An Effective Way to Learn Something New
Education is a different beast than it was even a decade ago. The internet has changed the field as kids can now learn just as quickly from online resources as they can from being in a classroom.
With more than half a million educational apps and millions of educational websites, it could take you the rest of your life to check out each one to see if it is appropriate for your children or students.
To save you some serious time, here are five of the most popular and beneficial educational software programs you should consider adding to your educational needs.
Udemy
My career in education has allowed me to wear many hats. I was a Technology teacher for a few years, and my main duty was to travel from grade level to grade level and speak about the benefits of various educational software. I would not only demonstrate it to the students but the teachers as well.
Udemy is an educational app that provides video tutorials and full courses (which can also be used by educators for their own students) on just about any topic. The subjects they cover could be used for early elementary or all the way through college. According to Udemy, they currently have more than 50 million users, so if you haven’t checked them out already, you are one of the few.
Photomath
Math is one of the most difficult subjects in school. At first, it can be quite easy as it just deals with simple adding and subtracting, but soon enough it heads into multiplication and division. Before long, there are equations to solve that have just as many letters in the problem as there are numbers. Talk about a headscratcher.
Luckily, through the use of the camera on your smartphone, Photomath allows you to take a picture of the problem, and it will show you the proper steps on how to proceed to solve it. Photomath doesn’t just show you the answer; it lets you do some self-learning along the way. It works for early elementary and all the way through the most difficult math you may encounter in college.
Photomath is free to download and use, but if you are solving more difficult problems, you might want to get Photomath Plus, as it will provide other options. It will set you back about $60 for the year, but when you compare that to the cost of a math tutor, you are certainly coming out ahead.
Education.com
Education.com is perfect for teachers looking to expand their lesson plans, worksheets, and activities. It is also great for parents, as they can use this software with their kids at home. This digital learning computer software program assists PreK-8 students to build their skills in mostly math, reading, writing, and history. Plus, they offer plenty of educational games that the kids will love. Learning while gaming is something that works well with students. A subscription costs anywhere from five dollars to ten dollars a month if you sign up while they have their special offers.
Google Classroom
There are numerous learning management systems (LMS) to choose from. Each one is slightly different than the next, but most offer ways for the teacher and student to communicate, keep track of grades, hand in assignments, online assessments, and more. It saves serious time as this type of management software is all you need to keep in touch with the class.
If you're looking for amazing educational software, then you'll want to check out Google Classroom. It should be considered the top LMS as it is easy to use, integrates with many apps and websites such as Google Workspace and Google Meet, and works well with Google Docs and Google Drive. You have to give credit to Google as they offer plenty of free software programs for schools, educators, parents, and students.
Libby
Sometimes with all of this technology at our fingertips, we often forget some of the top educational resources we had before computer devices were so prevalent. For instance, the local library has enough information in all of its books to educate anyone on any topic and for any age level. And the best part? It's entirely free!
The Libby app provided by OverDrive is also entirely free. It combines your local library with the latest technology as it allows you to borrow and download up to ten e-books, ten audiobooks, and ten magazines at one time for three weeks. At the end of the three weeks, they return on their own, so you are not hit with any late fees, just in case you have forgotten about them.