As the use of smart phones becomes increasingly popular, students are finding mobile applications to enhance all aspects of life, including classroom assignments.
The most popular school-related applications among students polled include Dictionary, Wikipanion, Google Translate and Twitter. Students said these applications were useful in multiple classes and are usually free for mobile users.
Lauren Joffrion, freshman biology major, said she uses mobile applications specifically for organization and note taking. She recommends using the calendar pre-loaded to the phone to keep up with assignments and Evernote to record and organize lectures.
“I have a schedule on my phone and schedule events and assignments,” Joffrion said. “Evernote records my notes and (tries) to type them out for me.”
Shelly Hargis, transfer sophomore biology major, said when she was a student at Lamar University, she used the Blackboard application to complete many of her online assignments.
Chris Wilbourn, freshman political science major, said he finds functionality in In Class, a free application that helps organize everything school related. In Class features a schedule, to-do list and note section.
“My favorite app is In Class. It’s an organizer that has multiple features that lists professors and has a contact book with office hours,” he said.
Many teachers use mobile applications to improve their productivity as well as their students’. Dan White, English instructor, said he uses applications on his iPad that are not specifically for teacher use.
“Almost everything my students read from me is typed in Apple Pages. I use the app to build lecture notes, essay assignments, fliers for the Writing Center and other special events,” he said. “It’s convenient to give lectures with my notes and have an almost limitless research tool in hand.”
 
 
White said he uses Apple Numbers, a spreadsheet application, to track students’ grades and attendance. He said Apple’s iCloud allows him to have constant backup of his work without worrying about using cables or other devices to transfer his work.
Abigail Voller, English lecturer, said she utilizes many applications created for academic use, including Gradebook Pro, an organizer specifically for teachers.
“You can export your grades and attendance to another location for safe-keeping. You can also add notes to keep up with why you’ve recorded a certain grade,” she said. “I think the best part is you can email grade reports to individual students without having to take the extra time to compute the grades.”
Voller said she uses other applications that she also recommends for students who take her course, including GoodReader, a PDF reader, and Dropbox, a free application similar to iCloud.
“In GoodReader, I can edit student drafts and email them back, rather than have to wait until the next class period to hand back their papers. I can also scan my notes and the chapters we are going over in class and annotate the pages with my notes,” she said.
Voller said she also recommends students with mobile devices and tablets use applications such as Pages or Microsoft Word for note taking and completing assignments.