Apps for everyone

I saw a father buy a Iphone for six year old on Friday. He was six getting an Iphone, and I couldn’t help but wonder if this was the norm now. We live in the a world where almost everyone has cellphone of some kind. Whether it’s an Iphone, Blackberry, or the ever increasing Android market, smart phones are leading the way. As the market for smart phones increases so does the market for mobile applications.

As social media, and more web 2.0 applications make their way into the classroom, teachers and students are using these applications to make life easier.

Purdue University is testing HotSeat. Hot seat is a software application that uses Facebook, Twitter, Myspace, or SMS text to post messages during classes. By using these secondary sites, HotSeat allows students to use platforms they are already familiar with. These students are engaging in class discussions and lectures all from their mobile phone.

SCVNGR is a location based mobile app that creates a series of challenges for students as they learn. The application provides a real, and practical side to location based apps, for academic purposes on campus. SCVNGER is used as a community builder, and rewards students for participation. It is currently being used on over 350 campuses, including Boston University, Princeton, Ohio State, and Yale University. Students can participate on SCVNGR from their phones via iPhone/Android app or SMS. SCVNGR also integrates with Facebook Places so that students can connect with their Facebook friends.

Evernote: This app can help students take notes and organize web media easily. You can take a photo, a screenshot, a typed note or save a web page and Evernote will save it, index it and make it searchable for when you need it most. In short it lets you learn on the go, and keep track of the most interesting notes and media that students might need for a class project or presentation. Best of all, it works on PCs, Macs and other portable devices, so the content you save on one is available to view on all the rest. Everything you do on your phone and on your computer gets synchronized to your Evernote account on the Web, so your information is always available.

There's the quintessential apps such as dictionary.com that works on Iphone, and Blackberry.



There are even apps for kids. Apps to teach to how to read, tell time, and speak foreign languages. Which is prolly much to the delight of that 6 year old I meet.

There are tons of apps for students, even law students, and teachers. There is an app for just about everything.