Mobile Apps in K-12 Education

Google Drive

Google Drive has many advantages, but I think the best part about it is the ability to collaborate on a document with people on different devices. Students can be put into groups and work on the document from home while still communicating their ideas and input with their groups. A teacher can also be included in the doc and be able to see who contributed what to the project.


Socrative is a student response app that allows a teacher to poll her students using their mobile devices, and then see what the results of the polls are. It's a great app that can instantaneously tell the teacher whether or not her class fully understands the material. This app will help teachers see which areas of the content he/she may need to review before administering a formal test.


Plickers is another app that allows teachers to poll their class. This app is a little different however, because the students don't require a mobile device to answer the poll, only the teacher needs a device. Students are all given a 'plicker' (small square card with a bar code). Each plicker is assigned to a student, and the student can respond to a multiple choice question depending on the side that the student faces upwards. The teacher then uses the camera on their mobile device to scan the student answers in the classroom. It gives a poll of all of the different answers so teachers can get immediate results.


Audioboom is a mobile app that allows students to record audio and upload it to the web. For students who might be nervous presenting material and speaking in front of the class, it offers them the ability to pre-record audio and then simply press play for the class or for the teacher without worrying about forgetting to present all of their research.


Twitter allows classes to connect online by using specific hashtags to have conversations about classroom topics of your choice. This popular app might already be familiar to many students in their personal lives, so being able to convert it into a classroom tool will be effective. It's also a way to connect with parents who might be on twitter and update them about news and upcoming due dates.

Comment Stream