Edtech 2015 Practitioner Paper There has been a rapid development in the past few years in the quality and availability of technology tools that can assist students in their academic performance. We are in the midst of a flood of tablet, smartphone and web apps that provide the same services as software programs that previously costs hundreds of euros. These apps are generally available for free or very-low cost. There are also newly-emerging apps that facilitate the augmentation of cognitive tasks. In addition, the ubiquity of technology devices in general and smartphones in particular means that students typically now have constant access to these apps. These apps can be implemented in helping students in a range of areas that impact their academic performance: manage time, deal with the urge to procrastinate, take targeted notes in class, prepare efficiently for exams, gather information and conduct research, facilitate brainstorming and promote creativity, construct and organize essays, proofread essays, manage stress, and collaborate on group projects. Most students remain unaware that there are tools to help them in these areas. In this presentation I suggest that awareness and promotion of these tools would transform many students’ academic performance. There is an art and science to tool implementation. I will discuss the tools I recommend to students and strategies I recommend to effectively use and integrate these tools into their academic workflow. The tools recommended are chosen on the following criteria: • Low or no cost • Intuitive interface – has it been designed with usability principles in mind? • Multi-platform – is it available on a variety of platforms? • Effectiveness of the tool – does it augment the student’s performance in an academic task, or help them develop a particular academic skill? • Compatibility – is this tool an appropriate fit for the student’s academic and individual needs?

1. Students 2.0
Apps to Enable Students Maximise their
Academic Performance
Pauric Holleran, Assistive Technology Officer
UCD Access Centre

2. • Supporting students with difficulties in specific
areas
• Helping students achieve academic excellence
Learning Tools - A Broadening Scope

3. A Changing Landscape
The Rise of Apps

4. How Much Does Accessibility Cost?
• Texthelp Read and Write
– approx €400
• Claroread
– approx €250
• Free alternatives are now available

5. Ambient
Connectedness
• More distractions
•Greater difficulty in
sustained work
• Use of social media
for peer-learning

7. Purpose of the Study Smarter Student
Group
• Glean information on the needs of students on
technology tools for learning
• Richer feedback on tools
• Create student technology leaders and
ambassadors

8. Benefits of Facebook Group
• Complemented offline focus group
• Sustained students’ engagement
• ‘Likes’: immediate feedback
•Much richer feedback than:
– online surveys
– individual feedback

9. Overview of Tools
• Reading Tools
• Writing Tools
• Notetaking Tools
• Organisation / Task Management Tools

10. READING TOOLS
Enables students to choose how they
interact with content

11. Text to Speech
• Reading text out loud makes it easier to engage
with written content.
• You can use it to read websites, documents or
lecture notes.
• Convert text from books and handouts to digital
documents to be read out loud.

12. Text to Speech – Things to Consider
• Voice Quality
• Highlighting Feature
• Cost
• Ease of Use

13. Text to Speech – Example

14. Reading with your Phone
• iPhone – built in text to speech
• Android: VoiceAloud
• Reading printed documents
– iPhone: ClaroSpeak- £5
– Android: Google Drive

15. Visual Tools
• Optimize the learning environment
• Benefits accrue over time
• Features
– Text size
– Background color
– Line spacing
– Distractions Removed

16. Reading Environment – Use Readability
to Remove Distractions

17. Reading Environment – Use Readability
to Remove Distractions

18. Cultivating a Sound Environment
• Online Noise Generator
– Simply Noise
• Online Rain Generator
– Simply Rain
• CoffeeShop Noise Generator
– Coffitivity

19. WRITING TOOLS

21. • Advantages
– Intuitive way to organize ideas
– Generating ideas quickly
– Simplifies complicated information
– Emphasizes associations
Mindmapping

22. Voice Recognition Software

23. Word Prediction
• Can customize dictionaries
• Adapts to user style and word-use
• Becomes more accurate with use
• Cloud-learning capable

24. Google Contexual Spellchecker

26. Using Text to Speech to Proofread your
work
• Read your text back to yourself
• Provides a fresh perspective
• Can assess for clarity and flow
• Can identify awkward phrasing

27. Using Text to Speech
• Recommended questions
– Are my main points clear?
– Are there keywords from class I can use?
– Have I provided supporting evidence?
– Should I give an example?

28. NOTETAKING TOOLS

29. Personalized Audio Bookmarking -
Livescribe
• Quickly find and replay the most important parts
of your lectures with ease
• Upload your notes and recordings to your
computer, where you can store and organize
them

30. AudioNote
Tablet €4.50

31. Voice Recording App - Cogi

32. ORGANIZATIONAL TOOLS

33. Evernote – Your “External Brain”
• Collect and organize information easily
– Capture webpages
– Tag information - assigning tags to individual notes
means you can sort your data in meaningful ways

34. Evernote – Your “External Brain”
• Good for “brain dumps”
• Evernote saves the entire article or webpage, so
you never have to worry about something (even
the included images) disappearing ever again.
• Useful as ‘idea buckets’.

36. Project Management Tool - Trello

37. Project Management Tool - Trello

38. Project Management Tool - Trello
• Makes it easy to collaborate
• Can easily assign team members to tasks
• Add and modify cards easily
• Augments your collaboration without
overwhelming you

40. Elements of Flow
• Clarity of goals and immediate feedback
• A high level of concentration on a limited field
• Balance between skills and challenge

41. Pomodoro Technique

42. Pomodoro Technique
• Reduces the impact of internal and external
interruptions on focus and ”flow”.
• Forces the pursuit of a singular task.
• Regular review encourages self-evaluation.

43. Pomodoro Technique
• As pomodori are completed, they are recorded,
adding to a sense of accomplishment
• After practice, students develop the skill to
anticipate the amount of time a task requires.

44. Pomodoro Technique
• Starting Out
– Start small – shrink the length of time until you no
longer feel resistance to it.
– Write distractions on a separate piece of paper.
– Neurological benefits of ticking sound.
– After practice brain will switch to ‘work mode’.

45. Next Steps
• Student Created Videos
• Encourage students to curate content
• Technology Facebook Group for all students
• Continue offline workshops
• Support Academics