Updated August 2022
Students need a number of applications to make their social and study lives easier. The technology they have access to on-campus can be overwhelming. They will have more electronic data, books, and notes than we can even imagine. The apps for students listed below work across multiple platforms and on multiple devices (unless otherwise indicated). I think this will be a key element to the data storage and retrieval needs of students in the future. Most of these applications have been mentioned in prior posts for business users, but they also have huge benefits for students. These apps can help students set up their technology with the most productive apps available. Also, most of these apps for students have a free version or free trial period so the student can find the right mixture of apps that work the best for them.
My first recommendation for students of all kinds is a great note taking app. Nothing beats the flexibility of Evernote. Students can type their notes directly into the app by typing or writing, and they can add a picture of the instructor’s whiteboard to their notes. All photographs, notes, items captured from the internet, and emails all become searchable text. Within Evernote, they can scan documents, create tasks, manage checklists, and add internet research, and notes from a textbook. All of these forms of information can be added to the same note or notebook. Evernote’s new home page feature will keep them on task and focused on the most important tasks. Students can share, edit and amend notes as needed. This means no more searching through notebooks for that one impossible-to-find note. With an Evernote Personal or Professional subscription, the students can access their notes on a mobile device without an internet connection. Evernote is offering students a 50% discount with their .edu email address.
Calendar Apps
Every student and professional needs a great calendar to keep them on schedule. I have been using Week Calendar for a long time. It works great and syncs across all my devices.http://www.weekcal.com/#section1. Google Calendar is another great calendar solution that can sync across all technologies and devices. You can even import and share information to your Google Calendar inside Evernote! Some students may find they prefer a paper planner to an electronic one. A paper planner is great as long as it is portable. The key to having a great calendar is having one place to store every meeting, class, exam, and deadline.
Sharing Documents for Group Projects
Google Drive and Dropbox are the best apps for sharing documents with groups. Students can open word docs, presentations, and spreadsheets and make edits for everyone else in the group to review. Group projects just got easier and more convenient!
Easy Bib is bibliography citation app. I wish I had this when I was in college! There is an online version via their website, an add-on for Google Docs, and a mobile application with a barcode scanner. With this app, students enter the title of a book, website, journal, film, etc., and the app generates the citation for your bibliography. The citation can be generated in a number of common formats like MLA or APA. The mobile app can scan a book’s barcode to generate a citation!
One of the best student apps to help them save time is their school app. Most colleges and universities have apps with a school calendar, bus routes, maps, and links to other important sites.
To-Do Lists
A to-do list is an essential app for every student. There are many of these apps in the app store, and the key with this is to choose the interface of the app that suits the student. 3 of the best apps in this category are Todoist, Toodledo, and Any.Do. You can now manage your To-Do list in Evernote and add in tasks while you are taking notes! Like the calendar, the best to-do list app is the one you prefer and the one you will use. All three apps contain list-making features, project management features, and the ability to assign tasks to others!
Stop Procrastinating!
One of the biggest challenges for students is wasting time online. So, one of my recommendations to help students manage their time is an app called RescueTime. This app runs in the background of your computer and will report to you on how you use your time. Also, it has the capability to block certain time-wasting sites (that the student sets up) for a period of time. You can also set up alerts to notify you when you spend too much time on a certain site. Unfortunately, this app cannot work with iPad and iPhones due to the restrictions on their code.
In conclusion, these recommended apps for students are some of the best apps for productivity for anyone in any industry. They are the best apps for students because most of them work on any device and they are accessible anywhere. So if the student has to switch between their Mac and the campus PC, their data is available to them. Also, these apps for students have a free version or free trial period so the student can find the right mixture of apps that work the best for them.
You can read about more apps to help you stay productive in our article on Top Productivity Apps. Cloudwards.net has also recently put together a good list of productivity apps in their blog.
Sara Genrich is an Organization and Productivity Consultant, an Evernote Certified Consultant, and the creator of the Organizing@Work for Success Workshop. She’s committed to providing real-life solutions so her clients have time to focus on the things that really matter.