Five popular software applications to get students ready for the new academic year that starts in September 2014.
The summer holidays are almost over, and the push to get students ready to return to school in September should be in full swing. Once the basics – school books, uniforms, clothes and stationery – have been purchased, the focus can then turn to electronic extras, which though they might not be absolutely critical, can improve the school/learning experience considerably. Below are five top apps to get ready for back to school. Some of them might also be useful for those among us are getting back to the grind of work after a long break.
MyHomework Student Planner
MyHomework Student Planner is one of the leading cross-platform student planners that helps students organise their school life. At its core, the app, which is available for a number of platforms, allows students to track classes, homework, tests and assignments, and supports time, block and period-based schedules. Further, with a MyHomework account, users can: sync across other platforms; receive homework reminders; and join their teachers’ Teachers.io class and automatically download their class information, assignments, files and announcements.
Supported platforms: Android; Chrome; iOS; Windows 8
Price: Free
Merriam-Webster Dictionary
Possibly second to the Oxford’s English Dictionary, Merriam-Webster is one of the world’s top English language dictionaries, and according to its website, “has been America’s leading and most-trusted provider of language information” (Source: Merriam-Webster). The app, which brings this 150-year old resource into the 21st century, provides, among other things, word definitions, synonyms, antonyms, voice search, example sentences, audio pronunciations, word of the day.
Supported platforms: Android; iOS; Windows Phone
Price: Free; USD 3.99 (enhanced content and no ads)
Evernote
Although virtually all of today computer devices come with a built-in note taking application, they tend to be basic at best. Evernote is an award-winning app that helps users to stay organized, save ideas and improve productivity, by allowing users to take notes, capture photos, create to-do lists, record voice reminders–and makes these notes completely searchable. Users can also sync their notes across a broad range of devices; save, sync and share files; scan business cards; organise notes by notebooks and tags; digitize documents and Post-it Notes; and share notes with others via popular social networks.
Supported platforms: Android; BlackBerry; iOS (iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch); Windows Phone; Web OS; Mac OS X; Windows Desktop; Windows 8
Price: Free; USD 5.00 per month (premium version); USD 10.00 per month per user (business version)
Wunderlist
Wunderlist is another popular to-do list app that offers a range of features such as: recurring to-dos; sharing lists with friends; and adding notes and notifications. Wunderlist is cloud-enabled, and hence can sync across all of your devices. This feature might be especially useful for those who use a number of devices and but still need to keep on top of all they need to do. With Wunderlist’s premium app, you can: add unlimited sub-tasks, append files to tasks; comprehensively delegate tasks; and share comments and feedback with your collaborators.
Supported platforms: Web; Android; iPhone; iPad; Windows; Mac
Price: Free; USD 49.99/year (premium version)
LibreOffice
Although Microsoft Office might be considered the global standard for office productivity suites, it can be a pricey purchase, starting from around USD 84.00 per year. However, there are a number of good-quality and free, office applications now on the market. One of the most widely known, is LbreOffice.
Developed by the Document Foundation, LibreOffice is a free and open source software application that comprises programmes to do word processing, It can be used on a broad range of destop platforms, but a portable version is also available.
Supported platforms: Linux; Windows; OS X
Price: Free
Image credits: KROMKRATHOG (FreeDigitalPhotos.net); Google Play, all logos, except LibreOffice (Wikipedia)
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