However difficult life may seem, there is always something that you can do and succeed at. Stephen Hawking
Being in high school does make life seem very difficult. It's the time where you need to focus on your core subjects like math, science, and English, but a period in your life where you have to still contribute and give an equal amount of attention to other subjects that you have been introduced to perhaps for the very first time.
Yes, you are certainly up for the challenge of surviving with the workload in high school, but there are times when you can't seem to solve for x, when you can't seem to write an essay on how women were stereotypically depicted during Shakespeare's time, when your general ledger doesn't balance, or even when you can't seem to grasp the process of mitosis.
You have already chosen to rope in a private tutor to help you, but unfortunately, due to budget constraints, you can't meet your tutor every day or have a tutor for every subject. We understand exactly how overwhelming high school or even the idea of succeeding in all your high school subjects may be.
Firstly, we would like to tell you that you are not alone in your struggles. All high school students, like you, have their tensions increasing. Secondly, we would like to assert that things can get easier. The trick to succeeding at a high school level is to work at your subjects on a daily basis.
We also understand how boring the thought of opening your books every afternoon may be. Thankfully, digital tools, including smartphones, have come up with online learning possibilities. Now, you can do something that you love (use your smartphone) to do something that you hate (revise your work).
If you feel that using your smartphone to learn will be impossible, we are here to guide you as to what apps are best for learning and how you can use smartphone apps to learn.
The Best Study Apps
If you are still reluctant to use apps to revise work already covered at school or to do some work on a topic that you will be covering, you need to remember that a whole group of students studying teaching at a university level are doing a subject like digital pedagogies which teaches them how to integrate technology into everyday teaching and daily learning situation. If future teachers of South Africa are looking at ways to include technology into the learning situation, you should be considering relying on your smartphone to learn as well.
Extra Marks is an online application that you can get access to for free if you bank with FNB and have eBucks to use. The platform provides e-learning support to teachers and students in subjects like English, mathematics, and science. You can use this online application to cover content contained in the traditional South African CAPS curriculum as well as the international Cambridge curriculum.
Extra Marks works on the learn-practice test technique that is believed to be an ideal teaching method which works well especially for second language learners. The learning offered on this online application is simply a continuation of the learning conducted at school. Also, the online application realises how important catering for visual learners are and therefore the app makes learning visual for high school learners as well.
The Extra Marks application is ideal for independent learning. When a parent chooses the Extra Marks app, two of their children can be registered on the platform at once, however, the app can only be used by two learners in a household. Parents are also kept in the loop in terms of their child's learning as they have a full view of their child's learning journey and progress or lack thereof.
Similar to Extra Marks is Dorkk. Dorkk is a video lesson platform that is based on a Netflix-style model. You can allow more than one child to use the DorkK platform, plus you have access to every grade and every subject. Watching video lessons where a certain subject is taught by another teacher may be super helpful if a child is struggling to understand his or her teacher at school or if a child is not accustomed to their respective teacher's teaching method.
Memrise is another excellent offline app that high school students could use if they are keen about learning a new language entirely. You have the option of using the app to study a respective language at your own pace. It feels as if you have a personal tutor in your home setting up the perfect grounds for teaching you a new language and also making sure that conversations conducted during the use of this app simulates the real-life conversations in the language exactly.
Looking at a Study Smart App
Are you looking for an app that will help you to study smarter?
If you are, there are many apps that will help you. You do need to find the right app for you. If you are looking for a way to assess your understanding of what you have learnt while getting instant feedback in return, we suggest you choose Quizziz as your study smart app.
Most, if not all, of the online schools in South Africa choose to use Quizziz as an interactive informal assessment activity for their students. For this reason alone, you are sure to study smartly if you too use this application. Once you have covered a particular topic like for example figures of speech in English, search for a quiz on figures of speech using your Quizziz app. Make sure you select a quiz meant for your grade, a grade or two higher and grade or two lower. Attempt the quiz or quizes to see if you understood the meaning of figures of speech as well as were able to identify the different figures of speech.
Just like that you are assessing your understanding of a topic that has been studied. Being smart has never been as easy as it is with the advent of mobile phone learning apps.
Read up on how else you can use your smartphone for studying by visiting our blog post.
Looking at The Vodacom Learning App
Famous service provider, Vodacom have also stepped onto the e-learning bandwagon. The Vodacom Learning App is an e-learning app available for free to Vodacom users.
With the app, you are given the option of watching videos on all subject content from grade R-12 that has been taught by expert teachers. The benefit of the Vodacom learning app is that children can study at their own pace and during their own time. You are even allowed to pause videos or rewatch them if you have missed a concept, or if you feel like you need reinforcement.
Aside from just watching videos on the content that you need to know; the Vodacom learning app also allows you to assess and evaluate your own progress. You are given badges and certificates as you progress through the app and these badges or certificates indicate whether you are learning or not.
Sounds like a promising app to help you learn and to make sure that you are studying the content you have learnt, doesn't it?
Another cool feature of the Vodacom Learning App is that the teachers who feature in the videos are all expert teachers. Who knows, your e-teacher may be even cooler than your traditional schoolteacher.
Besides, having two teachers for one subject is always better. In the same way that all learners have their unique learning styles, all teachers teach in unique ways which means that you may find one teacher that is easier to relate to and understand in comparison to another teacher.
If you are struggling to grasp content at school as your teacher's teaching style doesn't align with your learning style, consider taking free lessons with our Superprof tutors to see which tutor can cater to your learning style. You can't change your schoolteacher, however, you can choose a tutor of your choice.
What is the Best App for Learning?
It is impossible to look at all the mobile applications available and decide which app is the best learning app. Each app is unique, and every app has its own pros and cons.
While it is impossible to decide on the best app for learning, we can say that the app that you will find most helpful is based on how you prefer to study and what it is that you are searching for in terms of your e-learning app.
If you learn best by repetition and having someone teach you a concept, choose to use either the Vodacom learning app or a platform like Dorkk.
If you learn best by practice, you can always settle for an application like Quizziz that tests your understanding of the content you have already been exposed to at school.
If you want to learn a new language or brush up on your French or Spanish, then you are better off settling for an app that caters specifically for language learning like Memrise or Duolingo.
The best app for you would be the app that takes your grades up a notch and one that you feel that you are benefiting from. If you are struggling to learn when using your mobile device, or if technology seems to be more of a distraction than advantage, perhaps you are not equipped to study independently online.
It's completely okay for learning online using your mobile phone to not be your cup of tea. In this case we suggest you reach out to either a private or group tutor to help you through your high school study woos and to help you with the subjects that you are struggling to understand. You surely can make your study time more meaningful if you rely on the right Superprof tutor for you.
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