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The Best Apps in Education: Curated by an Expert Teacher to Save You Time, Money, & Frustration

A technologically-inclined librarian from a top high school in Connecticut published a guide to the best educational apps, all based on input from educators nationwide. Read on—and click away—to learn about the apps that rise to the top in K-12 education. Whether you’re a student, a parent, a teacher, or some combination of these, there is something here for everyone.

Michelle Luhtala, an educator at New Canaan High School in Connecticut, has shared her picks for the best apps in education. Covering a range of categories and ages, Luhtala’s list highlights the best of the best in educational tech—including selections for digital storytelling, videography, note taking, kid blogging, and more.

Within the digital storytelling sphere, some of Luhtala’s top selections include Adobe Voice, an app that helps users “turn a story into a stunning animated video in minutes,” and Book Creator, an app that allows students to create beautiful book designs for tablets.

In the realm of video applications, Luhtala highlights perennial favorite iMovie for its ease of use, especially for schools that offer iPads or other apple devices in the classroom. For something with a unique perspective, she likes Crowd Flik, which allows students to collaborate and combine their videos, taken from varying vantage points.

The note taking and organization application segment is highly saturated, and Luhtala helps with the weeding here too. She recommends Notability, and a free alternative, PaperPort Notes, for note sharing between students and teachers (the latter even allows for sharing audio notes). Evernote allows users to upload handwritten notes as well as input them digitally, providing a great way to keep yourself—and your thoughts—together. Finally, if you are more a visual learner, you might prefer Paper for its ability to support sketches, diagrams, and doodles.

For other top application picks in categories like coding, commenting, kid blogging, augmented reality, and more, take a look at the complete article on the KQED website. And for a student perspective on the best (and worst) ways to integrate technology and education, check out this recent blog post by a tech-savvy teen.