Essential Apps for Students

There are a few apps that should be on every iPad that is put into the hands of students, just to get them ready to use the iPad as an educational tool.  Before an iPad is deemed ready for student use there are a few things to do before checking it out to them.  After supervising the devise, installing profile for the MDM, and global web proxy, we make sure that these productivity apps are installed on the devices.

The app from Dictionary.com Dictionary & Thesaurus for iPad - Dictionary.com, LLC is one of the first apps we put on every iPad.  With an iPad in hand, the days of keeping an eight pound dictionary on the shelf or in the desk are rapidly disappearing.  Is it still necessary to have a hard copy of a dictionary in the classroom?  Maybe, but to have a full class set is a waste of money and shelf space.  If you still feel the need to teach the skills associated with the hard copy, do it in a mixed media setting combining the use of digital and print resources into the same lesson.  One of the benefits of the app is the ability to speak the word and have it look it up.  How many of you are guilty of telling a student to "Look it up" when they ask how to spell something?  This app actually allows them to do just that.  This app has free and premium version available.  I don't mind the adds since this app is fully functional in the free version.

Next on the list is Google Translate - Google, Inc. and is essential in any class that any ELL students of any level.  If you don't put this on student iPads, at least put it on your own devices.  The great thing about this app is the ability to translate between multiple languages.  This can be done using spoken word or text.  This is really handy if you have parents coming in for conferences, but have no one available to translate for you. Many schools that only have one or two students in a language group cannot afford to have a dedicated staff member available to assist with language acquisition.  This app can help bridge the gap for the student and teacher.

I know that the iPad comes preloaded with a browser, but Chrome - Google, Inc. allows so much more functionality.  The first feature is the ability to sync your browser with your other devices.  If you login with your google account on more than one device your bookmarks, etc. will follow you between devices.  It will also keep track of your most visited sites, show you what you have recently closed, open book marks in a new tab and see what tabs you have open on other devices.  As with other versions of Chrome, the address bar doubles as a search box which cleans up the browser by eliminating a separate search box.  Another nice feature is the voice search that will allow you to speak what you are searching for.  this may actually be a distraction for some teachers, but my science classroom was always a little louder than many other classrooms.

The next app I install is Google Search - Google, Inc.  I know this is starting to sound like a plug for everything Google, but I assure you there are some great benefits to this one.  In the last paragraph I told you the address bar doubled as a search box, so why am I having you download a separate Google app that is just for searching?  The Google Search app allows you to open up several of the Google Apps from within the search app by tapping the apps tab (nice feature if you have tons of apps and you want to get to all your Google apps in one place, I know you can search for them and find them quickly in other ways).  The big feature I like with the Google Search app is Google Goggles.  This will let you take a picture of something around you and search for any available information on that subject.  So if you are traveling and are at the Statue of Liberty.  Take a picture of it from the Google Search app and immediately get more information about it.   Or what if your students could take a picture of the pictures in your textbook and immediately get more information about that picture or topic.

My favorite productivity app is Evernote.  This app is a great way for students to stay organized.  In this app students (and teachers) can organize their notes into folders.  Images can be inserted, audio added and information pasted from websites.  If you have ever had your students use notecards for research, this is a great replacement.  With the recent update you no longer have to access the website to create new notebooks.  All of it can be done within the app.  You also have access to the information across multiple devices.  After you create your account, you can pull up your information on your iPhone, Android device, PC or Mac.  You can share entire notebooks with others using this app to allowed shared viewing of material.  In the paid version of the app, you can upload more data (I have never had an issue with this so far) and allow others the ability to edit your notebooks.

These are just the first five in my list of essential apps for student iPads.  You might also check out some of the apps that some other teachers are using with their students by going to the Apps of Interest page.