TOP PICKS | 28 TOOLS

Awesome Productivity Tools for Back-to-School

Both students and teachers can benefit inside and outside of school from organizational tools like calendars, presentation templates, and note-taking apps. Whether students are setting goals, receiving homework reminders, using mind maps, or tweaking their schedules, they are sure to be building long-lasting skills. Teachers can also use these tools to curate the best edtech, easily grade student work, and organize lesson plans. We've found some of the best and served 'em up here.

Need help developing norms, routines, and procedures for all this technology? Check out our Teaching Strategies page on Digital Classroom Management.

Top Picks

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Note-Taking Apps and Sites

Pages

Writing and publishing tool is an increasingly satisfying option

Bottom line: With useful new book creation features, Pages is a much-improved publishing tool for Apple-oriented classrooms.

Grades: 3–12 Price: Free

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Bear

Write, edit, and sync content on the go with flexible note-taking tool

Bottom line: For an app that doesn't have a lot of bells and whistles, it's surprisingly versatile and useful for many types of writing and note-taking.

Grades: 6–12 Price: Free, Paid The app is free to use. The Pro version is $1.49 per month or $14.99 per year and includes syncing capability across devices, more themes, and more export options, such as exporting a note as a PDF.

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Evernote

Organize digital content with full-featured web clipper and notebook

Bottom line: Students and teachers can learn to better manage their digital lives via this comprehensive organizational tool.

Grades: 6–12 Price: Free, Free to try, Paid Basic, Plus, and Premium plans available. Basic plans are free, and come with 60MB of uploads per month and access on two devices. Additional plans and in-app purchases are available for differing prices levels, ranging from $2.99-$7.99 per month. Yearly pricing is also available. The Plus plan gives users up to 1GB of uploads per month and synching on an unlimited number of devices. The Premium plan adds even more features, including a presentation mode and the ability to annotate PDFs.

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Microsoft OneNote

Note-taking giant built for flexible, collaborative work

Bottom line: A powerful (and free) tool for thinking and organization that's making smart strides in the education space.

Grades: 6–12 Price: Free

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Notability

Flexible note-taking tool empowers learners of all abilities

Bottom line: An excellent tool that lets students make their notes thorough and useful in the way that best suits their learning styles and abilities.

Grades: 6–12 Price: $9.99

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Resources for Gathering and Organizing Ideas

SymbalooEDU

Organize favorite educational links into handy grid

Bottom line: It's a simple, visually clean, and very helpful way to organize online information for you or your students.

Grades: 1–12 Price: Free, Free to try, Paid

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MURAL

Multifaceted message boards help kids collaborate

Bottom line: MURAL can encourage individual team members to contribute to a project by making idea sharing and presentation a simple, visual process.

Grades: 2–12 Price: Free, Free to try, Paid For educators and students, MURAL is free. For everyone else, the membership costs $12 per year.

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Kami

Versatile annotation tool helps users critically connect with content

Bottom line: Kami is an effective way to promote student interaction with texts, authentic documents, and pictures.

Grades: 4–12 Price: Free, Paid Free version includes basic annotation features and comes with in-app advertising. Teacher Plan is $99 per year, which supports 150 students and includes additional features. School/district pricing is available.

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MindMeister

Powerful mind mapper aimed at adults, simple enough for older kids

Bottom line: Sophisticated productivity tool enhances learning and organization with simple dashboard and slick workspace.

Grades: 5–12 Price: Free, Paid Free account limited to three mind maps. The Edu Personal plan ($2.50 per user per month) has unlimited mind maps, file/image uploading, and other extra features. Edu Pro plans ($4.17 per user per month) add options for multiple users, exporting, and reports. Schools can pay $0.99 per user per month (minimum 20 licenses) for the Edu Campus plan to get additional group sharing, backups, and custom login and themes.

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WorkFlowy

Simple tool helps teachers and students make lists, get organized

Bottom line: A simple, free way to get organized combining lists, outlines, and notes with some extra nice-to-have features that make this tool a solid option for teachers and students.

Grades: 5–12 Price: Free

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ZoteroBib

Fewer clicks and less clutter equal a new go-to site for citing sources

Bottom line: An intuitive site that takes the stress out of citing sources, but students will still need instruction to tweak auto-generated citations.

Grades: 5–12 Price: Free

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Google Drive

Nifty tool for collaboratively editing and syncing files across devices

Bottom line: Google Drive is a smart choice for budget-conscious schools, with its free productivity tools and file syncing.

Grades: 6–12 Price: Free, Paid Free (up to 15GB); $1.99 per month for 100GB and $9.99 per month for 1TB (discounts for annual prepayment).

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LiveBinders

Cool organization and eportfolio tool; watch out for privacy features

Bottom line: A good tool for its organizational, storage, and digital publishing features.

Grades: 6–12 Price: Free, Paid A Free account offers 100 MB of file storage with a file size limit of 5 MB. For individual educators and student accounts, the Basic Plan is $4 per month, or $25 per year with 1 GB of storage and a file size limit of 50 MB. A Pro account is $10 per month, or $100 per year for 50 GB of storage and a file size limit of 75 MB.

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Office Lens

Capture, annotate, sync, and share across the digital landscape

Bottom line: Sharing options and annotation features support paperless collaboration and instruction, especially for users proficient in other Microsoft apps.

Grades: 6–12 Price: Free The app is free but requires a Microsoft online account.

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Scheduling and Goal-Setting Tools

Goalbook Toolkit

Set tailored targets with pricey but worth-it kit of tools, strategies

Bottom line: You pay for quality with Goalbook Toolkit, including access to clear, well-crafted learning goals and strategies that allow for far easier differentiation.

Grades: Pre-K–12 Price: Free to try, Paid 30-day free trial. There are three paid plans: $995 per year including district/administrator support, $395 per teacher per year with district/administrator support, or $795 per teacher per year with online PD and 1:1 coaching for teachers. The latter two plans require a minimum purchase of 10+ licenses.

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Remind

Teachers' text reminders keep students -- and parents -- up to speed

Bottom line: Well-designed, highly effective messaging tool has the potential to keep students and families connected with their schools.

Grades: Pre-K–12 Price: Free, Paid Remind is free, but if you use it to fundraise for events, they charge a fee of $0.50 per transaction. School and district plans are also available.

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Time Timer

Easily conceptualize, manage, and visualize time

Bottom line: Goes above and beyond standard timers to include handy customization and visual cues.

Grades: 1–12 Price: $2.99-$4.99 The mobile app is $2.99 and the iPad app is $4.99.

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Showbie

Flexible desktop, mobile assignment tool works best with pro features

Bottom line: A flexible way to collect student assignments and offer written and verbal feedback, especially with the premium features.

Grades: 5–12 Price: Free to try The free Basic version has limits of 25MB per file, 10 assignments (which expire after one year), 1-minute voice note length, and 1-minute video clip length. The paid Pro version has a 500MB per file limit, unlimited assignments with no expiration, 30-minute voice note length, and 10-minute video clip length. It also adds a student portfolio, gradebook, class discussion, and parent support, among other special features.

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Google Calendar

Simple calendars aid communication and keep kids up to date

Bottom line: As a fine replacement for paper-based planners there are some interactive components; the calendars still fill up quickly.

Grades: 6–12 Price: Free

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iHomework 2

Keep track of assignments, due dates, and tasks with digital planner

Bottom line: This flexible, easy-to-learn organizational tool will help students get set up for success, though teachers will need to follow up regularly to make sure the information is accurate.

Grades: 6–12 Price: Free, Paid The app is free for basic features; $1.99 removes ads. A Premium subscription ($4.99 for six months, $8.99 for one year) adds options for syncing between devices, universal access, grade tracking, and more.

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Todoist

Calendar meets to-do list in versatile multi-platform organization app

Bottom line: Mastering all of the features will take some time, but it's a dynamic app that promotes both individual and team productivity.

Grades: 6–12 Price: Free, Free to try, Paid The free version includes up to 80 active projects. There's a 30-day free trial for paid plans, which are $4 to $5 per month (based on annual subscription). Month-to-month plans are $5 to $6 per month. Teachers and students are eligible for a 70% discount.

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myHomework Student Planner

Digital planner makes scheduling easy, if paired with teacher app

Bottom line: If used on a regular basis with teacher guidance and motivation, students can be ready to tackle their complex schedules with ease.

Grades: 7–12 Price: Free

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My Study Life

Organizational tool makes managing complex schedules a cinch

Bottom line: If they can make it a habit, students will love staying on top of assignments and test dates with this handy, pocket-sized "personal assistant."

Grades: 10–12 Price: Free

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Templates for Presentations

Educreations

Enliven lessons and presentations with easy-to-use whiteboard tool

Bottom line: An easy, functional way to create presentations on the fly.

Grades: 3–12 Price: Free Basic version is free but only supports one project and 50 MB of storage. For $11.99 month-to-month ($8.25 per month if billed annually), teachers get unlimited drafts, 5 GB of storage, and more. School subscriptions cost $1,495 per year.

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Explain Everything

Powerhouse tool for creating stellar multimedia presentations

Bottom line: Teachers and students can make dynamic presentations that involve different types of media in this innovative, fun app.

Grades: 3–12 Price: Free to try, Paid There's a 30-day free trial. The Education Plan is $4.99 per user, per year (minimum of 5 users). Individual plans are $24.99 per year.

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Loom

Create, present, and assess with free, effortless screencasting

Bottom line: This intuitive tool is excellent for recording and responding to screencasts of any length.

Grades: 3–12 Price: Free

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Tiki-Toki

Create eye-catching multimedia timelines for any purpose

Bottom line: Multimedia timelines connect events visually, creating pathways for deeper analysis of any chronological story.

Grades: 6–12 Price: Free, Paid A free account limits user to one timeline. A teacher account is $125/year and allows for up to 25 timelines (for the teacher) and 50 student accounts (each with 5 timelines). The teacher account also removes ads and allows timelines to be embedded on webpages. Individual accounts range from $7.50-$25/month, depending on number of timelines and editing and embedding features.

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Prezi Classic

Stylish presentation creator with a unique 3D zooming effect

Bottom line: An elegant, flexible alternative to other online slide software tools, but it requires some finesse to make the effective use of the features and infinite canvas.

Grades: 8–12 Price: Free, Paid Teachers get a free "Edu Standard" version which includes unlimited storage and privacy controls. The "Edu Plus" upgrade ($84/year) adds offline access and advanced presenter tools.

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