Top 10 iPad Study Apps
We all know revision is not easy! The good news is that students can make use of technology to help organise, process and memorise learning effectively.
Check out Director of Digital Integration Jamie Clark's top 10 iPad study apps:
1. Quizlet
Quizlet is a digital flashcard app that allows students to create free study sets which assist in learning key ideas and concepts. Research in cognitive psychology has shown that using flashcards can help students memorise information more readily (as opposed to simply reading over notes). Quizlet includes other effective features such as ‘Match’ and ‘Learn’ comprehension features.
Cost Free with option to upgrade to premium features.
2. Adobe Spark Post
Make revision less tedious by creating professional graphics to represent key information. Adobe Spark Post allows students to transform their ideas into visual stories, which helps them remember key information. Whether they are learning quotations in English, or key terms in Science, this free app has hundreds of templates.
Cost Free with option to upgrade to premium features.
3. Loom
Loom is a free screencast tool which allows recording of a screen while adding annotations. Students can use the tool to display digital notes/presentations. They can then record themselves adding explanations. Questioning ‘how’ and ‘why’ and adding their own explanations helps students to think carefully and interrogate the information. This means it is more likely to be stored in the long term memory.
Cost Free
4. Quizizz
Quizizz has lots of searchable quizzes on hundreds of topics. It is proven by cognitive psychological research that regular quizzing improves the recollection of key ideas and concepts. With this in mind, it is beneficial for students to make a revision timetable to help schedule quizzes on a range of topics on a regular basis. Quizizz also allows teachers to create or assign ‘Homework’ quizzes to students. Check it out.
Cost Free
5. Popplet Lite
Students can use Popplet to create beautiful mind-maps to help visualise a topic or present key ideas. This app allows students to organise facts, thoughts, and images and develop relationships between them. In this free version, only one Popplet can be created. When students are finished, tell them to save a screenshot and start a fresh Popplet on a new topic!
Cost Free
6. Padlet
Padlet is a great practical tool to use when students are studying with friends or a larger group. Digital bulletin boards can be created and collaborated on in order to share or brainstorm ideas on a topic. This is often a great starting point before getting into the nitty-gritty of memorising ideas, facts and key content. Once students have finished collaborating, they can save their work as a glossy PDF to share with everyone.
Cost Five free Padlets with option to upgrade to premium features.
7. Numbers
By deleting the default table in Numbers on iOS, students can create a blank canvas to write, add images, and videos. This is a great (free) alternative to other note-taking apps which can be costly. Adding tabs to the Numbers document can help students separate and categorise their notes onto different sheets. This is perfect for brainstorming and sketching key ideas and concepts. Students can also screen-record their notes and view later using the screen-recording tool built in to iOS.
Cost Free
8. Canva
Canva allows you to create stunning professional visuals using a range of pre-made templates. Students can use this app to summarise topics, key ideas or concepts by creating infographics with dot-points, visuals and headings. Research has proven that combining visuals and key words gives students a greater chance of remembering key learning.
Cost Free with option to upgrade to premium features.
9. Clips
Clips is a free creative video app which allows students to make quick, professional-looking videos. Challenge students to create short and simple explanation videos to support their study of a topic or concept. A range of features such as images, key words, stickers, and Live Titles can be added to help them visualise and enhance their ideas.
Cost Free
10. Class Timetable
Class Timetable does exactly what it says on the tin. It helps students to organise their assignments, add deadlines to projects and record homework notes etc. For revision purposes, encourage students to create a revision timetable and colour code each topic so that they can space their learning and and return to old topics over their scheduled weeks. Simple and effective!
Cost Free with option to upgrade to premium features.