Top Online Study Tools That Every University Student Should Know About
Online study tools and apps have come to play an all-important role for students in higher education. Some might say this is a natural progression, given that we are living in an increasingly digital age — digital is here and it is here to stay. Ask any student and they will have at least one digital tool which they feel is indispensable to their studies or has enhanced their learning experience in some way.
We did just that, by asking students what digital tools and apps they found useful for learning as part of our Student Digital Experience Insights Survey, 2019. Over 1000 students stated that they use a range of apps and tools to help them study and learn (over 170 were mentioned)!
In response, we have developed a compendium of suggested study tools — which you can read in full here.
To help get you started, here are 5 picks directly from our Digital Study Tool Guide:
1. Digital Wellbeing by Google
This resource includes a vast number of worthwhile tips and tools that will help you reflect on your current tech habits and fine-tune them to achieve your personal digital wellbeing goals. It is a great place to start when finding your balance in digital settings — give it a go!
Cost: Free | Purpose: Improved Digital Wellbeing
2. Microsoft To Do
A task management app to help you stay organised and manage your day-to-day routine. You can make task lists, take notes, record collections, plan an event, or set reminders to increase your productivity and focus on what matters to you.
Cost: Free | Purpose: Productivity and Time Management
3. Padlet
An application where you can create an online bulletin board that you can use to display information for any topic. It is a great place for gathering ideas, sharing them, and modifying them later.
Cost: Free | Purpose: Collaboration and Revision
4. Canva
We recommend Canva for all sorts of creations like infographics and posters, but they do presentations too. There are lots of templates to choose from and you can use the ‘present’ feature on the website or download your slides as a Microsoft PowerPoint. If you’d like a quick start guide to Canva or need some inspiration — why not check out our Canva Tutorial.
Cost: Free with basic features | Purpose: Presentations and Digital Creations
5. Zotero
It’s the night before the deadline and you’re frantically trying to organise your bibliographic references because you didn’t do it as you went along (we’ve all been there). Referencing is an integral part of the research process and academic writing, so the sooner you discover this tool the better. Zotero is an online tool designed to store, manage, and cite bibliographic references, such as books and articles. In Zotero, each of these references constitutes an item. More broadly, Zotero is a powerful tool for collecting and organising research information and sources.
Cost: Free | Purpose: Digital Research
We Want to Hear From You!
With lectures, tutorials, class tests, assignments, and those (seemingly) never-ending reading lists, time is a precious commodity. So why not make your life a little easier and explore our Digital Study Tool Guide today. You can even let us know what works for you and have a featured blog about how you use it in your learning. For any suggestions or if you want to write a short piece about a digital tool please email digitalinsights@qub.ac.uk.