Common Cloud Based Apps
Now that we have reviewed the concept of the cloud based app, let's explore some commonly used apps in education. Once you have looked at the apps listed below, we invite you to participate in the discussion forum at the bottom of this page. Think about how these apps could be incorporated into an educational setting, and how you might use some of these apps in your context. If you have had the opportunity to use any these apps, provide feedback and describe your experience. We also invite you to think about the various benefits and disadvantages of these apps.
Team Work and CollaborationAsana
Mission Statement: “to help humanity thrive by enabling all teams to work together effortlessly” (https://asana.com/). The App: a productivity application that enables team-work without the use of emails. Asana allows groups and teams to assign tasks, receive updates, identify priorities, brainstorm, maintain a calendar, and stay focused. Google Docs
The App – Google Docs is a free, web-based “office suite” provided by Google. Google Docs allows users to create and edit documents, and also enables synchronous and asynchronous collaboration. Mobile devices can also view and edit Google Docs documents using mobile browsers. File SharingDropbox
Mission Statement: “to simplify life for people around the world. Dropbox lets people bring their docs, photos and videos everywhere and share them easily” (www.dropbox.com). The App: Documents, photos, and videos saved onto Dropbox, they can be safely accessed, edited, and shared by users from their photos, computers, and tablets. CloudOn
Mission Statement: to “help people work smarter” by bringing “documents to life, making content more accessible, shareable and actionable than ever before” (http://site.cloudon.com/). The App: Allows users to create, review, and share Microsoft Office documents on their mobile device. DiagrammingLucidchart
Mission Statement: Lucidchart has “redesigned the entire diagramming process to make it as easy as possible” (www.lucidchart.com). The App: Lucidchart provides users with the tools to make flow charts, wireframes, mind maps, and org charts. Lucidchart is intuitive and does not require any training. This app is also ideal for collaboration and team work. Draw.io
The App – Similar to Lucidchart, this app allows users to create diagrams online, and access them from anywhere. This web-based app is free, accessible to all, and easy to use. ShowMe
Mission Statement - “ShowMe is a global learning community – a place where anyone can learn or teach anything” (www.showme.com). ShowMe’s mission is to connect great teachers and experts to students across the world” (www.showme.com). The App – Allows users to create lessons using an interactive virtual whiteboard. ShowMe allows users to create diagrams, explain topics, drop existing images onto the whiteboard, and record your voice to provide instructions or explanations. ShowMe is easy to use and can be used in a range of contexts and subject areas. PresentationsPrezi
“Prezi is a virtual whiteboard that transforms presentations from monologues into conversations: enabling people to see, understand, and remember ideas” (www.prezi.com). The App – Prezi’s unique “zooming canvas” makes presentations more engaging and promotes active learning and interactivity. Prezi is also ideal for group work and collaboration, allowing users to work in real time with up to 10 other participants. Prezi can be accessed from anywhere, and presentations are stored in the cloud. Keynote
The App - Keynote is an easy-to-use presentation app designed for use on mobile devices. Through the cloud, Keynote saves presentations and updates to presentations automatically across your devices, and allows you to easily share presentations. |
K-12 LearningEdmodo
The App – Provides a free, safe place for teachers and students to connect and collaborate – anytime, anywhere. Unlike an LMS, Edmodo lets you seamlessly integrate and manage e-learning. Edmodo is designed to engage students, connects students, parents, and teachers to educational tools and resources, measures student progress, and personalizes the learning experience through the use of additional apps and digital content. Glogster
The App – Glogster is an “online platform for digital learning” that allows teachers, and students to mix text, audio, video, images, graphics, and data to create engaging and interactive learning content (http://wedu.glogster.com/). Glogster also offers “Glogpedia” – a library of glogs and reusable educational content and resources in a range of subject areas. Glogster and the “Glogs” created by Glogster users can be accessed through smartphones and tablets, all saved on the Glogster interface. K-12 Learning & Assessment
Read With Me
The App – Read With Me is an online reading fluency assessment app. Read With Me can be synced with multiple devices and generates reports for parents, and teachers to review and track the learner’s progress. Read With Me records audio for review purposes and tracks student progress toward benchmark targets. Read With Me makes literacy development and the assessment process accessible and convenient. ClassDojo
The App: ClassDojo is a free classroom tool to help teachers improve the behavior of students in the classroom in a simple way. ClassDojo captures data from the classroom and allows teachers to share this information with parents and school administrators. ClassDojo is easy to use and can be easily accessed from all devices for instant feedback. This app also promotes student engagement – allowing teachers to provide instant positive reinforcement through notifications. Note-TakingEvernote
Mission Statement: “to help the world remember everything, communicate effectively and get things done” (https://evernote.com/). The App: Allows users to stay organized and increase productivity. This app allows users to take notes and record audio notes, capture photos, develop to-do lists, digitize documents, share notes with friends through social media, and sync notes across devices. Microsoft OneNote
The App – Microsoft OnenNote is a free App that enables users to gather and store ideas, clip links and webpages, save photos and videos, and attach files in a click and easy way. In OneNote, notes are saved and synced automatically with the OneDrive online storage system for easy access and sharing. Sharing and collaboration are also possible with OneNote, as groups can work together in real time. Organization & ResearchiCyte
The App – iCyte allows users to organize and save research, as well as tag, note, and highlight research documents. In addition, iCyte can also be used as a collaborative tool – users can invite team members to view iCyte projects. When saving and citing webpages through iCyte, a carbon copy is created and saved on the cloud, allowing users to return to the webpage as it was remembered. iCyte is compatible with all internet browsers and can be used across devices. Mendeley
The App – Mendeley is a “free reference manager and academic social network” that allows users to organize research, “collaborate with others online, and discover the latest research” (www.mendeley.com). Mendeley generates bibliographies, promotes collaboration with fellow researchers online, allows users to read and annotate research documents, and is compatible with other research software. Mendeley is accessible from all devices, allowing users to continue their research on the go. |
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