Android Apps for Education – have they finally come of age?

I wrote a blog post recently about the three ‘killer apps’ you can find on Apple devices – Garage-band,  iMovie and Book Creator. And yes, its true these are far and away the best of the bunch in terms of creativity apps, pushing iPads ahead in the education tablet market stakes. However, the scene is a fast changing one and Apple will soon be facing an even more determined challenge for education market space from Windows and Android tablet devices, not only with better machines, but also with a new generation of apps for the classroom as well as a rediscovery of some existing ones…

Windows 8 and Android are finally gaining their education spurs. And looking at the Android platform, there are some great apps out there that you can use. So what can we get for our Android tablets that would be really useful in the classroom?

The folks behind the brilliant Book Creator iPad App are apparently working hard on producing an Android version, so I hear. We hopefully won’t have to wait too long for this (and Tablet Academyare about to launch a Windows 8 version called ‘Create Books’ )

Android Studio is a really good movie-making tool. OK, so it doesn't  have the Movie Trailer feature which is such a popular part of Apple’s iMovie, but you can only make so many movie trailers until the novelty wears off and boredom sets in, can’t you? This Android app is really easy to use and great for team project work.

When it comes to Garage-band, there are a few good Android apps out there doing much the same job – we just don’t generally hear about them do we? after all, Garage-Band is so utterly awesome. But Pocket Band,Groove Box and Walk Band do much the same thing on your Android tablet.

Pocket Band in particular has a great community of users offering help and advice  - I think its far and away the leader of the Android pack and you can even try it out for free before you buy by downloading the Pocket Band Lite app….Happy days:-).

Also worth exploring are…

• Simple Note (a note taking app like Apple’s Notes, but with many more export options. Great for use with a class on filed trips or outdoor class sessions).
• Create a Comic (get your students explaining bite sized concepts or parts of their course by creating a comic strip. They’ll love it and it really helps with deep memory retention of whatever it is they are doing).
• Sound Recorder (great for quick-fire observations and useful for recapping learning objectives or for taking home to help with work on essays or projects)
• Science Penguin (loads of great science resources and lesson ideas although the small banner adds between resources can be annoying)
• People (a contacts app which links to GMail,Google+ and hangouts for video calls. I find this app very useful for organising)
• Talk (Another great Google App for instant messaging, and VOIP audio and video calls)
• Quick Office (A productivity suite of tools for documents, spreadsheets and presentations, compatible with Microsoft Office which can be saved or exported to Drop Box, Edmodo, Microsoft One Drive, Google Drive or sent by email).
• Periodic Table (Lots of information, video and quizzes all about the elements. As a science teacher, I always look out for apps like this. 3D Brain and Anatomy Guide are other good science teaching apps)
• There are hundreds of amazing Primary school apps for reading, numbers, spelling, memory,  languages, and science. I’ve like to use many of these with my grandchildren. And they love them too:-)

There are Android apps for almost every iPad app you could mention, if you look for them. And I guess this begs the question, what is it which really determines our choice of tablet, especially for school use? Are we pre-conditioned by what we’ve already seen or heard or is it just the very clever marketing which has positioned the iPad at the top of our mental ‘must-have’ list? A really comprehensive needs assessment is a must before diving in to large scale tablet purchases. This will help you figure out which tablet device (or mix of devices) is the right choice for your school or college. And this could be iPads,Android, Windows 8 or a combination of all three…

Perhaps six months or a year ago, there might have been no real competition for the iPad in education,but I think this has now changed. Android has come of age with some fantastic tablet devices at really competitive prices (just look at the Tesco Hudl) and it’s slew of great education apps is now a match for most if not all of the IOS App store offerings.

So why not go check out the Android options before making purchasing decisions….