The 15 Most Used Mobile Apps In Education

Apps, smartphones, and tablets are storming into classrooms around the world. But how do you figure out which apps are being used by teachers, admins, students, and parents?

It’s not an easy task, to be sure. But you can rest assured there are definitely some apps that are being used a bit more than others. For example, we’ve seen Dropbox and Edmodo used by just about every school district around Cambridge. There are many others and we offer a special thanks to our content  partners at Online Universities who assembled a list of some of the most used and most popular academic mobile apps being used right now.
Care to add to this list? Share your thoughts down in the comments!

1. Dropbox:
   Thanks to the magic and wonder of cloud computing, professors on the go can access their files from other devices they’ve connected to their personal networks, meaning they never leave an important digital document at home!
2. Documents To Go:
   Available for nearly all smartphone and PDA platforms, Documents To Go offers up the full suite of Microsoft Office programs, and saving a file on one device makes changes to all connected ones as well!
3. Lab Guru:
   iPad-owning science professors sign up for the popular Lab Guru to draw up experiments and tote them into the field or onto the counter for note taking and sharing.
4. Attendance:
   Educators with iDevices love this app for doing exactly what the name says it does – assist them in keeping track of what students attended what classes when.
5. Evernote:
   Sort digital files into scrapbooks and make sure all necessary class materials sit in the proper place with one of the mobile world’s most lauded organization applications of all time.
6. The Elements: A Visual Exploration:
   Even non-chemistry buffs absolutely adore The Elements iPad app, which illustrates the periodic table with richly detailed photos and comprehensive information about all the basic components of everyday (and not-so-everyday) matter.
7. TED:
   Professors love using the intelligent, open source lectures available through TED to supplement their classroom lessons (on myriad topics, to boot) and even learn a few things they themselves didn’t know before.
8. Quick Graph:
   For math professors, Quick Graph provides mobile computing’s most detailed visuals when it comes to calculating equations in two and three dimensions.
9. TeacherKit:This app serves as an educator’s personal assistant in many ways, keeping track of nearly everything they need to stay on task, record grades and attendance, and plenty more – but only for iDevice owners, unfortunately.
10. Google Apps:
    More of a spacious suite of multiple apps rather than just one, these offerings by Internet juggernaut Google enhance any classroom with access to an Android, iPad, iPhone, Blackberry, Windows Phone, or other mobile gadget.
11. Blackboard Mobile Learn:
    Because so many colleges and universities provide access to Blackboard – especially for its online classes – it makes perfect sense that allowing easy mobile access appeals to tech-savvy educators.
12. eClicker Polling System:
    Make great PowerPoint and Keynote presentations even more effective with an app transforming iDevices into centers for making drawings, taking polls, scrolling through slides, and other fabulous features.
13. Wikipedia:
    Despite its open editing structure, Wikipedia generally hosts the most accurate available information, and plenty of professors head there for research … even if it’s a clandestine peek!
14. CourseSmart:
    CourseSmart provides smartphone and tablet fans a painless way to read thousands of textbooks without potentially breaking their backs and shoulders with heavy bags!
15. iAnnotate:
    Making notes, bookmarking, and highlighting is inevitable in academia – or, at least, in academia where work actually gets done – and this offering renders the process easy when it comes to PDF files.