Students who hone effective study skills will ultimately be more independent learners, and now there are many (too many) technological supports available to students in order to support these study skills and help them develop habits that will lead to academic success. Below, we’ve outlined some of our favorite tech tools for students that support effective study habits. We’ve organized our recommendations based on different aspects of study skills supports, including: managing time, organizing materials, note-taking, memorization, and comprehension.

Remember that we're also offering a four-session digital study skills booster that includes training around some of these technological support systems! Please contact us to learn more.

Managing Time

Managing time is key to effective study habits, and some form of procrastination is often at the root of poor grades. There are a lot of tech options available to help students stay on track.

For calendars, we recommend Google calendar, which has reminders and associated task lists that can be checked off. This is a great option for students with a Gmail account who also use Google docs and spreadsheets because the entire G-suite integrates together nicely so students aren’t constantly needing to use different apps for different needs.

There are also a number of homework tracking apps out there, including MyHomework, which syncs across devices, and MyStudyLife, which is a great alternative to a paper planner. Both of these apps have free options with upgrades as desired.

Students may also need support in managing the time they set aside to study, which is where timers like Pomodoro and TimeTimer may come in handy.

Organizing Materials & Prioritizing

Students who need time management support could also usually benefit from help with organizing their study materials and prioritizing what tasks need to be done first (versus what can wait). For these kinds of tools, we recommend project trackers like Asana or Any.Do, or checklists like TickTick and Twobird.

Storage systems are also important, and even if a student is adept at navigating Google Drive, it’s important they also have some kind of organizational system to keep their digital files as organized as they might keep a physical file cabinet.

Dropbox is another potential storage system, especially for larger files that might include video or photos or other media that may take up a lot of storage space.

Note-Taking

Some students might prefer to take notes in a physical notebook, while others prefer typing their notes. In either case, there are some great tech options for how to keep those notes organized.

First: students using Google Docs can check the templates available for note-taking, or use an app like Google Keep, which can incorporate all kinds of different media (photos, docs, etc.).

There are a number of other helpful note-taking/note-keeping tech solutions out there, including Evernote and Simplenote.

Memorization

Students seeking support with memorization have a number of flashcard app options to choose from, including Quizlet and Anki and Brainscape.

The best kinds of flashcard apps will allow users to create their own flashcards (which helps with the learning) and categorizing cards in order to chunk out information (grouping cards so the memorization process isn’t so overwhelming!). Another feature to look for is options for pictures or voiceover, and ideally students can order the cards at random to test themselves while studying.

Comprehension

Everyone learns differently, which is why it’s so important for students to view the same information in different ways. This is where mind and concept mapping technology, such as Coggle and Milanote and ClickUp can come in handy. Padlet is also a great tool for kids to see how ideas can be presented in different visual forms, which can support with comprehension.

Focus & Self-Monitoring

Students who find their attention wandering during study time may want to consider time tracking software like RescueTime and apps like stickK and StayOnTask to support maintaining focus and motivation.

Conclusion

Our study skills curriculum includes helping students learn new tools that will support them in achieving their goals. Most of the tools students need are already out there - it’s just a matter of finding the right ones and getting in the habit of employing them for maximum benefits. If you’re interested in getting support with initiating and implementing new study skills systems, reach out to us at info@tutorcorps.com.