Educational apps for the modern student
Cell phones are replacing notepads for keeping track of assignments. Photo by: Megan Brandrup
By: Megan Brandrup
The modern student faces many difficulties students in the past did not have to deal with. Students today are much busier than past generations finding efficient and easy ways to stay organized, finding time to study, and even time to practice skills you have already learned. In the past, students had to rely on reading many books and looking over notes to study. Organization was something you needed a planner for. We have many more options today. In the age of “there’s an app for that,” the internet has the modern student covered.
Organization is something many students struggle with. “Evernote” is a free application that works as your personal organizer. You can use this application to help organize your schedule, keep track of homework assignments, take notes, and even save pictures.
Another excellent organization app is called “DropBox Mobile.” This is the mobile version of the online application “DropBox.” This app works just like a zip drive or cloud storage. This free app allows you to save your documents in your own account so you can open and edit those documents from any computer or mobile phone with internet access. There is a free version, or you can pay a small monthly fee, depending on how much extra cloud space you want.
Studying and doing homework is something every student dreads doing. It takes a long time and sometimes you feel like you barely remember anything. Of course, there are some apps to help alleviate this stress. “My Study Life” reminds you when you need to study, and allows you to set alarms for when you have class.
The days of sleeping through classes are over. “Khan Academy” is an app for mobile devices that was created to work as a mobile version of Kahn Academy’s online study help. This application allows you to pick a specific subject like science, math, history, etc. and then narrow down your subject further to study a specific topic you are learning in class. The app allows students to view demonstrations, practice problems, and get help with stuff you have trouble with.
Writing papers is something every student will have to deal with at least once in their academic career. Every teacher who assigns a research paper most definitely requires you to have a bibliography or works cited page. Making a bibliography is often confusing and takes a long time. “EasyBib” is an app created with this issue in mind. This free app helps you create your bibliography painlessly and quickly. It is also great because you can select any type of bibliography entry your professor may require; MLA, APA, Chicago…this app has you covered. You can also cite any source type: URLs, books, articles, magazines, and even interviews; this app knows how to make a citation for you.
Presentations are another big part of a student’s educational career. Microsoft Office mobile lets you use all of the Microsoft products like PowerPoint, Word, Excel, etc. You can easily save your work to an online account and have access to it from any computer or mobile device.
Students often have to practice skills outside of the classroom in order to improve their skills. “Duolingo” is an application that allows students to learn a new language or practice a language they already know. Duolingo is a very quick and user-friendly way for people of all ages to practice reading, writing, and saying words in another language.
Do you have trouble remembering vocabulary words and what they mean? “Vocabulary Builder” by Magoosh is here to help. This app gives you a list of vocabulary words to practice, or you can enter words from your own courses and practice those words.
Having trouble with your math class? “PhotoMath” allows students to take snap shots of a problem they are having trouble solving and breaks the problem down and shows them how complete it.
Today’s students will never have to know the trouble students of the past dealt with. Instead of spending hours in the library searching the shelves for study materials our generation has the knowledge of the world in the palm of their hand. With these applications, the amount of knowledge and organizational tools students have access to has dramatically increased, and this hopefully means students will better the world.