A download full of learning

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Difficult law fundamentals don’t bother Shar-ad Verma, a student of BA.LLB (Hons) of Amity Law School, IP University. He has a tutor in apps such as Law Guide, Black’s Law Dictionary (on Android), Legal Eagle (on iOS) and The Laws and Manupatra (on Windows).

“They make the subject of law survivable! And leave me with enough time to fold my socks! Some of these apps are free, while a few are paid for. I spend my time on them as and when required,” says the 20-year-old Delhi student, whose gang of friends have also downloaded a few such apps. “Manupatra and Law Guide are most popular amongst law students,” he adds.
Unlike the ‘utilitarian’ Ver-ma, there are a few who are high on apps that impart value education. “I use Miss Spell’s Class, Beat the GMAT, Hangman and Wordfued. Most of them help me to learn new words. I am usually on them an hour a day,” says Shagun Gup-ta, a student of BA (Hons), Journal-ism, third year, Delhi University.
Harshvardhan Singh, who graduated from YCCE Nagpur in B.Tech (Computer Science) this year and is now placed with Tata Consultancy Services in Delhi, has been using Vocab Builder. “It’s free and very beneficial, especially while preparing for GMAT, TOFEL and CAT.
There are certain other apps like Web MD, which impart general awareness on health and medicine and are free of cost,” he adds.
Welcome to the world of apps, to be precise applications that have come into our lives of late through smart phones and tablets — gadgets the youth are high on. The apps range from games to those building vocabulary and making advanced mathematics look simple. “Apps are a big supplementary support to students. They have been developed to make sure that the difficult concepts are made clearer. They also help in self-paced learning,” claims Adi-tya Malik, CEO, Talent Edge.
A few interesting apps available to higher students are: Share your board (an app that helps one take a picture of the classroom whiteboard, make it into a readable PDF, add one’s notes and send to friends); The Elements (a visual exploration app, this is meant for any science student to understand the elements on the periodic table) and iVocab (an app that lets you test yourself for GRE, TOEFL, SAT and English vocabulary; its most efficient feature is the timer that helps one time the test).
While students look for specialised content, they don’t want to compromise on the fun aspect of applications. Living on small budgets, their preference is free apps, which are able to drive experiential learning with the minimum use of bandwidth.
Harpreet Singh, President, Higher Education, Educomp Solutions, is also heading a team that is developing apps for higher education students. “We have something on building electronic circuits virtually. These circuits if done physically can be difficult, expensive and cumbersome,” he says, adding, “We are beginning with engineering students, and will later cover other streams. We are also focussing on the aspect that these apps must have the potential to help the youth get jobs eventually.”
With the way it is going, it seems the time to download the right applications is now!