12 Of The Best Learning Apps For 2018
by TeachThought Staff
Ed note: This post has been sponsored by Kdan Mobile Software America, Inc., who asks us to create a list of our favorite learning apps for 2018, which we’ve done below.
12 Of The Best Learning Apps For 2018
Cost: Starting at $4.99; 50% off for the first subscription period as special offer for teachers
Developer Description: Digitize School Works with Maximum Productivity: Scan textbooks and class handouts with Pocket Scanner and manage your projects efficiently. Use Markup to annotate documents, highlight web pages, and easily review content that matters the most.
Efficiently Organize Information from Multiple Sources: NoteLedge allows you to quickly gather information from the Internet and trace back reference links. It is the best tool for taking class notes, working on school projects, and studying for exams.
Engage the Class with Interactive Teaching Materials: Use Write-on Video to create intriguing videos and cultivate curiosity in students. Students can brainstorm creative ideas and get hands-on animation creation with Animation Desk.
Platforms: iOS, Mac, Android, and Windows
2. Civilization 6 (affiliate link)
Cost: Varies by platform from around $15 on eBay on PC, to $47 on iOS for the full-version (these prices obviously change over time and are only included so you can have a sense of what the cost is/might be-check your preferred platform for updated pricing info).
Developer Description: “Civilization is a turn-based strategy game in which you attempt to build an empire to stand the test of time. Become Ruler of the World by establishing and leading a civilization from the Stone Age to the Information Age. Wage war, conduct diplomacy, advance your culture, and go head-to-head with history’s greatest leaders as you attempt to build the greatest civilization the world has ever known.”
Platforms: iOS, Microsoft Windows, MacOS, Steam
See also How To Teach With Video Games
3. Kahoot
Cost: varies
Developer Description: A platform to create games to learn and review content, “Kahoots are best played in a group setting, for example, a classroom. Players answer the questions on their own devices, while games are displayed on a shared screen to unite the lesson. It creates a ‘campfire moment’ encouraging players to look up and celebrate together. Besides creating your own kahoots, you can search among millions of existing games.”
Platforms:
4. Hologo
Cost: free
Developer Description: “Hologo is made for Education. Where ever you maybe, look through the lens of your device into your real world and get projections of lifelike virtual images and animations customized for learning. With Hologo you can choose an experience, walk up to and around the educational AR models. Users can zoom in and break apart objects and dive deep into the models.”
Platforms: iOS
Also consider: Boulevard AR, Assemblr
See also 55 Of The Best Free Education Apps
Cost: free; varies with features and plan
Developer Description: “Tynker is a complete learning system that enables everyone from beginners to advanced programmers to code with intuitive, interest-based activities. Tynker’s self-paced courses let kids experiment with visual blocks before progressing to intermediate programming and even languages like Javascript and Python.”
Platforms: iOS, Android
Also consider: Hopscotch, Scratch, Swift Playgrounds, Codea
6. Seesaw
Cost: $120 per teacher, per year
Developer Description: “Seesaw empowers students to independently document what they are learning at school. Students can “show what they know” using photos, videos, drawings, text, PDFs, and links. You can also import directly from most popular apps, like Google apps.”
Platforms: iOS, Android, Microsoft Windows, MacOS, Linus (browser-based), Kindle
Cost: varies; a class of 30 students would be around $150 as of June 2018
Developer Description: Create collaborative, digital whiteboard-based “learning experiences where students and teachers can share thoughts and ideas in real-time.”
Platforms: iOS, Android, Microsoft Windows, MacOS, Steam
8. FlipGrid
Cost: varies–$65 per teacher or $1000 per teacher/per year
Developer Description: Flipgrid is the leading video discussion platform used by PreK to PhD educators, students, and families around the world. Teachers post topics to spark the conversation and students respond with short videos. Bring the back row to the front and engage all your students.
Platforms: iOS, Android, Microsoft Windows, MacOS, Steam
9. YouTube
Cost: free; YouTube Red is $10/month (includes Google Music subscription)
Summary: Everyone knows what YouTube is, so no need for the developer to explain. (YouTube ‘Red’ is their ad-free/paid version that comes free with Google Music subscription, making it well worth the money in our mind.) Put simply, YouTube is one of the best (formal and informal) learning platforms on the internet. (See ‘How To YouTube Your Classroom‘ for more reading.)
Also consider: Teacher Tube, Brainfeed, Curiosity, Netflix
Platforms: iOS, Android, Microsoft Windows, MacOS, Linux (browser-based)
10. Google Classroom
Cost: free
Developer Description:
Platforms: iOS, Android, Microsoft Windows, MacOS, Linux (browser-based)
Also consider: Google Docs, Google Drive, Microsoft OneDrive, Apple Pages
11. Epic!
Cost: $7.99/month
Developer Description: “Epic! is the world’s leading online children’s subscription book service offering immediate, on-demand access to over 25,000 high-quality illustrated books and chapter books for children ages 12 and under. Epic!’s ever-expanding library also includes thousands of Read-to-Me books, audio books, educational videos, and fun educational quizzes. Partnerships with leading publishers, including HarperCollins and National Geographic, bring age-appropriate, award-winning fiction and non-fiction books to your child’s fingertips.”
Platforms: iOS, Android, Microsoft Windows
Also consider: Newsela, News-o-matic, The Skimm
Cost: $7.99 (one time; no in-app purchases)
Description: Rather than include the developer description, we’ll explain why we included ‘Old Man’s Journey.’ In short, game-based learning is terribly under-utilized, and games like this are perfect examples of how far games have come. We could’ve—and wanted to—include two or three other games in this list, but using a video game for learning is difficult for many to wrap their heads around and/or get on board with, so we limited it to one. Just know that there are 100+ games that could change everything for your classroom no matter the grade level or content area, and this is just one (excellent) example.
Platforms: iOS, Android, Sony PlayStation, Microsoft Xbox, Microsoft Windows, Steam
Also consider: Life is Strange, That Dragon Cancer, Inside
12 Of The Best Learning Apps For 2018; previously published at TeachThought.com
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