The document highlights ten educational apps and their features useful for classroom settings, including Khan Academy, Shakespeare in Bits, Grammar Up, Quizlet, Google Drive, WritePad, iTunes U, Subtext, Learnist, and Inspiration Maps. Each app is evaluated on grade level applicability, specific classroom uses, ease of use, student feedback opportunities, privacy offerings, connections to curriculum/student outcomes, and quality of instructions. These tools aim to enhance learning through interactive and multimedia resources across various subjects and education levels.

1. 10 Great Apps for
the Classroom

2. 1) Khan Academy

3. Khan Academy
• The description boasts that “Khan Academy allows you to
learn almost anything for free.” They have a library of over
4,200 videos and articles. Progress is trackable with a user
account. Khan has an overwhelmingly good review.
• Grade Level and Content Area — Khan Academy ipad app
can be used in any grade, k-12th and beyond.
• Specific Uses in the Classroom — Downloadable videos
detailing the subject matter. Can be used for an assignment
for students to watch certain videos or for students to get a
bit of extra help with a subject.
• Student Feedback — Since the format is mainly video
instruction, there is not any format for student feedback.

4. Khan Academy
• Opportunities for Higher Learning Thinking Skills —
The app encourages memorization, understanding,
application, and evaluation.
• Ease of Use — Reviews show it to be easy to use.
• Privacy Offerings — Since it’s mostly video instruction,
there doesn’t seem to be any issue with privacy.
• Connecting to Curriculum Content/Student Outcomes —
Reinforced skills are connected to classroom curriculum.
• Quality of Instructions — According to video review, the
app seems to have easy-to-follow instructions.

5. 2) Shakespeare in Bits

6. Shakespeare in Bits
• Grade Level and Content Area — 7-12 grades. English
literature, drama, Shakespeare
• Specific Uses in the Classroom — Helps students to better
understand the works of Shakespeare. Provides synonyms
and definitions of key words and phrases. Also shows an
animated version of the play while the app reads the play
aloud to the reader.
• Student Feedback — It does not appear to provide student
feedback.
• Opportunities for Higher Learning Thinking Skills- It
encourages memorization, understanding, application, and
analyzation.

7. Shakespeare in Bits
• Ease of Use — It is very user friendly and intuitive.
• Privacy Offerings — Privacy does not appear to be an issue
with this app.
• Connecting to Curriculum Content/Student Outcomes —
The skills reinforced are connected to the curriculum
standards and student outcomes.
• Quality of Instructions — The app does provide easy to
follow and comprehensive instructions.

8. 3) Grammar Up

9. Grammar Up
• Grade Level and Content Area — All grade levels. English
grammar. Designed to allow recipients to play games and
take tests as part of the learning process with real-time
error feedback. Most of the questions on the tests seem to be
geared toward the corporate business world.
• Specific Uses in the Classroom — Provides quizzes and
explanations for correct grammar. Teachers receive instant
feedback from the app regarding students’ graded tests and
exercises.
• Student Feedback — Provides real-time error feedback.
• Opportunities for Higher Learning Thinking Skills —
Encourages memorization, understanding, and application.

10. Grammar Up
• Ease of Use — App appears to be user friendly and easy to
use.
• Privacy Offerings — Students and teachers must have a
login to use the app, thus maintaining security.
• Connecting to Curriculum Content/Student Outcomes —
The skill reinforced are connected to any English grammar
curriculum.
• Quality of Instructions — The app provides easy-to-follow
instructions for use.

11. 4) Quizlet

12. Quizlet
• Allows students to test their knowledge, repeat quizzes use and
flash cards in order to improve and build upon their knowledge. It
also allows teachers to create specific “sets” of content area quizzes
and flash cards.
• Grade Level and Content Area — Any grade level and multiple
content areas.
• Specific Uses in the Classroom — Quizlet, offers quizzes and
flashcards for memorization and learning. Teachers can have
students take quizzes in the app or online. As long as they have an
account, Quizlet will track progress and search history. (It had
cookies saved from a search I’d done in January for sight words for
my son, even though I didn’t have an account with them yet.) It also
allows teachers to create “sets” such as quizzes and flashcards and
lets the teachers see who has used the sets, how often they used
them, and how well they did on the quizzes.

13. Quizlet
• Student Feedback — Provides real-time quality feedback to
students.
• Opportunities for Higher Learning Thinking Skills — It
encourages memorization, understanding, evaluation, and
analyzation.
• Ease of Use — Very user friendly and easy to use. Due to cookies,
it is quite intuitive.
• Privacy Offerings — Username and password.
• Connecting to Curriculum Content/Student Outcomes — The
skills reinforced are connected to the curriculum
standards/student outcomes.
• Quality of Instructions —The app is incredibly user friendly
despite not having a specific list of instructions.

14. 5) Google Drive

15. Google Drive
• Not specifically for school, but it allows collaboration for group
projects in shared documents. It allows everyone 15GB of storage
and supports multiple types of documents and files.
• Grade Level and Content Area — Any age, any content area.
• Specific Uses in the Classroom — A great cloud for classes to
share information or work on group projects.
• Student Feedback — The comments section will allow for
student feedback.
• Opportunities for Higher Learning Thinking Skills — Does not
specifically encourage higher learning thinking skills.

16. Google Drive
• Ease of Use — Very user friendly as long as the user is
somewhat computer/tech literate.
• Privacy Offerings — File-by-file security; The user who
hosts the file can set security to where only those with
whom they share the file can see or edit documents. User
can revoke or regrant security. If enrolled, user has a two-step
authentication.
• Connecting to Curriculum Content/Student Outcomes —
No specific skills reinforced.
• Quality of Instructions — The help section has easy-to-follow
instructions.

17. 6) WritePad

18. WritePad
• Grade Level and Content Area — WritePad can be used for
handwriting practice in the lower grades, but its most effective use
is as a note-taking and document creation app for middle-school to
secondary classrooms, which can be utilized across multiple
content areas.
• Specific Uses in the Classroom — Through WritePad, students
are able to take handwritten notes directly onto their devices, and
those notes are then directly converted into text format, which
assists in organization and legibility for more effective note-taking.
It also allows for a new way for students to create text
documents for assignments. Thus, instead of having to write down
notes and then copy them into a computer, the text created can be
manipulated to create typed responses directly on the device,
without having to deal with the hassle of sometimes hard to use
keyboards on standard devices.

19. WritePad
• Student Feedback — WritePad provides immediate feedback
regarding student handwritten input, and the student is able to
observe whether their notes are being taken effectively or whether
their handwriting needs adjustment.
• Opportunities for Higher Learning Thinking Skills — WritePad
helps to facilitate application and creation, as students are able to
utilize this writing platform to explore ideas and create thoughtful
responses to classroom content in an innovative way.
• Ease of Use — WritePad is relatively easy to use. Some have
reported initial difficulty regarding the app’s ability to recognize
their handwriting, but over time, the app trains itself to more
effectively recognize idiosyncrasies in an individual’s writing style
to more effectively capture the intended text. Also, WritePad
comes with handy shortcut gestures that allow for fast content
creation and editing. And users can create custom shorthand
formulas to more efficiently take notes and create documents.

20. WritePad
• Privacy Offerings — Content is saved directly onto the user’s
device. Created content can be synced with other platforms or
shared with other users but only with the approval of the user.
• Connecting to Curriculum Content/Student Outcomes — As a
note-taking/document creation tool, WritePad can absolutely
assist students in learning and retaining curriculum content. But it
also offers an innovative platform through which teachers can
work on writing standards. Writing often presents a challenge of
engagement and interest (especially in secondary classrooms);
however, through the use of this interesting technology, students
may be more inclined to work on assignments that address specific
writing standards.
• Quality of Instructions — WritePad’s developers offer tutorial
videos to walk users through the features of the app as well as the
various built-in shorthand and shortcut editing gestures that can
be utilized in the app. These offer clear modeling of the app’s
capabilities and how users can best utilize the app’s functions.

21. 7) iTunes U

22. iTunes U
• Grade Level and Content Area — iTunes U contains a variety of
multimedia courses and lessons on almost any subject from
Kindergarten-12th grade and includes many post-secondary
studies.
• Specific Uses in the Classroom — Students can use iTunes U to
look up specific lessons or topics that they find challenging and
receive supplemental instruction from reliable sources in an
engaging, multimedia format. Teachers have the option of
creating courses or lessons within iTunes U for student use.
• Student Feedback — Teachers can include discussion features
when creating courses to allow for student responses to lesson-specific
questions and feedback both from the teacher and from
peers. Teachers can also incorporate specific assignments that
integrate different applications in their designed courses for
engaging, lesson-specific assessment.

23. iTunes U
• Opportunities for Higher Learning Thinking Skills —
iTunes U encourages analysis, evaluation, and
application. Students are provided detailed instruction on
specific topics that allows them to analyze ideas they are
learning in the classroom, evaluate the merits and
consequences of such ideas, and apply their knowledge to
broader situations or concepts.
• Ease of Use — iTunes U is highly intuitive. Students can
browse courses according to subject matter and content. And
most of the materials within the various courses are free and
easy to download. Within seconds, a student can begin
learning a new concept or area of interest.

24. iTunes U
• Privacy Offerings — Most pre-designed courses involve students
accessing video, audio, and or PDF materials with little to no
information needed (establishing little concern for issues of
privacy). When a teacher designs a course, he/she can restrict
access so that only students in the class can view the content
and/or individuals enrolled in the course.
• Connecting to Curriculum Content/Student Outcomes — As
the content is mostly designed by educators, students are
provided with content-specific lessons that directly correspond to
curriculum standards and student outcomes. There are even
lessons specifically labelled “Common Core” the cover a variety of
subjects and ensure that students are receiving standards-based
supplemental instruction.

25. iTunes U
• Quality of Instructions — The reviews of iTunes U are
mostly positive, with individuals noting ease of use and
accessibility. All users need to do is click on course that they
would like to access and then subscribe to the content. All
the free materials needed are then downloaded to the user’s
device for review. And for teachers looking to design a
course, there are very specific, helpful guides for creating a
course that is fun and engaging for students.

26. 8) Subtext

27. Subtext
• Grade Level and Content Area — Subtext can be utilized to
promote effective reading strategies and literacy across multiple
grade levels. It is especially appropriate for upper-elementary to
secondary classrooms.
• Specific Uses in the Classroom — Students can access book and
articles chosen by the teacher and read them in an engaging,
interactive format that encourages comprehension and
collaboration. While reading a text, students can highlight and
easily look up words they do not understand; they can also post
discussion comments or questions about specific portions of the
text for the rest of the class to see. Furthermore, teachers can
create reading assignments, leave explanatory comments on
certain sections of a reading, and/or import articles or other
works that serve as supplemental materials to reinforce key
concepts or themes.

28. Subtext
• Student Feedback — Through the interactive portion of Subtext,
students can receive feedback from the teacher as well as other
peers in the classroom regarding areas of difficulty in the
text. They can also test their comprehension and knowledge of
unfamiliar ideas or words by highlighting portions of the text and
instantly searching for relevant information via Google. Moreover,
teachers can insert questions into the text that poll student
responses and gauge comprehension.
• Opportunities for Higher Learning Thinking Skills — Subtext
encourages understanding, analysis, and evaluation. Through the
app, students are able to closely read a text and carefully review its
inherent ideas through collaboration and instant access to
supplemental explanatory materials. This all-encompassing
approach to text interaction encourages all three of the listed
aspects of higher learning thinking skills.

29. Subtext
• Ease of Use — Subtext is very easy to use, and there are multiple
videos available of children using the app to explore classroom
texts. And students seem to have fun with app and enjoy using its
various features to explore the intricacies of a text.
• Privacy Offerings — Teachers can design a reading assignment
so that only students in the class can view content and discussion
(i.e. class reviews of a text are closed off to outside
users). Furthermore, teachers can create private discussion
groups within a classroom text review so that only specific
students can view specific questions, thus creating an ability to
differentiate lessons on the text. Finally, teachers can restrict
Internet access so that students are unable to access unrelated or
inappropriate content during lessons.

30. Subtext
• Connecting to Curriculum Content/Student Outcomes —
Subtext directly addresses literacy standards by encouraging
close reading and critical thinking when presented with a
text. Teachers can also introduce a variety of literary genres
through the app to allow students to explore and compare ideas,
themes, or literary devices that are used to establish and convey
meaning within the various texts.
• Quality of Instructions — Subtext provides helpful design tips
and instructions for teachers to effectively create classroom
groups and embed content into readings. There is also a
comprehensive user guide available on the designer’s website for
step-by-step instructions on how to get started and utilize the
app’s various features.

31. 9) Learnist

32. Learnist
• Grade Level and Content Area — Learnist is most appropriate
for middle to high school students, and it provides information
and resources that span multiple content areas.
• Specific Uses in the Classroom — Often referred to as the
educational version of the popular app Pinterest, Learnist allows
students to access educational boards on specific topics of
interest and receive ample, multimedia content that is expertly-crafted
and relevant to their topic. Teachers can also use the app
to create individualized boards for their classroom, to put a
variety of engaging supplemental materials at their students’
fingertips. Finally, students can create boards of their own to
organize and store any quality supplemental materials or study
guides that they may find independently.

33. Learnist
• Student Feedback — Teachers can incorporate activities and
supplemental lessons to classroom boards that include
assessments for student feedback. Students can also review
expert boards to test their knowledge on a particular subject.
• Opportunities for Higher Learning Thinking Skills — At the
very least, Learnist encourages application and analysis. Students
are introduced to a variety of content beyond their textbook in
order to see real-life applications of the ideas and concepts they
are studying in the classroom, and students are able to delve
deeper into a topic and analyze the building blocks of a particular
concept across multiple media formats.

34. Learnist
• Ease of Use — With an interface similar to Pinterest,
Learnist has a very familiar functionality for many students,
and it is easy to navigate between various boards and
content. And with the incorporation of multimedia
resources, students have a fun, engaging way to master
standards-based content.
• Privacy Offerings — Through Learnist, students have the
ability to view, save, and share content-related
materials. However, one of the drawbacks to the app is that
students are not restricted as to the type of educational
content they can access. Thus, some supervision will be
required when utilizing this app in the classroom.

35. Learnist
• Connecting to Curriculum Content/Student Outcomes —
Working as a wellspring of educational content, Learnist can
connect to multiple forms of curriculum content. Yet, literacy
standards are perhaps most appropriate when discussing
Learnist, as the app encourage students to synthesize ideas from
multiple sources of information and multiple media formats in
order to draw conclusions about an idea or topic. Also, students
are able to think critically about the merits of a particular
resource when creating their own boards for individual review.
• Quality of Instructions — The developers of Learnist have
detailed instructional videos available that cover the app’s various
features in order to teach both students and teachers how to best
utilize the app.

36. 10) Inspiration Maps

37. Inspiration Maps
• Grade Level and Content Area — Inspiration Maps is an
innovative and engaging graphic organizer creation platform
that can be utilized across multiple content areas and grade
levels. However, it is perhaps most effective as a tool for
middle to high school students.
• Specific Uses in the Classroom— Teachers can utilize
Inspiration Maps to construct graphic organizers that assist
students in visualizing relations between various ideas and
components within a particular lesson or course of
study. Students can also utilize the app to create helpful,
engaging visual representations of class notes or study
materials to increase comprehension and retention.

38. Inspiration Maps
• Student Feedback — As primarily a creation platform rather
than a resource for information, Inspiration Maps does not
provide specific student feedback. However, the app can be
utilized by the teacher to have students create graphic organizers
to outline key concepts from class readings or lectures to assess
student comprehension.
• Opportunities for Higher Learning Thinking Skills —
Inspiration Maps encourages analysis, evaluation, and
creation. While creating graphic organizers, it encourage students
to closely analyze a particular idea or concept and evaluate how
the various components of the idea or concept work
together. Then, it asks students to create visual representations
of the idea or concept that effectively outline its various
components and underlying processes.

39. Inspiration Maps
• Ease of Use — Inspiration Maps is fairly easy to use. It
comes pre-installed with various templates for users to
employ in order to get a head-start on creating their graphic
organizers. And the app’s functionality is highly
intuitive. Even someone who has little familiarity with
graphic organizers can quickly begin to create and
customize effective organizers with a few taps of a finger.
• Privacy Offerings — All created graphic organizers are
stored directly onto the user’s device. Any creations can be
shared, but the user must approve the action before any
sharing occurs. Thus, privacy appears to be of little concern
with Inspiration Maps.

40. Inspiration Maps
• Connecting to Curriculum Content/Student Outcomes —
Incorporating Inspiration Maps in classroom assignments is
especially helpful for literacy standards. By having students
develop their own graphic organizers that outline key
concept in a text or topic, they are forced to closely read a
text and look for relationships between the various
components of and ideas in the text. Furthermore, they
utilize their creative capacities and critical thinking skills to
determine the best ways of organizing those ideas into
visual structures that both accurately reflect the information
provided and give common observers a clear understanding
the various components and processes at work.

41. Inspiration Maps
• Quality of Instructions — The developers of Inspiration
Maps provide instructional videos on how to utilize the
app’s various features to create and customize a graphic
organizer. The app also include an extensive help section
that covers a multitude of topics and questions that users
may have when creating their graphic organizers.

42. App Reference Links
• Google Drive - https://drive.google.com/start
• Grammar Up - http://www.grammar-express.com/
• Inspiration Maps - http://www.inspiration.com/go/ipad
• iTunes U - https://www.apple.com/education/ipad/itunes-u/
• Khan Academy - https://www.khanacademy.org/
• Learnist - https://learni.st/
• Quizlet - http://www.red8ventures.com/
• Shakespeare in Bits -
http://www.mindconnex.com/site/index.php?option=com_content&vie
w=category&layout=blog&id=8&Itemid=17
• Subtext - http://www.renaissance.com/products/subtext
• WritePad -
http://www.phatware.com/index.php?q=page/writepad/ipad#