Remember when you had an issue and turned towards a friend or acquaintance of yours, and they offered help or hit you with the “ I know a guy that can help you with that”? Well, with the advancement of technology, that expression has been replaced with the famous “There is an app for that” expression. Nowadays, you can use an app for virtually everything you need — whether you need help finding a ride or turning the lights on and off in your house. As a result, you will also find a plethora of very useful apps that are created for college students specifically.
How Apps Help Students in Their Learning Process
As parents all around the world sometimes struggle with getting their kids off the phone, we often forget how useful these devices are — when they are used sensibly, that is. Smartphones are widely used today, especially by college students who can make use of different apps. The apps that help students in their learning process aren’t all educational apps. Among apps that help you with studying, there are also those that simply make your day-to-day life easier. These apps are amazing for giving students quick and easy access to the things they need, thus saving time in the long run.
Study Apps for College Students
Many of the apps that students use aren’t specifically made for them, but finding ways to use apps to your advantage is a skill everyone should have. Whether you use apps to revise, organize your study material, or communicate with other college students, they all make your life a little easier. However, there are also some concerns as to the negative sides of such apps. Let’s dig a little deeper into the pros and cons of college students using study apps:
Pros
Apps are a great way to learn if one is truly determined to, especially for college students. There are many apps out there that students can use to keep track of their studying, among other things. College students are “fresh” adults who need help maintaining a sense of freedom and accomplishment, and study apps can help them with that. One great thing about such apps is that they cut down the time of completion for certain tasks giving students more time to concentrate on other important things, including relaxation. Furthermore, by using apps for their notes and revision, students use less paper. This makes study apps eco-friendly.
Cons
The negative side of apps is the same as with every side of technology. By using apps for everything, we run the risk of becoming completely dependent on them. This is especially a problem when the app we need crashes, and we can’t use it. Furthermore, there is always a risk of not being able to access your virtual notes or losing them altogether. While apps do make our lives easier, they are not foolproof, so it is always a good idea to back up your data and have options when it comes to studying.
12 Useful Apps for College Students
Whether you are a new college student or one at the end of your studies, a way to lighten the workload is always welcome. There are millions of apps available, so you might need someone to sift through them and give you only the most useful of them — and that is exactly what we did. Below you will find a short list of handy apps you can download and use for studying and other purposes. Let’s get started!
My Study Life
Do you often find yourself jealous of other people who seem to have their life on track? Are you tired of always being unorganized? If you answered ‘yes’ to at least one of those questions, it is time for you to download the “ My Study Life” app. My Study Life is an amazing app specially designed to help students organize their ‘academic life’. This app is a virtual planner that offers students the possibility to input information on exam dates, assignments, due dates, etc., and save it on the cloud. This means that you can access the said calendar from all your devices. Even parents who homeschool their children can make use of this app to make their jobs easier.
Venmo
As we mentioned at the beginning of this article, useful apps for college students include much more than studying apps. Such is the case with Venmo. Through this app, students and anyone who wants to use it can send money to each other without having to go to the bank. Venmo is a virtual wallet that makes splitting bills between people a breeze for them and the waiter.
Evernote
Evernote, like the name suggests, is an app for taking notes. Students and anyone who needs help with organizing virtual files can use this app. Through Evernote, you can compose notes, share them, create notebooks, and organize them the way you want. You can also add tags to your notes which later will help you find and sort them quickly and easily. Last but not least, you can add shortcuts for the notes you need to access more frequently, so you don’t have to go through many steps to find them.
Quizlet Go
Do you need to revise but can’t meet with your friends right now? Well, with Quizlet, you can create and personalize your own flashcards for any subject and revise as much as you need to. It is a great app for studying and revising as you can use materials from other students who use Quizlet or even upload your own. Furthermore, with Quizlet, you can learn foreign languages, math, science, and other subjects and prepare for your exams. You can even use it with your friends so you’ll always have a study partner even if you aren’t physically together.
Grammarly
If you are one of the people that has been scolded by the “grammar police” online for using “your” instead of “you’re,” chances are grammar isn’t your strong suit. So what do you do when instead of people you encounter online, it’s your professors who will judge your writing? The solution is quite simple: you download an app. Grammarly is a writing app that can help you with your grammar and spelling. With Grammarly, you will learn how to correctly use fancy punctuation marks such as the semicolon or the em dash. Lastly, among other great features, Grammarly enables you to check your written work for plagiarism.
iTunes University
This is another excellent app that college students can use for studying and revision purposes. What’s different about the iTunes University app is that the content available to students is in audio and video format, so there is something for all kinds of learners. In addition, there are colleges, universities, and other institutions that are part of iTunes University. This means that students can specifically search for materials by a specific institution, including audio and video recordings, e-books, etc.
Google Drive
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Part of the Google Workplace, Google Drive is an app that enables students to store, back up safely, and access all their studying material and other files from all of their devices. In addition, Google Drive is also used to share documents with others by giving them access to specific documents or even permission to edit and leave comments on them. With this app, you can organize your files and access them when you need to, scan physical documents and add them to Google Drive, etc.
Canvas Student
Another app or platform that is widely used not only by students but teachers and parents as well is Canvas Student. This is a learning app where you can study by accessing the available courses, taking part in discussions, and even taking quizzes. In addition to learning, you can also use Canvas Student to stay informed about your grades and course content, turn in assignments, use the to-do list and calendar for organizing your tasks, communicate with others, watch videos, etc.
Duolingo
Duolingo is the ideal app for those looking to improve their language skills in a new language or even start learning a new one. You don’t need to be a student or even in school to make use of this app, but you will become one as soon as you download and use Duolingo. This is one of the most downloaded apps in the world and for a good reason. There are around 19 different languages you can choose to learn from Duolingo, and you can do this. What makes this app so well-received is the fact that it uses fun and productive ways to teach speaking, listening, reading, and writing skills. And perhaps more importantly, it’s free!
Coursera
This is another app that is a course provider for students everywhere. With Coursera, you have access to online courses and benefit from world experts at famous universities like Yale, the University of Michigan, IBM, etc. Through this app, you can finish courses and get certificates that will help you in your career. Coursera also offers applied learning courses so you can gain new skills used in high-demand jobs like Python, SQL, digital marketing, etc. Coursera offers various free courses and others you have to pay for.
RefMe
If you didn’t believe us when we said there is an app for virtually anything, you will now. RefME is an app that helps students find and reference sources on their papers. Through this app, you can find the materials you are looking for without digging too much and reading them anytime you want because it saves your reading progress. The RefMe app saves time and effort as it enables students to reference articles they need on their papers quickly. This is made possible by scanning any book they want and having the app generate citations for that book.
Wolfram Alpha
Do you have a question that needs to be answered right away but you don’t have time to sift through the results provided by Google? Download the Wolfram Alpha app. With this app, you can type any question you have, and the app searches its information and statistics database and provides you with a correct answer. As we mentioned before, Wolfram Alpha differs from Google in one important aspect: Wolfram Alpha provides you with an answer instead of offering you millions of articles that are remotely related to your question.
Other Useful Apps
Some other useful apps students can make use of include:
- CamScanner – You can use this to scan documents with your phone camera and have a digital copy in seconds.
- SplitWise – You can use this jointly with anyone you share expenses with, including roommates, friends, or even family members.
- Duo Mobile – You can use this to screen your identity anytime you access your campus portal
- Word Hippo – This app is designed to help you with your writing assignments by providing you with synonyms for the words you need.
- Pomodoro – This is an excellent app if you have trouble with time management. This app uses the Pomodoro method of studying, which will help you manage your study time with 25 minutes of studying and then resting.
Final Thoughts
One of the ways technology has made our lives easier is through the apps we use on a daily basis. Whether you are a student with a tight schedule or simply someone who wants to get more things done in a shorter amount of time, you can use different apps to make tasks easier or to complete them faster.