How to Spend your $10 App Store Gift Card
In the spirit of holiday giving, I figured that many of you would end up with an iTunes/App Store gift card. Aren’t they the perfect size to fit in a card or as a topper to those jam packed stockings? If you were lucky enough to receive one, here is how I would recommend you spend your $10 App Store gift card.
The apps below are general productivity apps that would be ideal for any educator – no matter what level you teach.
Balance: $10
Purchase – Notability – $1.99
Notability is one of those great all-around note taking apps that always seems to work the way I want it to. We actually ended up buying about 300 licenses of this for our iPads in our building because of how much the students and staff enjoyed working with the app. The options with this app are pretty much limitless. “Notability powerfully integrates handwriting, PDF annotation, typing, recording, and organizing so you can take notes your way.” The app beautifully syncs with Dropbox and Google Drive, making cloud storage and editing a snap. If I could only have one paid app on my iPad, this one would be it.
Balance: $8.01
Purchase: Good Reader – $4.99
There are lots of times when we receive an email with an attachment that cannot be easily opened on the iPad. Get around this annoyance by downloading Good Reader, which is capable of opening a large variety of file types. You can even annotate PDF files in Good Reader (although I would stick to Notability for that), making this a nice, feature rich app that, at only 99 cents, is a must have.
Balance: $3.02
Purchase: Toodledo – $0.99 (on sale)
Between Evernote and Toodledo, my professional life seems to be so much more organized. All paper gets scanned into Evernote and all my random ‘to-do’ post-its get entered into Toodledo, making it much more likely that I won’t lose what I need and that I will complete a task before the deadline. Toodledo is a powerful task management system that has a beautiful website as well as an iOS app that works perfectly on iPad and iPhone. Access your to-do list from any web-enabled device so you can continue completing your tasks on the go (perhaps a long car ride home from your holiday vacation?).
Balance: $2.03
Purchase: Whiteboard Pro – $0.99
This has been a favorite of mine for a while. Quite simply, it turns your iPad into an interactive whiteboard. You are able to simply use the app as a whiteboard that projects via a projector or you can take it a step further by enabling the WiFi or Bluetooth connection, which allows others to connect to your whiteboard and draw with you. This app is perfect for collaboration and allowing students to demonstrate their understanding in the classroom.
Balance: $1.04
Purchase: Keynote Remote – $0.99
If you operate in a Mac environment, this app is a must have (assuming you have a copy of Keynote installed on your MacBook or iMac). The beauty behind this app is that you can preview and advance the slides of your keynote wirelessly, from anywhere in the room. I loved this when teaching – I could be anywhere in the room, walking around, sitting in an empty student desk, etc., and still be able to retain control of my presentation. Now remember, if you get this app I know you will want to make a lot more Keynote presentations. Resist that urge! Use this app sparingly, kids get tired of Lecture presentations! 
Balance: $.05
With only a 5 cent balance left on your gift card, you have outfitted yourself with a great array of productivity apps that will be useful in any educational setting. Have a great paid app that you’d like to add to the list? Please, leave it in the comments.
About the Author
Jeff Herb Jeff Herb is an Educator, Blogger, and Podcaster focusing on Instructional Technology and finding ways to innovate the classroom using technology. Follow Jeff on Twitter to keep up with the latest in Educational Technology.
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