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Can you still imagine a time when flashcards, manual taking of notes, and photocopying of lectures are still a part of a students’ regular life? The dawn of technology has definitely affected education in many ways, and with it, the way learning happens as well.
The popularity of smartphones and the integration of other modern conveniences in our lives — like the internet and mobile apps — have definitely changed how we process and master things, as well as how we live our lives as members of the academe. There’s almost an app for anything and everything now; yes, including for academics! Read the list below for some of the most helpful apps for students.
Homework-management Apps
Keep track of all your tasks by collating all of them in an online planner. The myHomework Student Planner is a free app for Android and iOS that can help you keep your schedules and to-dos in one place. What’s great about this app is that it allows you to categorize your tasks in different buckets, like whether it is homework, a test, or a study session. You can even set the priority of each to make sure that you don’t miss anything.
Lecture Recording Apps
Gone are the days when we have to struggle to match our writing speed with our professor’s lecture. SoundNote is an app for iOS iPad users that works like an audio recorder and a notepad so you can easily record discussions in both forms. You can also use Notes Plus for iOS to take good quality shots of whiteboard notes, for example.
Bibliography-management Apps
Manually checking — or worse, creating — a bibliography can be tedious. An app like EasyBib is the perfect help for students who want to make an academic reference from their resources. You only need to scan a book’s barcode and the app will provide you with different bibliography styles. Thank God, for technology, right?
Focus Apps
Admit it: half of the struggle of studying is trying to stay focused on projects. Many people blame smartphones to be the number one distraction, but they can also be a good driver in keeping you on track, too! Focus apps like Stay Focused is an Android application that blocks all the other apps of your phone when you need that extra layer of control. Unless you whitelist them, they will be put on temporary freeze so you’ll be free from any distractions. You can even set a time limit for when your apps work — they will be automatically be frozen again once the time is up — so you don’t go overboard in using your phone. Pretty nifty, right?
Note Takers
Tech-savvy students prefer taking their tablets and laptops to their classes now instead of the regular notebook and pen combo. Google Keep is the perfect app to use if you want to take short notes and have them in one place. You can choose to make a list or do each separately, and you also have the option to attach voice recordings and add attachments to them. This is perfect if you only want to highlight important mentions during lectures, etc.
Looking for something you can use for long notes? Download One Note instead. The computer-based app is now also available to be used on smartphones, which is great because you can easily synchronize and access everything, no matter which device you are using.
EXTRA: Lifestyle Apps
Keeping focused on our academics may be our main goal as part of the university crowd, but hey, everyone knows that a huge part of it is also about socializing and trying to keep a balanced lifestyle! Here are two of the most helpful apps that can help in making student life easier and smoother.
Safety Apps
Going out now and then to relax and have fun is important to prevent academic burnout. Keep yourself safe during your night outs by downloading safety apps like Circle of Six, an Android and iOS application that can help you stay connected to your friends and family. It works by having a GPS tracker that can pin your location, so your friends can know where you are for the day. Moreover, it also lets you easily call them with the touch of a button in case of SOS.
Wake Up Apps
Forget your regular alarm clock. In times when you’re feeling extra lazy, something like the Alarmy: Sleep If You Can app can be your saving grace. Unlike normal alarms that you can easily turn off or snooze, this application requires you to do certain tasks like shaking your smartphone or taking a photo to turn it off. By the time you’re done, you’re wide awake to go back to bed!
Being a student can be challenging, so it’s perfectly normal for us to need a helping hand now and then. In this case, you can easily get this by hitting download on these nifty applications.
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