Useful Apps for Education
Students and Teachers
5 Useful mobile applications for students and teachers of all grade levels.
Evernote
Allows both students and teachers to take and organize notes, as well as store information. It acts like a digital file cabinet, task/project management system, note-taking tool and more.
Having papers to carry around can become quite cumbersome. Students can take pictures of their notes and store them in their Evernote application. Therefore allowing quick and easy access to them on any device any-time any-place. Students can use Evernote to create different tabs and folders to organize their notes. Evernote allows the students to create new notes as well. After a math student reviews their class notes, the can create quick summary sheets in their Evernote application and store them for further studying.
An interesting feature for teachers is that they can create a notebook of information, images, links, and videos for their class. The teacher can then share that notebook with the entire class – similar to an LMS.
Below is a quick tutorial on how to use Evernote.
Studyblue
StudyBlue is a crowd sourced learning application. Students are able to create flashcards, or use other students’ flash cards to study the topic at hand. It also helps test students on their knowledge.
This application is particularly useful for when students want to create flashcards, but they do not want to carry them around. This application allows students to design enhanced customized flashcards using text, images and audio. Students are also able to compare and share their flashcards with others to help strengthen their study material. The StudyBlue application quizzes you on your flashcards and study materials. This is a very useful feature to help students prepare for their tests. StudyBlue has implemented a study score chart system that tracks the students’ progress as they study. This is an effective way to help students feel more successful while they study, and encourage them to study more.
Studious
The Studious application helps students with time management, keep on top of their assignments and due dates, as well as, communicate with their phone to keep it quite during class time and study periods.
Another useful feature of this application is that the student can pre-program their class schedule/study times and what they want their phone to do during those times. For example: if the student would like their phone to be on silent during class, they just need to pre-program the application. Then when it is time for class/to study the application will automatically adjust the phone settings to fit the students needs. This is also a useful feature for the teacher because it minimizes class distractions.
Please click this website to learn more about Studious: http://tinyurl.com/hw2d4p6
Khan Academy
Khan Academy provides video explanations over a variety of subject areas and grade levels for free. During each section it also provides practice questions for the student to apply what they have just learned.
Along with teaching concepts Khan also demonstrates examples of the material. Therefore, making this an excellent application for students to get extra explanations of concepts they may not have understood in class. Khan Academy acts as a portable classroom that works on any mobile device, creating the flexibility to learn any-time any-where for free. If students are interested in other subjects they can use this application to further their knowledge. Khan has also implemented an award system to help the students feel successful as they learn. The more video tutorials they watch and complete the more points they get.
Please click on the picture below to visit Khan Academy.
Wolfram|Alpha
Wolfram|Alpha is similar to a search engine, it is a computational knowledge engine. Combing knowledge and computational power it can provide you answers for practically any subject. You are able to ask it questions for essentially any topic and it will compute answers.
This application is particularly useful for students and teachers in mathematics. You are able to put your formula or mathematical question into the application and it will solve it for you. If students or teachers buy the pro-version Wolfram|Alpha will also give you step-by-step solutions to the question at hand. This can be useful for students when they are stuck on a question or if they want to confirm their process and solutions.
Below is a quick tutorial of Wolfram|Alpha.
References Used
Learn better with StudyBlue. (2016). Retrieved 04 June 2016, from https://www.studyblue.com/study-tools
Studious - Android Apps on Google Play. (2016). Retrieved 03 June 2016, from https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.young.studious
Haslam, O. (2012, April 08). Studious For Android Is The Perfect Replacement For Your Student Planner | Redmond Pie. Retrieved 05 June 2016, from http://www.redmondpie.com/studious-for-android-is-the-perfect-replacement-for-your-student-planner/
Khan Academy. (2016). Retrieved 05 June 2016, from https://www.khanacademy.org/
WolframAlpha. (11 Oct 2010). Wolfram|Alpha in a Nutshell [Online video]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rRGNS6z5bLY&feature=youtu.be