Socratic
Socratic is an app powered by Google that has been a huge time saver. Socratic is sort of like a photomath, but for any subject. I like using this app not for looking up the answers, but it makes looking up notes easier and quicker. All you have to do is either type in the topic or question that you need help with (which is just Google) or you can use your phone camera and take a picture of the problem that you need help with and the app will automatically look up and find the best resources to be able to help you with getting the answers.

Classroom
Most classes today use Google Classroom and before I got the app, I wasn’t so sure that I needed to use it because everyone could just use it on their computer. Once I downloaded the app, especially during quarantine, I realized how helpful the app actually is. Personally, I am on my phone for most of the day and I am way more likely to be on my phone than to double-check a paper planner, and with the Google Classroom app, it gives you notifications when a teacher posts an assignment or discussion, and it even posts a notification when an assignment is either due or that it is going to be due soon. This was super helpful during quarantine when I was constantly on my phone and watching Tik Toks and then I would get a notification from the Classroom telling me that an assignment was due soon and it was a good reminder. Another way that it has significantly improved remote learning during the pandemic is the fact that since it is on your phone when a teacher assigns a homework assignment on paper, and they want you to turn in the assignment onto classroom, instead of having to email the picture to yourself and then upload the picture from your computer onto classroom, you can just upload the picture directly from your phone onto classroom, which has saved so much time and stress over, “I waited to do this assignment last minute and it is taking too long to upload and it might be late.”

P. Schedule
P. Schedule is another app that helps me with my organization and my motivation. P. Schedule is a planner app in which you can easily organize your classes and homework assignments, tests, quizzes, and announcements. It sends notifications when things are due, just like Classroom, and when you have an assignment that is not in the classroom (for when we aren’t in a pandemic) it is a lot easier to be reminded from a notification than to be constantly checking your planner. This planner is super simple and easy to navigate which is helpful when you are just trying to find something that will keep you organized. One negative side of this app is that it is one of those apps where you can pay to have a “premium account,” which means that if you do not want to pay, that there are a lot of ads that will randomly pop up and it gets kind of annoying after a while, but I think that the ads are worth the quality of the app.

Remind
Remind is sort of a teacher based app. I have Remind for my AP art class and my swim team. This is an app just like classroom and P. Schedule where it just gives you notifications for when things are happening, but instead of it being user input where there can be some mistakes, all of the reminders are sent out by an “admin” and it is a remind notification and a text that is sent automatically out to all of the people subscribed to the “remind,” which I think is super helpful. I am not someone who checks their texts a lot, but when I see a text notification from Remind, I know to check it because it is probably something that is important and that is why the text was sent out.

Meet
Now I think that this app is super helpful for Rocky students. The Rocky computers have a tendency to be very finicky and with the Google Meet app, it allows you to not have to rely on the computers to be able to join a remote class. Most people do not have problems with their phones either being able to connect to wifi or being able to have service, which the Rocky school computers often tend to have plenty of internet connection problems. By getting the Google Meet app, it also enables some freedom in not only being able to join your class if you have computer problems, but it also gives you some freedom in where you can join your class. As much as I like to join my calls from my desk or my bed, there are some days where I would like to go outside or go up to Horsetooth or even just hang out in my backyard. The Google Meets app has helped me do so.
Google Drive, Docs, Slides, etc.
With everything going online again, we need to have the apps to keep up with it. I do not prefer doing my homework on my phone, but, as I said with Google Classroom when you are out and about and you get the notification that you have an assignment due, and your computer is not with you, what do you do? If I am being honest, I did this with my article of the week this weekend. I was at a swim meet and I got the notification that my article of the week had not been turned in and I should turn it in, but I was at a pool, so my computer was not with me. I opened up the Google Docs app and worked on the assignment and turned it in. In a crunch, the Google Docs and Drive apps are a true lifesaver.

Steve
So this app is not really an app and I think it can only be used by people who have iPhones. It is a new iOS 14 widget called “Steve.” This is the same game that is played when a student’s internet connection on their computer is having problems and the little dinosaur runs on the screen and you have to jump and duck to get a high score. I think that this is a really beneficial thing to have on a phone because it is simple, and, personally, because it is not an app, I spend a lot less time on it, which dramatically decreases my daily screen time. This widget is super fun and entertaining without having to constantly scroll through social media or play some random game. Also, since it is a widget, it enables you to be able to see the time, which most game apps don’t do. This helps you just take a quick five-minute game break and you are able to see how long you have been playing the game.

Overall, remote learning can be rough, especially the second or third time around. These apps helped me through the first two quarters of remote learning and are ready to help me if there is more remote learning in our future!