Educational Electronics: 5 Apps That Make Teaching Easier

Teaching can be one of the most difficult professions. It requires creativity, attention, persistence and a whole lot of patience. As a teacher, you understand the difficulties and obstacles of the position. However, technology is continuously working to improve these difficulties. Here are five apps that will make teaching easier.

1. Evernote

As a teacher, it is incredibly difficult to stay organized. You have to deal with students, employers, parents and co-workers. The paperwork, grading and handouts seem to pile up without end. Evernote is an organization app that can help teachers manage papers and notes. You can save notes and information in a variety of formats with the Evernote app. Furthermore, these notes can easily be shared with students, parents, colleagues and employers with the push of a button. Evernote effectively reduces the amount of paper a teacher uses. This can make room for better organization.

2. Instructables

As a teacher, one of the most difficult tasks is repeatedly creating new and engaging methods for each particular lesson. It is no secret that students are not always interested in learning. The Instructables app provides teachers with over 100,000 do-it-yourself projects that can be used for science experiments or any other activity. The steps are clearly laid out for you, ensuring the process is seamless. This app is also a great medium for teaching children how to follow directions step-by-step. Whenever your classroom needs a boost of creativity or interest, the Instructables app will never disappoint.

3. DuoLingo

For those teaching a second language, the DuoLingo app is a godsend. Teachers and students alike are aware of the perceived difficulty of learning a second language. However, DuoLingo works to make the process of language acquisition engaging and effective. As a teacher, you can select from a multitude of popular languages such as German, Spanish, French and more. The lessons are designed to provide students with incremental components of a language during progressive acquisition. Progress is easily tracked for each student making grading easy.

4. Quizlet

Flashcards have been regarded as an effective learning method for decades. However, the tedious process of creating flashcards can consume valuable class time. Instead, this time should be used for instructing and lessons. Furthermore, it is difficult to keep track of several individual flashcards. The Quizlet app can help you create countless online flashcards that students can use to memorize class material. Just like a normal notecard, the Quizlet flashcards are two-sided and can be studied using a smartphone or tablet. More importantly, this allows your students to access the material at home, making studying even easier.

5. ZipGrade

Grading exams is one of the more tedious aspects of teaching. Multiple choice exams have helped tremendously to simplify this issue. However, the ZipGrade app takes the simplicity to the next level. ZipGrade allows teachers to grade multiple choice quizzes, tests and assignments with the touch of a button. This app uses a smart phone's camera as a scanner to grade an assignment sheet. Students' results are automatically linked with their ID numbers making grading a breeze. This app is the most effective, reliable and accurate method for grading multiple choice exams and assignments. Teachers can also create their own quizzes through the app up to 100 questions each.

These five apps can help you organize and restructure the classroom to teach more effectively. It is also important to remember that all of these apps can be accessed and shared from multiple different forms of technology. For example, information saved on Evernote can be accessed from a smartphone, tablet and computer. The more devices that have access to these apps, the more connected your classroom experience. If you find that none of these apps suit your purposes, consider contacting a digital creative agency that can produce a brand new app specifically suited to your institution. But these should give you a good start.