"Why, in my day, we didn't use so much as a calculator!" Has your gran ever said that to you? Maybe even your parents? Not so long ago, educational tools amounted to:

  • writing instruments - pens, pencils, markers and other such
  • paper: notebooks, loose-leaf paper, worksheets, handouts
  • a dictionary; maybe also a thesaurus
  • maths tools: protractors, straight edges, compasses and triangles
  • art supplies: trays of watercolour paints, brushes, felt-tip pens, pencils
  • PE kit: all of the clothes and gear needed to play games in PE

That was pretty much the extent of student learning tools. Classrooms would have chalkboards, maps and maybe a few grammar charts or multiplication table posters. If the school was a bit on the wealthy side, there might have been overhead projectors and a pull-down screen to project upon. Truly advanced institutions may have had a telly on wheels to watch educational broadcasting in class.

Oh, how far beyond those crude implements we've moved! There seems to be no end to the innovation, either. We want to lay out some of the best Educational Technology (EdTech) on the market today. Beware, though, that developments in this field are fast. That could mean that, by the time you read this, our Top Ten list might already be obsolete.

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Where do We Stand on EdTech?

Today, a great deal of debate among EdTech enthusiasts centres around pinning down a date for when paperless classrooms become the norm. When will digital devices triumph as the medium of choice for education delivery? Across the pond, the State Educational Technology Directors Association (SETDA) recommended that digital instructional materials should completely replace traditional printed materials by 2018.

An Australian dictionary and maths workbook on a blond wood table, next to two jars of writing implements.
Schools the world over are slowly transitioning to a paperless environment. Photo by Lewis Keegan on Unsplash

That was an ambitious goal. Obviously, US schools failed to reach it. They're just as married to paper and textbooks as they've ever been. However, that country, along with China, South Korea and India are leading the way in stitching online learning and technology into the very fabric of their education systems. And even before the coronavirus pandemic pushed us into remote learning, good ol’ Blighty was not too far behind.

EdTech's advantages are many, yet not a great deal of research exists on the negative ways technology is used in education. Surreptitiously monitoring students is one worrying example of such, related to school-issued technology. But it's by far not the only challenge tech in classrooms poses.

A 2009 study by Common Sense Media found that 35% of teenagers admitted to using their phones to cheat at least once. Don't you wonder what that figure might be today, with the increasing capabilities of smartphones, tablets and other mobile devices? Indeed, the smarter and more capable our mobiles get, the more they risk becoming something of a scourge. Just ask any dedicated pub quizzer how they always manage to come up with the right answer.

Albert Einstein once averred he didn't carry nuggets of information around in his mind. If he needed to know something specific, he'd look it up. That 1921 interview gave rise to the 'You don't need to know everything, only where to find everything' philosophy. In modern parlance, that school of thought is called just-in-time learning. Essentially, it boils down to learning where information is, not learning information itself.

Our fave physicist would be well-served in our Information Age. We have the world's knowledge literally at our fingertips. Or even just for the asking! Simply tap that little microphone icon on Google's search bar and say what you want to know. If Albert Einstein had had such a tool in his time... He certainly wouldn't have called looking up exam answers dishonest.

Ten Must-Have Learning Tools

Geniuses and cheating aside, we’ve been looking at some fantastic (and legitimate) educational tools. Every college Uni–bound student should take a look at these! Sorry, secondary school pupils. Your teacher or institution might have banned the use of these, at least on your assignments. Anyway, here’s our countdown of the most useful educational tools.

Evernote

The Play Store and App Store shelves are laden with note-taking tools. Figuratively, of course, these note-taking apps all boil down to zeros and ones. This one, though... judging by its popularity, Evernote ranks among the best. This app lets you join up notes, clippings and images in such a way that puts crumpled notepads to shame.

Evernote is available for Android and iOS, as well as macOS and Windows devices. You'll have limited free usage; for more expansive access with no storage or functionality limits, you may choose from the platform's paid plans. But don't rush to buy just yet. The free-access version allows you 60 megabytes (MB) of input each month.

Citationsy

Don't you just hate having to cite references? If you're like me and many others, you'd just as soon throw all of the works you cited in your paper into an app and copy what it spits out. Lucky for you, this app will be happy to oblige. Well, if a stream of code could ever be happy.

Available for both iPhone and Android devices, Citationsy is an automated bibliography composer for students. It instantly cites books, websites, journals and more in APA, MLA and Chicago formats. How many students lose marks for a misplaced comma here and an incorrect initial there in a hastily contrived bibliography? God knows I did. You can either scan the barcode on the book or enter the title by hand and it will create the reference for you.

Notes Plus

Would you like to know one of educators' biggest concerns about using digital devices? You might guess cheating; that is, indeed, a big worry. But far more concerning is the loss of handwriting skills. Even 10 years ago, medical school professors were bemoaning the fact that students couldn't sew stitches properly because they had little manual dexterity.

Of course, stitching may be less of an issue, now that robots can perform surgery and staples are used to close incisions. Still, handwriting is about more than manually recording words. It does all kinds of wonderful things in your brain; we'll talk more about them later in this post. For now, let us gush about this great app.

Notes Plus takes handwritten notes, with PDF import and audio notes for the iPad, ideal for classrooms and lecture halls. It converts handwriting to text and has the best handwriting ‘smoothing’ system going. Write with your finger and the text will show up just like pen and paper. It also allows you to draw basic shapes and the auto-detect software will fine-tune it for you, and then let you edit it.

A person holding a red pencil poised over an open notebook, taking notes
Typing is nice but handwriting is good for you. Photo by Eleni Koreas on Unsplash

WhiteSmoke

Don't you get tired of losing points off your essays for silly spelling, punctuation and grammar (SPAG) mistakes? Isn't it alarming that more school-leaving exams now include SPAG as a grading criterion? To most students, that means they have to master those writing elements, and quickly!

WhiteSmoke, a ‘writing enhancement’ utility, is for students not completely confident with their writing skills. And for anyone who just wants to improve their writing. WhiteSmoke ensures that your spelling is spot-on. It analyses your documents' content and meaning to enforce consistent grammar.

Now, for its exclusivity. It is only available for Windows operating systems (macOS coming soon!). And it only works with certain web browsers. If you use Chrome, Firefox, Opera or Edge, you're golden. If you prefer Brave, Tor or any others, you may be out of luck. Also, you must pay for a year's access up-front. The cheapest plan is $60 for their basic service.

Getting Things Done (GTD)

It's a simple premise, really. If you keep in your head all the things you have to do, you're likely to forget a few. You're also likely to feel overwhelmed as all of your to-do's bounce around your head like some maniacal juggling act gone awry. But if you could only get those to-dos to behave...

GTD keeps track of your daily to-dos, appointments and due dates, but that's just a part of the story. It features a productivity timer to keep you on task and makes sure you take breaks every so often. GTD is great for staying up to date with deadlines in the modules you’re studying. If you’ve planned it in, GTD will badger you to get it done. You can find this app in the Play Store.

Textgrabber

Remember, in this article's first chapter, we featured a quote by Albert Einstein? How would you like to snag it - or any other nifty saying you might find? All you need to do is take a picture of the text with your iPhone or Android. And then, you can immediately edit, save and share it. Textgrabber's translation feature can convert text from more than 40 languages.

MoneyBook

Ah, the student loan! All that money burning holes in the pockets of university students since 1998. Did you know that a recent survey found that first-year university students wish, more than anything else, to know more about how to manage their money? MoneyBook lets you categorise, keep check of and budget your spending. You can also get a monthly breakdown of your spending. Dare you look?

LAT developed the Android app. The iOS version bears the same name and a similar icon but a different developer name. Nevertheless, whichever operating system powers your device, you can find a simple, useful and elegant way to keep track of your money.

Mendeley

Mendeley is a useful tool for managing that mountain of research. It organises, indexes, and stores your documents. You can connect and collaborate with colleagues and share your papers, notes and annotations for the best learning.

This app also helps generate citations and bibliographies in Microsoft Word, OpenOffice, and LaTeX. Mendeley opens PDFs and can capture your thoughts through digital sticky notes and highlights. But only if you input them; the app won't reach into your mind and record them on its own.

FlashCard Apps

Flashcards are tried and true. They've proven themselves to be an effective learning tool, particularly for memorising fact nuggets - keywords, mathematical formulae and the like.

The very popular 'flashcard method' for learning and revision went digital more than 10 years ago. Today, both app stores are lousy with digital flashcards. You might already know Anki and Quizlet; there are plenty of others. Create your own or import from a vast database for swipe-based learning. Some of these apps even collect data about your study habits and help you monitor your progress.

Online Tutoring Services

No, oh cynical one, this is not a shameless plug for Superprof tutors. But if you felt so inclined... there's surely a Superprof tutor for you. Tutors are not technology, we know. But finding your ideal tutor and connecting with them has tech written all over it.

Student life is fun, isn't it? Particularly as a university student. Late-night binges (we'll not presume on what) and daytime TV interspersed with the occasional lecture... But at some point, you’re going to have to knuckle down. You need to get those assignments done if you want the fun to continue!

Online tutoring websites like Superprof have fully qualified tutors on tap. You can find a tutor for a wide range of topics to get you through those all-nighters. You don’t even have to peel your roommate off the floor or the pizza boxes off the wall to make your dorm presentable, either! Connect online and learn away!

do you know of any other top tools for students? Let your voice be heard! Leave your best learning tool suggestions in the comment box below. Thanks!

A right hand holding white smartphone showing a full screed of apps against an off-white background.
Choose free apps and digital tools that will enhance your learning. Photo by Christian Wiediger on Unsplash

The Dangers of Educational Tools

Most of my mates are pretty cavalier with the downloads. Games, productivity apps, the latest, coolest thing everyone's raving about... Sure, we have some guarantee of safety through whichever store we download from but no app is invincible. And some can be downright harmful.

Right off the top, we should talk about scam apps. They promise things like free money, free tokens, and free coupons... But you have to pay for other stuff before you get the free stuff. In the meantime, those companies/developers are busy collecting your data. The fix for this? Choose your apps judiciously. Download only from verified developers; those who have several apps to their credit. Also, read the reviews and tech specs, where they report how often they update their software.

Privacy is a massive and ongoing concern, regardless of which type of app you download. Issues include everything from data harvesting to monitoring and surveillance. Just recently, a report from the US stated that a school had given each primary school student a laptop computer. The school then used monitoring software to gauge student productivity as well as their online activity.

Hacking and ransomware are two of the biggest problems EdTech platforms worry about. Remember how, a few years back, our National Health Service (NHS) was locked out of its computer system? Now, imagine the cyberattack targets entire school districts. But the threat doesn't need to be that big. Picture a malicious hacker infiltrating educational software to show children terrible images.

By far the biggest danger EdTech poses is to brain development. Building memory skills is perhaps the easiest point to illustrate. If you have all your phone numbers stored in your phone, you don't need to memorise them, right? Memorisation is a mental process that involves gathering, assessing and storing information. If we use our devices to store needed information, we're depriving ourselves of mental activity.

Typing, rather than handwriting, also affects our ability to memorise and learn. There is a neural link between the written word your eyes perceive and the meaning they convey, the action your hand takes to replicate that vision and brain activity that commits it to memory. Without your hand literally manipulating the information you see, you're less likely to remember it. So you might feel like complaining because your teacher won't let you type your notes but they're really doing you a favour.

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Brentyn

Avid movie-goer, reader, skier and language learner. Passionate about life, food and travelling.