Ban hand phones
It was only a few years ago that cell phones were being banished from classrooms. As far as schools were concerned, these devices’ reputation as tools for student distraction, mischief, and even harassment easily outweighed any possible benefits in the learning process.
Banning them was—and still is—the easy call to make, but as cell phones have become more sophisticated, powerful, and even more entrenched in students’ daily lives, a growing number of schools have decided to open the door to what are, essentially, mobile computers. If more than 300,000 mobile applications—or apps—are available from the Apple App Store alone, with hundreds of those focused on education and hundreds more on educational gaming, how many are useful for the student? Perhaps not as many as you might think.
I personally wonder if Apps like Google docs, Homework planner, Study-tracker, and Evernote will help you with your homework and/or school performance but perhaps I am just old school. For sure calculators and language translation programs, both available on smartphones, have made life easier and is one of the main reasons for wanting a smartphone in the first place.
There are Educational Apps out there that are worth taking a look at because they just might make your life easier, and if you do not have a smart phones take your mum’s.
Mathway
Bring the solving power of mathway.com to your Android device, no network access required! With this app, you will get free instant answers to your math problems, or upgrade to a premium membership to also receive step-by-step work and explanations.
With tens of millions of problems already solved, Mathway is the #1 problem solving resource available for students, parents, and teachers. Math subjects covered include Basic Math, Pre-Algebra, Algebra, Trigonometry, Precalculus, Calculus, and Statistics.
Genius Scan
You know that your iPhone has a camera on it, so it’s no surprise that it can take a photo of a document right? The problem with this, though, is that a handheld camera is a far cry from a flatbed scanner. Holding your phone perfectly level isn’t easy, even if you can pull it off, it’s still a hassle.
Enter Genius Scan. With this app you can quickly snap a shot of any document without really thinking about how properly aligned it is on your screen.Genius Scan will automatically detect the edges of the document and allow you to quickly skew the perspective so that you get a perfect shot every time.
Voice Recognition
Dragon Dictation is an easy-to-use voice recognition application powered by Dragon® NaturallySpeaking® that allows you to easily speak and instantly see your text. In fact, it’s up to five times faster than typing on the keyboard.
With Dragon Dictation you can also dictate status updates directly to your Social Networking applications (Facebook and Twitter) or send notes and reminders to yourself, all using your voice.
Moreover, Dragon voice recognition is also the engine behind an application from the company Nuance called V2T (Voice to text). So when you’re on-the-go, stop typing and start speaking. The Nuance apps (available for iPhone and Android) will transfer your speech into an SMS. In many countries this concept has been proven to be successful. The company PT Inland Telematika International is in process to bring this V2T technology to Indonesia. Dragon Dictation supports a multitude of global languages including Bahasa Indonesia. For a full list of currently supported languages visit www.dragonmobileapps.com.
For parents only
Before my kids start doing their homework I have to take away their Blackberries, otherwise, they will be on BB messenger all the time. Now they have started telling me that they need their Blackberry to do their homework. Before you start a war with your kids, just download, on their BB, the program Freedom for $2.99, which you can turn on to block them from using the phone or the Internet. They won’t be able to unlock it until they reboot their phone, which could be what your child needs to focus on their schoolwork and not their phone. For people who do not have a BB, let me explain that rebooting takes a long time.
Solitaire Chess
Can you leave just one man standing? Simple to learn, impossible to master, addictively fun – Solitaire Chess by ThinkFun is a new logic puzzle based on the rules of Chess. For chess newbies and experts alike, Solitaire Chess can be played quickly as every move must be a capture. Early challenges may seem easy, but soon you’ll find yourself in deeper waters, pushing your mind and thinking hard about your moves to try and solve each puzzle. iPhone $2.99 and Android free.