Role of Smartphone Applications in Education

We have all seen that children these days are very comfortable with electronic gadgets and equipments. Some of us may have already experienced a 14 year old teaching us how to score big on an iPhone game or how to operate a particular app on a smartphone. The need to use these gadgets and equipment in teaching is evident from such examples.

It is an accepted fact that children learn quickly through games and sporting activities. This makes designing a great experience for kids integral in applications as well. Today, iPhone and Android apps are the way to go. There are hundreds of apps to help teachers and students. Imagine all the possibilities of enhanced learning & better classroom management with a classroom equipped with ittendance, Molecules, Atoms in Motion, and Coaster Physics.

Modern Day Education through Apps

Normally teachers are good at organizing, managing and conducting activities. However they feel the heat at times. Apps can help to achieve better performance in organizing, managing, and monitoring classroom activities. A study “Living and Learning with mobile devices” by Grunwald Associates suggests that 28% of middle school and 51% of high school students carry a smartphone with them every day. In my high school days I always had a difficult time managing all those lecture notes, assignment sheets and reading material. I would have loved to use Google Drive back then. Google Drive can even help teachers in sharing assignments, syllabuses, and reading materials through few taps and clicks.

A good bit of news for all the environmentalists and eco-friendly people out there; using apps for learning and teaching reduces paper usage and it is cost effective too. Count all those trees we can save by just assigning quizzes, assignments, reading materials, and books through Google Drive and Dropbox apps.

Apps for School Management

School management faces different tasks each day. They have to manage a large number of students, teachers and office staff who are responsible for day to day operations. In the future you may see school staff managing the entire school’s operations with a few smartphones and tablets loaded with useful apps.

For example let’s consider attendance. Teachers already have reading materials, class notes, handouts, books, and personal accessories. To top it all off, they have to take care of all the attendance sheets too. ittendance is an iPhone app which marks a student’s attendance with a photo. So no more double entries and fake attendances. School management will also have an easy time pulling out attendance records for a particular student. iTunes U is another useful app from Apple for teachers to create and courses including essential components such as books, lectures, assignments and quizzes.

Educating children with learning disabilities

One of the most important sections of students benefitting from iPhone and Android apps is children with learning disabilities. Apple’s App Store and Google’s Play Store is filled with apps for children with learning disabilities.

Smartphone apps are helping children suffering from Autism, ADHD, Dyslexia, Muscular Dystrophy and Blindness. Apps like Learning Ally, Voice4U, and ZoomReader to help children with learning disabilities. iPhone and Android apps are huge blessings for schools, teachers, and parents to help these kids learn.

Conclusion

Smartphone apps are providing solutions for businesses, healthcare, and education. Almost every aspect of a human life problem has a smartphone app. According to available statistics education apps were the second-most popular category in July 2013, with a share of 10% of all apps being learning apps. This growth suggests that apps will play a major role in reshaping the future of education.

Don’t forget to check out how you can design amazing applications for kids.