Best iPad Apps for College Students and Teachers

This post contains the list of iPad apps for college students and teachers to make their educational activities more feasible.

The advancement in technology is being used in all types of fields particularly in education. As it is a technological era, college students have started using iPad for their educational purposes. I am a tech lover and I believe that the iPad is the best learning device for students. Not only students, even educators are using this versatile gadget to teach the students by analyzing variety of sources and they turned a creative problem solver.

So I adopt to discuss some best iPad apps for college students and teachers through this post. Before getting into the dialog of some best iPad apps for education, let me tell you about the role of iPad in education with specific reasons.

 

Role of iPad in education

New generation technology gadgets have been bombarded and it would be good to use those devices for beneficial purposes. iPad is one such device which has a huge potential in education. It is a versatile tool as it had enabled the modernizing learning modes. Both students and teachers approaches education in newer ways with various iPad apps and they stay motivated as the learning/teaching is combined with technology.

There are certain key reasons for involving the iPad in education, they are
1. It allows personalized learning/teaching with variety of styles.

2. Creativity would get improved with several productivity iPad apps.

3. As it is a solid state hard drive, it has its own OS & software and so the booting and installation is easy.

4. Students/teachers are no need to carry a huge set of books, because it has internet access, screen reader etc.

5. Its battery can withstand for the entire college day.

iPad app store has countless free and paid iPad apps for college students and teachers. Are you a student/teacher having an iPad? I am sure this post would help you to know some useful iPad apps for education.

iPad apps for college students

The iPad could act as a great companion to study, take notes and store the work by setting up the suitable apps on the iPad and would assist the students to stay productive forever. Let’s look some coolest iPad apps for college students now.

1. Notablity

Notability is the note taking iPad app which let the students to sketch ideas, annotate documents, complete worksheets and much more academic works. This app has the drawing and recording options to use wisely during the lectures and meetings.

2. Dropbox

Dropbox is an excellent productivity app which could be used by the students to access the documents, pictures and videos from anywhere and save it in the 2GB space available.

3. Quick voice

Even though it is a business app, it can be employed to record dictation, classes and lectures by the students. It has excellent features with multi-tasking capability and more than 3 million people are using this iPad app.

4. Graphic calculator

This education app acts as a high-resolution function plotter and scientific calculator for the students. It supports several structures for performing the graphical works.

5. Istudiez pro

This amazing productivity app won awards for various motives like “best college student app”, “best app for education” etc. which allows the students to organize their schedule, follow the assignments and to protect their valuable data.

6. Keynote

It is a useful presentation app for students which permit them to add images, charts, tables with highlighting options. As it is incorporated with icloud feature, the presentations are kept up to date and can be instantly shared to others.

7. Ithoughts

This is an excellent mind mapping tool for the students which enables them to visually organize their ideas and thoughts. Goal setting, project planning, brainstorming, etc. are some of its typical uses. In simple words, ithoughts is an excellent task management tool with advanced mind map features.

8. Inclass

With this productivity app, the students could organize the plan, take and share the notes efficiently. It has awesome features like automatic course selection, retina display ready, background recording and so on.

9. Ibooks

It is a book ipad app to download and read the preferred books from the iBooks store. The students could enjoy reading the books with iCloud and open standard features.

10. Iannotate pdf

To read, mark-up and share the PDF, PPT, DOC and image files, the students can make use of this iPad app. Iannotate comes with great capabilities and so it has 1 million users worldwide.

iPad apps for teachers

Students aren’t the only ones using the iPad, most of the tutors are effectively exploiting it to make their teaching career more professional and sensational for their scholars. Let’s see some essential iPad apps for teachers.

1. Docs anywhere

Many educators are using this utility app to copy the required documents to their iPad and can be viewed directly in the landscape or portrait mode. Copied documents can be transferred back to the desktop via iTunes.

2. Skitch

This productivity app allows the lecturers to communicate important ideas instantly & clearly with stamps, shapes, arrows and more. It has additional features and it is a part of Evernote family that are designed to assist the teachers in remembering all the imperative academic stuffs.

3. Educreations interactive whiteboard

This is a useful iPad app for teachers to help the students with tapping and talking video tutorial. They could create lessons with voice recording, digital ink, text & images and broadcast them from anywhere. In simple, this app would convert the iPad into a recordable white board with its overwhelming features.

4. Remind 101

Teachers can send text messages to the students and their parents with this remarkable education iPad app and even they could schedule the messages to be sent later. This one way messaging app makes the ease of communication with a single click.

5. Showme

This education iPad is simple to record the voice on the whiteboard tutorials and share them online with the option of attaching the personal message. Having multiple brush colors, unlimited lesson length, free to upload and easy embedding for sharing are some the advantages of this iPad app and the students could be managed with groups.

6. Brainscape

It is a constructive tool for the tutors to track performance of the students and to improve their study habits. Teachers are allowed to access the evidence of experts to progress the academic skills of learners.

7. Edmodo

This iPad app for education supports secure classroom discussion, posting assignments, file sharing etc. With its key features like resource library, professional learning networks and classroom activity feed, the teacher’s life could be made easier. It is the fastest growing social platform for education and it won an award this year as it makes the idea of a paperless classroom a reality.

8. TED

World’s most fascinating education talks in video format can be opened to the iPad users with help of this app and so the teachers can utilize it to share some useful resources to their students. Desired videos could be downloaded to the device and watch them offline. The teachers can have the entire library access at their fingertips.

9. Gflashpro

The mentors could create, download and manipulate the flashcards for assignments, quiz and tests. Images and audio reference can also be incorporated in the lessons and the teachers can check their own proficiency in the subject they are handling.

10. Sundry notes pro

To combine the required files for teaching, the lectures can use this education iPad app which would make the coaching process an organized one. It is a whiteboard and they can write text and draw anywhere in the notes. Password protection notes, keeping many notes open at once, bookmarking the notes, searching in website with built-in internet research tool are some of the best features of this iPad app.

Popular IPad apps for education in general

Dictionary, Filpboard, Articles, Evernote, Outliner are some of the widely used iPad apps for education by the students and the teachers.

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Nokia’s Android (X Series): Pros and Cons

Ever since Nokia unveiled its X Series of Android devices, opinions are flying back and forth on whether the devices are good or otherwise. While it would be unfair to draw any conclusions without actually having used the devices extensively, here are the pros and cons of the range based purely on what we know of it.

Pros: All Roses

• A totally new flavor of Android, one that will be controlled by Nokia. Some might think that’s bad but we are going with the more-the-merrier line of thought. After all, Amazon did do a very good job of reinterpreting Android for its Kindle Fire series, and Nokia has the werewithal on both the hardware and software side to deliver something special here.
• Access to services like Nokia Mix Radio and Maps that are significantly better than anything Google has to offer in the same department. Six months to a year of unlimited music downloads, turn by turn navigation in a host of languages for a lifetime, some very nifty camera applications…this could be awesome.
• Great price tags, especially in the case of the Nokia XL – a device with a large display for under 110 Euros is very good indeed. And unlike in the case of other ‘local’ players who tend to cut significant corners (generally on the design and build quality fronts) when they reduce price tags, Nokia has managed to deliver excellent value even at relatively low price tags. Remember the E5, the Asha series and most recently, the Lumia 520 and 525.
• Good, solid design and products from an established and respected player at those price points. A bit of a derivation from the previous point, it is true, but then Android at the lower price echelons has generally been associated with so-so design, mediocre performance and often non-existent software updates and after sales service. Nokia’s track record in those departments is formidable. We still see people asking for a Nokia simply because they associate the brand with solidity and dependability. Blend that with low-priced Android and you have a winner.

Cons: The Thorny Side 

• Not the classic, widget-laden interface Android users like. From what we can see, the interface is more Windows Phone and Asha than Android. Yes, we are sure people will find a way around it, but if you are looking for a classic Android skin with lots of glittery widgets, this does not seem to be it. Not from what we have seen so far.
• No access to Google Play, although one can install most Android apps on the phone. Nokia has put its own spin on Android, and that includes putting Google Play out of the device. Yes, you can install Android apps and there are alternative app stores, but many of the appy types will find this a bit of a deal breaker, we are afraid. That said, we bet someone will have some form of Google Play on the devices in next to no time, although how well that works might be another story.
• Fears that the hardware might not be quite up to handling heavy duty tasks. For all their design solidity, the X Series worthies are not exactly hardware monsters. Dual core processors backed up by 512 MB and 768 MB RAM could see some games/apps stutter. Yes, they should be able to handle most routine tasks well, but we can see well-entrenched local players brandishing spec sheets to sway consumers.
• Android fan boys will complain about the absence of regular, sweet-named Android updates for these devices. They did so in the case of the Kindle Fire, and we see the activity being repeated in the case of the X Series. Nokia’s challenge here will be to ensure that it delivers alternatives to the features being provided by “regular” Android updates through its own fixes. Judging by its record on Windows Phone and Symbian, it is more than capable of doing so. But that is unlikely to silence the complaints.

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Microsoft Launches Bing Maps Preview With High-Res 3D Imagery

As Microsoft promised during its BUILD developer conference earlier this year, the company today launched a first preview of its new maps app for Windows 8.1. The highlight of this release is the addition of 3D imagery, something Microsoft tried a few years ago with Bing Maps online but then shelved after it moved away from its proprietary Silverlight technology. The new app is now available in the Windows Store.

Microsoft says to create these 3D imagery, it processed over 121 trillion pixels to date to build this 3D environment. And it shows. The imagery is extremely clear and detailed, and after a first look, it feels like it easily rivals and often bests Google’s efforts, especially when it comes to trees and smaller objects like cars and kiosks.

In total, Microsoft is making 3D maps of 70 cities available in this preview. These range from Canberra in Australia to Bremen, Germany and Portland, Maine. What’s missing, though, are most of the world’s larger cities. There’s no New York, San Francisco, Sydney, Berlin or London here so far, but Microsoft will likely add many of these before it releases the final version of the app.

As Microsoft is prone to do these days, the app is mostly optimized for touch. It works quite well with a mouse, but if you want to really enjoy it, it feels like you would need a Windows tablet or touch-enabled laptop because tilting and rotating by dragging buttons left or right just doesn’t feel all that natural with a mouse.

The app also makes Streetside, Microsoft’s version of Street View, available for those who want to take a closer look at a street from ground level. Microsoft experimented with different versions of this tool over the years. It is now essentially a Street View clone, though it does have one nice feature: you can optionally see a large map at the bottom of the screen, which makes navigating a bit easier than with the small map Google uses in the corner of its Street View images.

As expected, the app also features the usual search functionality, traffic info and other features. It’s integrated with Open Table and when that’s not enough, you can also start a Skype call by clicking on a phone number.

Source:techcrunch

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Use Google Docs to Monitor Availability of iPhone and iPads in Apple Stores

You are looking to buy an iPhone 5S (or the iPad Air or the upcoming iPad Mini Retina) but the model you want is neither available on the Apple website nor at the local Apple Store. Apple will not notify you when they have stock so you manually check the Apple’s online store, multiple times a day, to know if that product has become available or not.

A website called Apple-Tracker.com (now offline) made that task slightly less cumbersome as it allowed users to quickly check availability of Apple products in stores in their locality. You could choose an Apple product, enter your zip code and it would tell you if that product was available for pickup at any of the Apple stores in your locality.

The website is however no longer available but the developer has uploaded the code on Githubshould you be interested in running a private copy of the Apple Tracker. This is a Node.JS based app and implementation does need some technical know-how.

There’s however a simpler Google Script based version of the Apple Tracker tool available as well that you can run privately in your own Google Drive. This version will send email alerts (sample alert) as soon as it finds that an item in your watchlist is available at a nearby Apple store. You can track stocks of iPad Air, iPad Mini with Retina Display and the iPhone 5S.

Here’s how you can use the Google Script based Apple Tracker tool for automatically tracking Apple inventory at various Apple Stores in your locality:

1. Click here to make a copy of the Apple Tracker script in your Google Drive.
2. You’ll have a sheet with a list of all available models of the iPhone 5S, iPad Air and the upcoming iPad Mini with Retina. Put “Y” against items that you wish to track.
3. Go to the Apple Tracker menu in the sheet and choose Initialize. Then click “Accept” at the authorization dialog. The script is open-source and none of your data leaves your Drive.
4. Choose Start Tracking under the Apple Tracker menu. Enter your zip code (U.S. only) and your email address where you wish to receive product availability alerts. Click the Start Tracking button and exit the Google sheet.

That’s it. The Google Script will check the inventory of all Apple Stores in the specified zip code every hour and will send email alerts if it finds a store where your Apple product is available for pick up. The email alert will also include the Apple store’s address and phone number.

If you would like to disable tracking, just open your Google sheet copy and add “N” against all the product items that you no longer wish to track. Alternatively, you may choose the Uninstall option under the Apple Track menu.

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New Screen Sharing Apps Do Not Require Plugins

The newer versions of Google Chrome desktop browser and Chrome for Android include support for WebRTC (Web Real Time Communications), an emerging web standard that enables developers to add real-time audio and video capabilities to their web applications without the need for plug-ins or proprietary codecs.

With WebRTC, developers can build web apps that include capabilities like voice calling, audio & video conferencing, video broadcasting, screencasting and screen sharing in the browser via simple JavaScript without requiring plugins. Watch this Google I/O video or read this article onHTML5Rocks to gain a better understanding of WebRTC.

Screen Sharing Apps Need No Plugins

While WebRTC is still not supported by other popular browsers like IE and Safari (seeIsWebRTCReadyYet.com), there are web apps already – same.io, talky.io and appear.in to name a few – that are using this technology to offer one-click screen sharing in the browser without you having to install or download anything. All you need is the latest Chrome browser.

There’s a little setting in Chrome that you need to enable though. Type chrome://flags in your Chrome’s address bar, find the setting that says “Enable screen capture support in getUserMedia()”, click the Enable button and restart your Chrome browser.

Same.io and Talky.io allow you to share your desktop screen with anyone though the Chrome browser. You open the website, allow the Chrome browser to access your web camera and microphone and hit the “Share my Screen” button. When you initiate a screen sharing session, you get a unique web URL and anyone who knows that URL can view your desktop screen live in their own Chrome browser.

The advantage with Talky.io is that it also allows private sessions so you can protect your screen sharing URLs with a password.

Appear.in is primarily an app for video meetings that also allows you to share your desktop screen with all the other meeting participants. You can invite up to 8 people in the video chat room and invitees can join the room by simply entering a unique URL. The developers have written a technical guide on how the app was implemented using WebRTC and HTML5.

The quality of streaming video is acceptable and because these screen sharing apps work directly in the browser, they can be used on all platforms where Chrome is available (including Chrome OS). That said, there’s still work to be done, especially on the WebRTC end, before these apps can be considered as true replacements of dedicated screen sharing software programs like TeamViewer, Join.me or even Skype.

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40 Popular ebooks go Free at the Google Play Store in India

Soumyadip, author of the popular blog Cutting the Chai, has discovered at least 40 popular ebooks that are currently available for free at the Google Play Store. You can download and read the Google Play ebooks on your Android or iOS devices or even your web browser.

HarperCollins is the publisher of all these books in India,  as pointed out by Diptakirti Chaudhuri and thus am not sure if the offer would be valid in other countries. And since there’s no official word on how long this promotion will last, you should grab your favorites fast.

Here’s the complete list of free titles curated by @soumyadip:

1. Amul’s India [Book review]
2. Arzee The Dwarf, Chandrahas Choudhary
3. Best Indian Short Stories – Vol. I, Khushwant Singh
4. Best Indian Short Stories – Vol. II, Khushwant Singh
5. Black Ice, Mahmudul Haque
6. Bobby: The Complete Story, Balaji Vittal
7. Calcutta Exile, Bunny Suraiya
8. Chinese Whiskers, Pallavi Aiyar
9. Controversially Yours, Shoaib Akhtar
10. Deewar, Vinay Lal
11. Delhi Noir, Hirsh Sawhney
12. Gods and Godmen of India, Khushwant Singh
13. Headley And I, S Hussain Zaidi
14. I, Steve – Steve Jobs In His Own Words, Steve Jobs
15. India – A Traveller’s Literary Companion, Chandrahas Choudhury
16. India An Introduction, Khushwant Singh
17. Jaane Bhee Do Yaaro, Jai Arjun Singh
18. Keep The Change, Nirupama Subramaniam
19. May I Hebb Your Attention Pliss, Arnab Ray
20. Mediocre But Arrogant, Abhijit Bhaduri
21. More Salt Than Pepper: Dropping Anchor with Karan Thapar, Karan Thapar
22. Mother Maiden Mistress, Bhawana Sommya
23. Olympics – The India Story, Boria Majumdar
24. Potato Chips, Anushman Mohan
25. Ravan And Eddie, Kiran Nagarkar
26. RD Burman: The Man, The Music, Balaji Vittal
27. Sex, Scotch & Scholarship, Khushwant Singh
28. Tanzeem, Mukul Deva
29. The Best Advice I Ever Got, The Business Today Team
30. The Double Life of Ramalinga Raju: The Story of India’s Biggest Corporate Fraud, Kingshuk Nag
31. The Householder, Amitabh Bagchi
32. The Impatient Optimist – Bill Gates In His Words, Bill Gates
33. The Intolerant Indian – Why We Must Rediscover A Liberal Space, Gautam Adhikari
34. The Maruti Story, R C Bhargava
35. The Moslems Are Coming, Azad Essa
36. The Other Indians: A Political And Cultural History of South Asians In America, Vinay Lal
37. The Sacred Grove, Daman Singh
38. The Sikhs, Khushwant Singh
39. The Sufi Courtyard: Dargahs Of Delhi, Sadia Dehlvi
40. Women And Men In My Life, Khushwant Singh

The ebooks are free at the time of writing this but you would need a valid debit or credit card linked to your Google Wallet account for completing the purchase.

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Best And Top 11 Windows 8 Games to Play on Your Tablet

Windows 8 has been around for some time now, and as more developers feel comfortable with creating games for the new platform, it’s no surprise that a lot of awesome games find their way on the Windows App Store.  If you’re used to playing games on your Android or iOS device, then you will find some of your favourite titles on the Windows 8 platform. An advantage of the Windows 8 platform is the ability to install apps on desktop computers, even though some apps are not optimized for large screens.

Nevertheless, seeing that many users have adopted Microsoft’s platform on a wide array of different devices, we thought that a list of some of the best Windows 8 games will keep you entertained for the following winter holiday. Although there are a lot of Windows 8 games available on the Store, many of them are poorly created, and as such, don’t deserve your time. This isn’t to say that there aren’t any good games to download.

Some of the names here can be found on other platforms also, and this is not surprising, as they were developed by teams with a lot of experience below their belts. They are very entertaining and well build, so they will keep you in front of your Windows 8 device for a long time.

Drift Mania Championship 2

Mobile graphics have really advanced in the last few years, being similar to some of the games that we used to play on our computers not so long ago. If you are a fan of drifting, then this Windows 8 racing game is right down your alley. Players have 13 vehicles to chose from, and thanks to the option of playing with a controller or keyboard, this game can be appealing to other players, not just for mobile users. The graphics are pretty decent and the control system is very flexible, making it a great choice for a Windows 8 racing game.

Price: $1.99

Judge Dredd vs. Zombies

Zombies are always awesome! Especially the part where you kill them and the green goo splashes all over the place. If this is how you define a good action game, then Judge Dredd vs. Zombies is an excellent Windows 8 game where you can blow up hoards upon hoards of brain-eating zombies. The gameplay is very alert and the graphics are pretty decent. Also, there are lots of weapons and levels where you can play.

Price: $6.99

Asphalt 8: Airborne

The only word I could use to describe this game is “awesome”! Asphalt has been around for what seems like a lifetime, and the game how now reached its 8th iteration where racers leave the comfort of the streets and take to the skies. Gravity is so overrated is you ask Gameloft and players around the world can attest to that. With lots of new cars, unbelievable graphics and insane gameplay, Asphalt 8 is one of the best Windows 8 games you could get your hands on.

Price: $1.99

Halo: Spartan Assault

Like Asphalt, Halo is a name that every gamer is familiar with. The popular shooter has now come to Windows 8 devices and can be downloaded from the Store (although it’s price is kinda steep). Providing players with 30 missions to battle through, Halo: Spartan Assault will definitely keep you in front of your Windows 8 tablet or computer for some time. Having been integrated with Xbox Live, this also means that the game now features lots of achievements for gamers to get.

Price: $6.99

Royal Revolt!

Everyone enjoys a good tower defence game from time to time, and one that has been very popular lately is Royal Revolt. The game some wicked graphics and a very alert gameplay. An interesting twist to the usual look of the genre is the 3D environment, but not to forget the story behind the game. Something else that needs to be mentioned is that the game is based in a magical, medieval universe that looks absolutely stunning and the best part about it is that this time around, you are the attacker, and not the defender.

Price: Free

Reckless Racing Ultimate

Feeling melancholic when thinking of Grand Theft Auto 1 and 2? If you miss the top-down view of the good old days, then Reckless Racing Ultimate is here for you, bringing the joy you once felt, but in a more up-to-date experience. The graphics of the game have been improved drastically and the gameplay is alert and very entertaining. This Windows 8 game also offers users a career mode, where they can improve their car with better parts as they progress.

Price: $4.99

Rayman Jungle Run

If you long for some diversity in your gaming life, then look no further than Rayman Jungle Run, as it has 7 worlds with different environments where players can relax. The look of the game is stunning, having quality textures that make the worlds come to life. Although the gameplay isn’t too alert all of the time, there are some levels that will require a lot of skill and fast thinking. Offering over 70 levels in total, this Windows 8 game is definitely going to keep you playing for the Winter holiday.

Price: $2.99

SoulCraft

I like MMORPGs as much as the next chap, but I can’t say mobile MMOs are something I look forward to when I get out of bed. That belief has been recently shattered, when I got my hands on SoulCraft, a free 2 play MMORPG for Windows 8. This game puts the users in an immersive universe, filled with magic and evil creatures. Your role is to defeat the evil forces, making use of your magical weapons and special abilities. The gameplay is very simple and easy to pick up, while the graphics of the game are very good.

Price: Free

Cut The Rope

Being very well received on other mobile platforms, Cut The Rope for Windows 8 has been downloaded and played by many players around the world. This puzzle game is very successful thanks to its awesome graphics and entertaining gameplay. Nevertheless, at some times, it can become somewhat frustrating, but keep the pleasure of completing a difficult level cannot be expressed after you’ve worked on it for a few days. If you like to wear your thinking cap all the time, then Cut The Rope is a good way to do it.

Price: Free

Blocked In

As far as puzzle games go, there aren’t too many variations that keep you playing for a long time. However, this Windows 8 title has that potential even if you might not think it at the first glance. The purpose of this game is to find the correct alignment of of the blocks in order to create a path for the red block to escape. Needless to say, the game gets pretty hard, pretty quick, so you’d better prepare for some frustration to come your way.

Price: Free

Jetpack Joyride

I must admit, even though I usually don’t like this type of game, Jetpack Joyride has kept me playing for a pretty long time. I’ve actually installed on both my Android and iOS device, as well as on Windows 8! The purpose of the game is to complete missions while flying with…well, a jetpack. Get coins to buy different gadgets (with some odd names and descriptions) that will help you go further and break out of the test facility – This is your mission!

Price: Free

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