Position Paper #1 - Mobile Apps

Best Education Apps 

    Education apps help students learn new information, practice skills, and develop study habits. They can also make education more engaging and fun. There are many educational apps, such as critical-thinking, problem-solving, and creativity apps. Some education apps also use virtual reality to create immersive learning experiences. VR apps allow students to understand complex concepts, engage with content, and learn in a more hands-on way. Students use educational apps to study and learn more every day. 

Photomath 

    Photomath is a powerful math teaching app that provides students with solutions to math problems and explains the steps taken to achieve them. The app uses the camera on your phone or tablet to view written or printed math problems and immediately returns the solution, explaining each individual step. It can handle a wide range of equations, including calculus and trigonometry. The app will also produce visual graphs for elementary functions.

    Photomath targets primarily students in middle school, high school, and college. Photomath utilizes artificial intelligence (AI) technology to solve math problems, allowing it to scan, recognize, and provide step-by-step solutions to a wide range of mathematical equations, including handwritten ones. 

    OVERVIEW - Photomath is the world’s most-used math education app, with more than 300 million learners worldwide. Photomath does have a subscription for the app. It is $9.99 a month or 69.99 per year. It provides access to more in-depth explanations, animated tutorials, custom textbook solutions, and deeper insights into the "why" behind math steps compared to the free version of Photomath. 

Nearpod

    Nearpod is an essential tool for hybrid learning since it seamlessly blends digital assessments and multimedia instruction for use both inside and outside of the classroom. Students of all ages and skill levels can use this platform, which is simple to get started with. Its compatibility with a wide range of devices makes it useful for usage in group settings, in the classroom, and when students are using their own devices at home. A fun and participatory approach to follow along in class is made possible by the option to add questions to the presentation. Teachers may be able to observe more clearly how their kids are learning as a result of this.

  Incorporating virtual reality experiences into lessons, such as "virtual field trips" that let students virtually explore various places and environments without leaving the classroom. Which is regarded as a VR study tool. Students can access these VR experiences on their own devices without the need for a specialized VR headset. 

    OVERVIEW - Nearpod does have a subscription with a $159 plan or a $359 plan. Mostly used by teachers, it allows more gigabytes, more students join per lesson​, Google Slides add-on​, drag & drop, and teachers can launch multiple sessions at once​. 

Quizlet   

    Quizlet gets about 60 million monthly active users. By creating their own flashcard decks or using pre-made ones on a variety of subjects, students can use Quizlet, an online platform that lets users create and study using digital flashcards, quizzes, and study games. Quizlet offers a way to practice and memorize information through interactive tools, such as matching games and tests, based on study sets they create or find from others. 

    Quizlet primarily uses AI through its "Q-Chat" feature, which is a personalized AI tutor built on OpenAI's ChatGPT API, allowing students to ask questions, receive answers, and engage in interactive learning sessions to deepen their understanding of study material; other AI-powered tools on Quizlet include "Magic Notes" for transforming notes into flashcards and practice tests, and features like "Quick Summary" to condense information into concise summaries. 

    OVERVIEW - Quizlet Plus is $2.99 a month or 35.99 a year.  QuizletPlus allows complete access to Learn, 24/7 AI tutoring, advanced creation tools, 100% ad-free studying, step-by-step textbook solutions, complete access to the Q&A library, millions of flashcards, and study games and activities. 

Duolingo 

    The free language-learning website and app Duolingo teaches speaking, writing, listening, and reading abilities through gaming. English, French, Spanish, and less widely spoken languages like Welsh, Irish, and Navajo are among the more than 100 languages in which it provides instruction. Math and music classes are also available on Duolingo. 

    To personalize language learning experiences, Duolingo extensively uses artificial intelligence (AI). It generates content, modifies the difficulty of lessons based on user progress, and optimizes the learning process through its AI model, Birdbrain. This model evaluates user performance and adjusts lessons accordingly, making the learning process more effective and adaptive. 

    OVERVIEW - Duolingo has over 100 million monthly active users. Duolingo Plus costs $12.99 per month or $59.99 per year. A Super Family plan costs $119.99 per year and allows up to six people to share the subscription. This plan provides additional features like ad-free learning and offline access, and a significant portion of users now subscribe to this paid tier. 

 

    Conclusion

    Due to artificial intelligence, these education apps are widely used and seen as very helpful. These apps can customize learning for every student. They adjust the content and speed based on what each student excels at or struggles with, making the learning experience more engaging and personalized than traditional methods. These apps offer features like instant feedback, automated grading, and personalized learning paths, all driven by AI algorithms that analyze student data.

    As someone who has personally used almost all of these apps, I can say they have helped me with assignments and studying. Photomath, I stopped using after sophomore year in high school, but in high school it was an app almost all my classmates used, now I won't say they actually learned anything, but being able to see how the problem was worked out was extremely helpful to me. I used Quizlet last semester, it helped with studying flash cards before tests. Duolingo I downloaded when it first came out, but I deleted it after I realized I wouldn't be using as much as I thought. 

    Education apps will never go away, I believe, only updated and changed to how students learn around that specific time. Schooling will be around for a long time, as well, so apps like Nearpod will be more used because it allows teachers to add more learning tools into their classrooms.