Summer is coming on strong and it won’t be long before college campuses across the nation will be in full gear with the Fall semester. So if you’re in search of ways to leverage technology in the classroom or perhaps you’re charged with polishing up a “welcome” gift for incoming freshman, now is the time to consider college branded flash drives.
Over the past 5 years the flash drive industry has experienced explosive growth in the Postsecondary environments. The trend is mostly due to the student population but there’s been increasing adoption of flash drive technology by professors. Some professors are using flash drives as a vehicle to organize class lectures or store digital vs. printed material to stay true to a “green” workstyle. Other faculty are issuing flash drives preloaded with resource materials and course outlines to students in effort to enhance the education process.
University students are looking to flash drives to help them organize class notes. Others use flash drives as a back up device in the event their laptop or workstation computer has an issue. But USB flash drives are not limited to digital storage of school-related data. In fact, evidence shows college-aged flash drive owners use flash drives to mobilize and store music, photos, videos and other content that’s more entertainment-related.
Chris Wagner, self-proclaimed Flash Drive Guru at CFgear.com and sister site collegeflashdrives.com, says, “Flash drives are becoming as common as a backpack these days. Students realize the flexibility and reliability flash drive technology offers them. We’re happy to be a part of a valued process…helping universities supply students with a respected college promotional item such as a flash drive versus another product that may offer little functionality in the way of a college student’s lifestyle.”
If you’re new to the flash drive marketplace, the drives come in about every shape and size imaginable. Some companies will even offer the ability for you to custom engineer your drive to fit the style and/or shape of your school brand. CFgear.com, mentioned above, provides this service as well as a few other companies.
As far as capacity of the flash storage, the technology is volatile…not unlike that of the computer or electronics industry. In fact, a few months ago, wholesale flash drives were available in storage capacities ranging from 32MB to 32GB. However, there’s a recent shortage of sub-128MB sizes. Of course, as any professor of Economics would explain, flash drive prices are influenced by the market supply and demand. Because of this, sometimes larger storage capacities are priced less than smaller ones (eg. 512MB less than 256MB).
A popular value-added approach to the college branded flash drives is to preload each flash drive with information either the professor or university (or both) want the student to have literally at their fingertips. Taking the preload concept a step further, some universities are choosing to engineer a preload menu or interface. The preload menu offers the flash drive user the ability to more easily navigate data preloaded on the flash drives.
The customizable options in the flash drive world are indeed vast. It’s vital to find a flash drive expert to collaborate with you and bring your branded flash drive project to life in a feasible and precise manner. Whatever partner you choose, however, there’s no better time than now to begin the process. In fact, come this fall, just ask any student from any campus…from coast to coast. Chances are they will be carrying at least one flash drive on their keychain or in their backpack. Imagine if that flash drive had your school brand on the outside and your desired message/communication preloaded on the inside!
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