Top Five Apps for School

Burlington High School principal Patrick Larkin believed so strongly in the learning power of the iPad that a year ago he gave one to each of his 1,200 students. Here are a few of his favorite educational apps.

Dragon Dictation by Nuance Communications
Function: Voice-recognition tool.
Larkin: “Hugely popular in our foreign-language classes…. Some students utilize it for essays—they no longer type.”

Blogger by Google
Function: Publishes classroom notes to the Web.
Larkin: “There’s never a question of ‘Where’s the homework?’…because the kids and parents can access that stuff online.”

Evernote by Evernote
Function: An interactive cloud-based “notebook.”
Larkin: “If a student’s iPad gets cracked or damaged, or they drop it in water, they can go on any device and all of their stuff is still there.”

Quizard Lite by GabySoft
Function: Creates flash cards and tracks learning progress.
Larkin: “A great tool to prepare for upcoming assessments.”

Educreations by Educreations
Function: Turns boring presentations into multimedia extravaganzas.
Larkin: “Students are actually doing a lot more presentations. Even if it’s not live in front of the class, they’re still putting them together.”

—Zak Jason