6 HELPFUL APPS FOR TEACHERS AND EDUCATORS TO HELP WITH CLASSROOM LEARNING AND PREPARATION

6 TEACHING APPS FOR EDUCATORS

There are lots of advantages to be had by employing tablets in the classroom at various levels of education. You can encourage greater student engagement and an expansion of the learning environment beyond school hours. Hardware is only part of the jigsaw, though. You also need the right software to help engage those eager young minds. If you’re using tablets with your students then you’ll appreciate great educational apps.

We’ve already looked at the best back to school apps for students to help them keep organized, but what about teachers? How about a communication network built with teacher-student relations in mind? Apps for scheduling and recording attendance could prove handy. There are also some great options for creating tutorials and accessing information on different subjects. Let’s take a look at the best apps for teachers and educators.

We’ve already covered Evernote and Dropbox in the student app roundup, but before we begin it’s worth mentioning that both are great tools for teachers as well. Evernote allows you to create notes of all types and there is a version of Evernote for schools. Dropbox is ideal as free cloud storage for safely backing up and sharing your files.

Edmodo (Free)

The advantages of having a safe, closed social network for your class are obvious. This completely free app works with the iPad or Android tablets and it allows teachers and students to stay in touch outside the classroom in an appropriate way. It is completely free, easy to set up, and it allows the discussion to continue after that bell rings. Teachers and students can share content, it can be used as a conduit for new information or notifications, and it even allows students to submit assignments and receive grades.

The ability for teachers to post assignments, give students access to digital libraries of relevant resources, post messages, polls and quizzes, and create calendars is invaluable. It’s also possible to set up specific learning groups or even set up groups for discussions with other teachers or parents. A public Edmodo API is in the works which will allow the platform to be integrated with other systems and apps and will no doubt make it more useful. There’s already a Chrome extension for quickly adding resources to your library.

It can be adapted for a variety of uses and potentially replace a learning wiki or a moodle site. As a completely free resource, Edmodo is definitely worth a look.

Android | iOS

Teacher’s Assistant Pro: Track Student Behavior ($10)

You have to stay organized in the classroom, but it can be very difficult to accurately remember everything and keep a record of student behavior without some help. Teacher’s Assistant Pro allows you to keep a set of records for each student in your care and offers a solution for quickly and easily recording any important information about them. Good or bad behavior can be accurately noted so the information is at your fingertips for the next parent-teacher meeting.

Contact details are there if you need them and you can email specific incidents directly from the app. You can also add photos and notes, and filter the student list using various parameters. This app really allows you to cut down on paperwork and it keeps vital information available. If you have security concerns, don’t worry, because you can PIN protect it to prevent snooping students from getting a look when your back is turned.

Sadly there is no Android version of this one, but teachers with Android tablets could try Teacher Aide Pro for similar functionality.

ScreenChomp (Free)

Creating tutorials has never been easier. The clever idea behind ScreenChomp is that you can record your iPad screen and your own narration as you sketch out and explain an idea. You can sketch on a plain background or choose an image from your camera roll. As you sketch, you can explain what you are doing, and then you can share the video with students or other educators by sending them the unique URL.

It’s a really smart idea and very easy to use, but there is no Android version right now.

Blackboard Mobile Learn (Free)

The idea here is to allow educators and students to easily access all the courses and content they need through a smartphone or tablet. It can also be used to send out notifications and assignments, and like Edmodo, it can be good for sharing information and discussing topics. If your school supports the app you’ll be able to take full advantage of the feature list, but you can also get a personal license which costs $2 per year or $6 for life.

The app ties in with Dropbox and, for many educators, it simply provides a great way of accessing relevant documents outside the classroom.

Zite (Free)

Here’s a free app that allows you to create a personalized magazine for a specific topic. Tell it what you’re interested in and the app will suck in relevant blog posts, news articles, videos, and articles. It learns about your preferences over time and serves up more of the content you want. This app is ideal for teachers who want to stay on top of a subject and find the latest news to share with students without having to spend hours scouring the Web.

Educreations (Free)

This is another interactive whiteboard app that allows you to create easy to follow tutorials for students. You can also record audio to narrate your actions and it even supports simple animations. Create diagrams, commentary, or instructions for any topic and then share the videos through email, Facebook or Twitter. There’s no Android version of this either.