Back to School: 10 Great Web Apps for College Students
For a lot of college students, the new semester is just around the corner. Last year, we created a long list of great Web 2.0 tools that we thought would be helpful for college students.
But given how fast things develop on the web, we thought we would revisit this topic again this year and look at some of the most useful Web 2.0 tools that have the potential to help students do better in school, collaborate with their fellow students, and save them time.
Taking Notes
1) Evernote
Evernote is a great note taking application, but that only scratches the surface of what it can do. If you are in a lecture, for example, you can also take a picture of the blackboard with your phone, upload it to the Evernote server, and thanks to Evernote's clever OCR algorithms, even pictures of handwritten notes become instantly searchable.
You can also use it to bookmark web pages and write down your own lecture notes. Best of all, you can use a web app, a Windows or Mac desktop app, or a Windows Mobile and iPhone app, all of which seamlessly synch with each other, so that your notes are always up to date.
2) Google Notebook
The Google Notebook is one of Google's lesser know products, but, thanks to a very well designed Firefox extension, it's a great tool for when you do most of your work in a browser already. If you do some of your research in Google Books and Google Scholar, you can also easily clip excerpts from books and articles into your Google Notebook.
One additional nice feature is that you can invite collaborators to work on a notebook with you. If you are doing a research project in a group, for example, you can easily share your research with your whole group.
Online Office Suites
3) Google and 4) Zoho
Word processors, spreadsheets, and presentation apps are probably the single most often used tool among college students, and while none of the online offerings can yet beat Microsoft Office (which, for students, now only costs around $60 for the Ultimate Edition), the online office suites from Google and Zoho do have some distinct advantages. Office obviously has a lot more features, but not only are both Google Apps and Zoho free, they also allow easier sharing of documents and working on projects collaboratively.
And while the online tools to create presentations are still a bit crude compared to Powerpoint or Keynote, they are both worthy contenders, especially if you don't feel the need to add lots of fancy transitions to your presentations.
If we had to choose between Google's and Zoho's offering, our vote would probably go to Google, as the Google apps have a slightly more organized and professional feel to them, which, in the end, is going to make it easier to focus on the content of your documents.
Bibliography
5) Zotero
The standard tool for doing extensive bibliographies in academia is Endnote. While that is a great tool if you are writing a dissertation, Zotero is a great choice for less extensive research projects - and it's free. Zotero is a Firefox extension, so it is not technically a web app, but in its next version, the developers are promising the ability to synch your bibliographies to a web version of the tool, so that your books and notes will become available everywhere.
For now, Zotero lives in the status bar of Firefox, and it pops up a little icon in your URL bar every time it recognizes a compatible website. Zotero already supports the databases of a huge amount of libraries worldwide, as well as a lot of standard academic databases such as JSTOR, LexisNexis, InfoTrac, PubMed, or ScienceDirect. Besides curating your citations, you can also add notes, tag items, or add attachments (like pdf files of articles). Once you are done, Zotero will create a bibliography for you in most standard formats, including APA, MLA, or Chicago style.
6) EasyBib
If you just need to create a short bibliography, Zotero might be more than you need. EasyBib will just help you to quickly create a bibliography entry in MLA format - a favorite among literature teachers. It can also handle the APA format, but you will have to subscribe to the pro version of EasyBib.
If you really hate figuring out where to put a comma and where to put a semicolon in your APA style bibliography entries, those $7.99 a year for the pro version might just turn out to be a bargain.
Also, if you only need a quick bibliography entry for a book, check out OttoBib, where you just have to enter the ISBN number and it will give you a fully formatted citation.
Staying Organized
7) Google Calendar
There are lots of great online calendars out there, including 30 Boxes and Yahoo's calendar app, but our favorite is the Google Calendar, simply because it is dead easy to use, integrates nicely with GMail, allows for importing and exporting your calendar, and lets you publish a site with your free/busy information with the click of a button, so that your friends know not to bother you while you are cramming for that test.
8) Remember the Milk
Remember the Milk might just be the tool that will keep you on track. And to make things even easier, Remember the Milk also integrates nicely with Google Calendar, so you can manage everything in one place.
Picking the Right Class
9) Rate My Professors
As much as teachers don't like sites like these, Professor Performance and Rate my Professors can be useful tools when you decide which class you want to take. While almost every university makes you rate your professor at the end of the semester, schools never make this data public, so whenever you get a choice between professors, you really have no idea who the better teacher is. We like Rate My Professors a bit more than Professor Performance, simply because its search is a lot easier and the site is a bit more up-to-date. The site now also features a Facebook application.
Keeping in Touch
10) Meebo
As much as your teachers would like to think so, college isn't just about classes, papers, and long ours in the library. If you want to stay in touch with your friends no matter what computer you are on, Meebo is a great universal IM client that lives on the web. It supports, AIM, Yahoo Messenger, MSN Messenger, ICQ, Jabber, and Google Talk, as well as Meebo's own IM architecture.
What are we missing?
Are there other tools you use in school that we missed here? Let us know in the comments.
Flickr image by laffz4k.
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Great list guys..
A timesaving app I would add is Jott. I use this as my to-do lister, my "I have five minutes for an audio feed" moments, and a handy little audio to text twitter poster.
Steph
If you go to Yale, try the Yale news webapp at http://Yale.ifthensoft.com.
You've forgotten http://www.pickaprof.com/ (PickAProf) it's pretty damn cool and it integrates as an App on facebook.
I would have added "dia" http://live.gnome.org/Dia/Download its just like MS Visio but free and can be used for just about any kind of diagram and will run on Linux, Mac, and Windows and "The Gimp" http://www.gimp.org/ which is like Photoshop and is also free and will also run on multiple platforms.
For presentations, try out Freepath - allows you to present digital content in many file formats without having to open all of those programs. Being used at several universities across the country.
(Disc. - they are a client)
http://www.gradeguru.com/
From their site:
In a sentence: GradeGuru is a notes sharing website where students who need relevant, course-specific study notes can find them, and where students who have study materials can share them to get rewarded with cool stuff and recognition.
Bottom line is that you can upload your class notes, get rewarded for doing so and download your peers' notes.
PickAProf is very cool as well, but it just doesn't have a lot of ratings in its database yet
Posted by: Frederic
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August 27, 2008 9:41 AM
take a walk through a coffee shop @ your local university; you'll see that the overwhelming majority of students don't use any web 2.0 wares. they are all in facebook. i've done this... several times.
if it doesn't plug into fb, then likely it won't help students.
One of the big tools you missed was BoxEDU (http://www.box.net/edu). It lets students back up their files, collaborate on group projects online, access files from any computer, and even use online office tools like Zoho and Thinkfree all from one account. Students can get a free 2GB plus account by signing up with their school email address.
While I do work for Box, I am also still a student and I honestly use it all the time for school. It has made group projects so much simpler and when my computer crashed last year, Box totally saved me.
http://dezidr.com
A tool that helps to make decisions. Pretty easy to use!
Chunkit is possibly the best research tool a college student could have. Basically it searches within links to find you your information. I wrote a paper in about half the time when i used this for a summer class. It will be the next big internet tool for sure. you can download at http://www.getchunkit.com
PickAProf is missing, it'll actually show you the grades from the professors that they have given in the past. This is very critical. Writing a review or rating a prof is ok, but that is subjective, while the raw grades data is pure fact.
If you have two profs that you can take and one gives 20% A's and the other only 3% A's, you have clear data on you chances of getting an A.
Been using this site for three years now.
Richard, thanks for the 30Boxes nod, but if this is a list for college students, I would argue that 30Boxes wins out because it is fully embedded and integrated with Facebook!
delicious categorization, it really has worth for me, coz i was looking for smth like this...
I think for Bibliographies you can't go wrong with WorldCat.org Citations View. Create a list of items... Click on the Citation View tab, and it creates your bibliography in your choice of APA, Chicago, Harvard, MLA and Turabian to be exported to your choice of HTML, RTF, RIS, EndNote or RefWorks. This is all free.
The tool that I have used that has most visibly increased my grades has been Quizlet. They are online flashcards that can be used collaboratively. I've used it personally in my courses and any of my friends who have tried it always come back and tell me how much it has helped them.
Some of these are sweet and I'm definitely trying them (evernote especially) this year when I get to school -- but what about the apps for helping you choose your school?? campuscompare.com, theU, and collegeprowler were beyond helpful for me
Zotero is pretty cool, but I prefer the full functionality of EndNote in conjunction with the new hybrid features available with the web-based version, EndNote Web, which students can access from most campuses for free!
www.myendnoteweb.com
Some of the browser-integrated tools like Zotero are great if you always use the same computer, but a lot of students use lab computers where they can't install things into the browsers, so web-based tools are the way to go. I recommend checking into whether your college offers EndNote Web or RefWorks before plunking down any money for a citation management tool. A lot of colleges will have site-wide license to these and they are totally web-based so you can use them from anywhere you have Internet access whether that's your home/dorm computer or a computer lab. The downside is that they don't really work seamlessly with those web-based word processors.
Cram, It's not a webapp, but pretty nice study/testing tool for smartphones, with a web portion to it. I tried the BB version, but can't wait for the iPhone one they say is coming.
http://www.simpleleap.com/cram.htm
Another useful student tool is Sendible.
You can schedule messages to your lecturer/tutor ahead of time so that it looks like you were working until 4 in the morning!
http://www.sendible.com
We built a web-app called Convos for creating simple, private groups with fast, basic tools (group email, events with RSVP, file storage, etc).
It was designed to look and feel like a desktop app and college students have been using it to organize class projects, clubs, greek life, trips, etc.
http://www.convos.com
Good top ten list. In last year's roundup you included our social learning site http://www.college-cram.com
Unlike many of these choices, College-Cram actually has learning resources that will help students get better grades in less time.
I guess we didn't make the top ten this year, but we will next time!
I m not a college student, but most these are good apps for anyone.
Check out Quiz Maker and flashcards by ProProfs
www.LibrarianChick.com offers a listing of links to free and open educational resources and books.
If only Jott was available in Australia...
Courses on Facebook
http://apps.facebook.com/courses
Schools on Facebook
http://www.inigral.com
CollegeWikis!
http://www.collegewikis.com
It's a great new messaging platform and website for college students and others who want specific, targeted information. It's a cross between yahoo answers, yahoo groups, and the targeted community aspects of facebook.
CollegeWikis provides you with a group e-mail list for your courses, dorm, school, and more ...
Unlike the normal platforms, which are all information pushed down from professors, RAs, administrators, etc - this is a community messaging platform for everyone to contribute to and stay posted through. Questions and information that are submitted through the lists are captured so that they're a resource to future students, and editable so that they're always accurate.
Go there and join the group for your school!
http://www.collegewikis.com/signup
A very useful article. I am a school student and am using some of these applications you mentioned. Others look more interesting and am eager to use them too. Thanks for sharing.
this is a great app too
virtual desktop
eyeos.info
For math and science student don't forget eCalc - online calculator. This tool includes support for complex numbers, unit conversion, equation solving, and more. Check it out!
For any students who are familiar with or interested in "Getting Things Done" might want to try out Vitalist.com.
It is similar to Remember The Milk but more GTD oriented.
You might also want to add Nozbe to the list - it's a "Getting Things Done"-based task and time manager.
We're also giving out free T-shirts today!
maybe
http://www.myschoolog.com
Very good list. I think you're underestimating how robust the Google Apps suite is. Yes, Microsoft Office Ultimate is only $60 for students; however, cloud computing is finally here (and especially so on college campuses).
I found this online video (sponsored by Google, of course) Google Apps: Quick Tour really helpful in getting an overview of the entire Google Apps suite. It's not just word processing, spreadsheets and presentations. The entire suite includes e-mail, calendaring, instant messaging and even voice over IP.
Good list. I also use Library Elf to manage loans/holds from different libraries/cards (great for families to have on central location to manage all family cards) - http://www.libraryelf.com/
Another very easy, yet effective tool is Doodle to schedule meetings with a bunch of people. Lets you suggest a variety of dates/times and everybody can indicate their availability. Very easy to see which is the best date for everybody - http://www.http://www.doodle.ch
If you're into IM, but don't have access to a computer, try EQO (http://www.EQO.com) on your mobile phone that gives you AIM, MSN, Yahoo, ICQ and GTalk no matter where you are.
Doomi is also a great app.
I wish they had all this stuff when I went to college, that would have been great! I'm out of college now, but plan to check out some of these for my business/personal use.
Another cool notetaking application is Springnote (http://springnote.com). Springnote not only combines the best of a wiki and a notetaking app, but also supports OpenID and 2 GB of file storage for free. It's alreayd been covered much by media.
Definitely worth checking it out!
reQall is another tool thats missing here
http://reQall.com
You're definetely missing SKIM. Lot of my material is delivered as PDFs and I like to make notes and hilights in them without printing.
Downfall is that SKIM is mac os x only, but I doubt that's a problem for college students in the US.
Socialbib is a free online textbook exchange
http://www.socialbib.com/
If you want to make a note, but don´t have time to type. Cool thing: it doesn´t matter if the note is for your self or should be listened by other guys. http://speepo.com/
Omeka (http://omeka.org) is an application for mounting online research projects and exhibitions. It's also being used for digital dissertations. From the makers of Zotero (http://zotero.org) at the Center for History & New Media (http://chnm.gmu.edu).
Thank you for the fabulous post. After reading your descriptions regarding Evernote - I'm extremely tempted to try it out. Being that I'm taking a few college courses; it could be extremely helpful in my college career.
I've been using Rate My Professors for a few years now - and am always amazed at how helpful the tool has become when choosing Professors for each Professor. Accurate, student based information is presented; and a general description of your Professor can be found - before taking the leap, and signing up for their class. EXCELLENT resource.
Lumifi is a new research, collaboration and publishing tool for students and faculty. It is available for free at www.lumifi.com.
Lumifi analyzes content and provides an interactive cliff notes-type index. It provides advanced virtual notebooks to organize your research and collaborate with others as well as a mechanism to begin writing papers, speeches and presentations.
Re: Jott--It's no longer free, coming now with a monthly fee.
@Jenny Reiswig: moving between computers can be a problem, or you can get a 2GB flash drive and run PortableApps, including Firefox portable. You can import your existing Firefox profile (including extensions like Zotero) and keep it with you at all times, running on any computer with a USB port. The drive obviously isn't free, but the PortableApps are!
http://www.studybulb.com - "Youtube for flashcards"
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