This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at UPRM chapter.
I know things have been a little hard for all of us, one way or another, during this pandemic. And most of all, virtual classes have been one of the biggest changes. That’s why I decided to share a list of applications I’ve been using over the past few months. And some of these were recommended by friends. Let’s get ready for virtual classes, shall we?
- Notability: this app is great for taking notes! I’ve been using it for a couple of years. You can also add documents, PDF files or powerpoint presentations to the app, and highlight anything you need or make annotations in the documents. Perfect for when you need to study! Also, you can draw, journal, and add photos, websites and audio to your notes. You can also use GoodNotes, which works very similar to Notability, but this one is fairly new to me because I downloaded it this month, to be able to use a student digital planner on my iPad. But it has been working very well. By the way, similarly to GoodNotes, you can turn your handwritten notes into text using Notability.
- Canva: this one you’ve probably used already. It is a great tool to create graphics for your presentations or anything you need. I mostly use Canva on the web, but the app is a great way to work on the go. Since you need to create an account to use Canva, you can work on your project from your computer and make edits or download it on your phone.
- Notion: this app is a great way to keep yourself organized with all your notes and to-do lists. The best feature it offers is being able to sync with MAC, Windows and your browser. Beside being organized, if you need reminders/alarms, you can use myHomework which works similar to Notion, but you can set up all the alarms you want for each and every assignment. Notion is perfect for work and college, and myHomework is more like a student planner. Also, if you need to get organized with a group, then you can use Trello. This one is great for collaborations!
- Citationsy: this is the best app to create and save all your citations and references for your projects. You can export them in APA, MLA, and many more. It has search engines for books, websites, articles, podcasts, music, online videos, images and more. You can even create the citations by scanning the barcode in the book! What I like the most about this app is that you can separate the citations on different folders, depending on the project or paper you are working on.
- (Google) Drive: you’ve probably used it on your computer, but having the application on your cell phone or iPad/tablet is a great way to work on your things on the go. If you need to share your documents, powerpoint presentations, excel sheets or any other work with your classmates so they can work on it with you, this application will do the job. I prefer Drive for this kind of thing, but there’s also Dropbox, which works almost the same way. I like to have options, just in case, but I honestly think Drive is more user friendly.
- Grammarly Keyboard: this is a feature you can add to your cell phone or iPad/tablet. It will give you writing suggestions, spelling and grammar corrections, text predictions, synonyms finder and more. Perfect to use when you are writing an email, writing an assignment or report; you can also use it for social media.
- Moodle: here at UPRM we’ll be using this A LOT during this semester. This application is pretty cool! I find it way easier to use than accessing it on the web from your computer. I like the design because everything is organized. As soon as you open it, you’ll find the dashboard with your assignments in order of due dates. You will also find a calendar icon, messages and alerts.
- Libby (OverDrive): this is a great way to access books from your library. All you need is a library card! You can have ebooks and audiobooks on your cell phone, iPad/tablet or send them to your kindle. It works as a virtual library; you can get loans for books, put them on hold or even request them if they are not available in the library. I’ve been using it for a couple of years and it is one of my favorite apps.
That’s it! I hope these app recommendations can help you. I did not include information about (Google) Meet, Zoom or (Microsoft) Teams because I think we have all used them over the past months, right? But just in case, these applications are used for virtual meetings. Not only for virtual classes but for work meetings, workshops, and social gatherings. Even though we need to be physically distant because of COVID-19, it does not mean we need to stop being social. Take advantage of these apps to spend virtual time with your loved ones!