, school principals can keep their own personal records on matters concerning their learning institutions. Invoices, special requests from parents, or event dates are just a few of the records that they can be stored in their laptops.They can also use the same laptops for communicating to the board of directors via email.
Advantages of Laptops
- Most laptops are portable; - They perform all the tasks a desktop computer can do, hence they are convenient; - They can be used in presentations when connected to devices such as projectors; - They offer an easier way of keeping and managing a school principal’s personal data.
For school principals, laptops have few disadvantages since they can perform almost all the tasks that other devices such as cellphones and PC tablets can.
2. Smartphones
While it’s true that smartphones are also as important as laptops, they lack many features of a laptop. However, this doesn’t make them useless. Smartphones are mainly important when it comes to self-organization and calling other members of the school.
Besides being used to contact important members of a school, smartphones outweigh other types of technological devices by having a longer battery life. Unlike laptops, they can be used for a longer period without being charged. They can thus be life savers when all the other gadgets are down.
3. Tablet PCs
In many ways, tablet PCs are similar to laptops in terms of portability and functionality. Tablet PCs can make work easier for school principals by allowing them to come up with sketches and illustrations, something that would have been much harder to pull off with an ordinary laptop.
Moreover, taking down notes with a tablet PC is more comfortable compared to doing the same with a laptop or a smartphone. With tablet PCs, school principals can take down notes in the same way they would have done with ordinary notepads.
Most tablet PCs also allow installation of third-party software, making them easily customizable and convenient for school principals. With thousands of apps for iPad tablets and Android tablets being created daily, school principals will definitely find apps make their work much easier.
4. Projectors
Projectors are basically for people who want to clearly communicate. With a projector, a school principal will find it much easier to educate students on certain issues. Though books can do the same thing, they do not create a strong visual memory the way projectors do.When coupled with tablet PCs and laptops, projectors prove to be indispensable gadgets in a learning institution.
All in all, there are several other gadgets that can equally help school principals to efficiently work. However, some of their key tasks always revolve around facilitating communication, helping in presentations, and helping one to be more organized. Laptops, tablet PCs, smartphones, and projectors tend to take care of all these tasks and more.
Jeff UnderwoodAbout the Guest Author:
Jeff Underwood is a school district administrator and guest author at Top Masters in Education, a site with guides and information on top-rated masters in education degree programs online.
