Back to School: Top 5 Free Web Apps for Students

When your child goes back to school this fall, you may be forgetting one of the best resources available to him as you slip pencils and notebooks into his backpack. This is the age of computers. Whether he's a grade school student or heading to college, some of the best educational resources can be found online. Web applications are the latest tools to boost your student's academic performance, and their strength lies in the fact that your student can utilize them wherever she has an Internet connection (which, nowadays, is everywhere!).

As a college student myself, I have first-hand knowledge of some of the best web applications available for free. These web applications can help your student schedule his time better, find free textbooks, and take better class notes. All you need is a computer and an Internet connection.

This back-to-school season, help your child be the best student she can be. Print this educational article today and showing her the ways she can harness the power of the Internet to further her learning.

Top 5 Free Web Applications for Students

1. Best Student Web App: Google School Services:

Google, the web giant that has become synonymous with "search," offers a slew of helpful academic services and tools that your students will find useful. I would not know what to do if I didn't have all the resources that Google gives away for free.

The first and foremost Google service your student will already have heard of is Gmail. Gmail is Google's email service that keeps your email organized like no other email I've ever seen. It saves me so much time when I'm rushing to get ready for class: With one look, I can read my new mail and automatically see the email messages that are relevant so I know exactly what I need to do with the email without having to search for old messages or check to see if I already replied. It also has built in Gtalk capabilities, so your student can chat with other students about class projects.

Your student will also find Google Docs to be useful. Think of it as Microsoft Office, except it's free and requires no installed software. All your student has to do is load up the word processing programs online from the Google Docs page. It's perfect for taking notes, writing essays, etc. Your student can even share his work with other students and let them leave notes on his documents, which is perfect for school group projects.

You also can't forget Google Calendar, a useful tool for scheduling appointments and keeping track of class assignments and homework. And finally, Google Scholar is one of the best ways for students to find information and do research online. I use it whenever I need to find research from scientific journals and other academic sources.

2. Best Student Web App: EasyBib

In the course of your child's academic career, he'll have written dozens upon dozens of essays and papers. One critical part of every essay is the bibliography, and EasyBib is a web app that helps students craft perfect bibliographies. All you need to do is type in the information that it requests (such as the author and the book title), and EasyBib creates a bibliography. It saves me so much time, and I don't have to remember the differences between APA and MLA bibliographies: EasyBib can do both automatically!

3. Best Student Web App: Evernote

Your student's success often depends on how well she takes notes. Evernote makes it easy. You can write notes, copy text from websites, and make little reminders on your computer, or even your Apple iPhone.

4. Best Student Web App: Remember the Milk

Every student has a ton of assignments and things to do, but not enough time to do them all. Remember the Milk is an oddly-named website that helps students keep track of all of their to-do items. Students can keep track of what they need to do each day, and hopefully keep some free time to still have fun.

5. Best Student Web App: Socialbib

Last semester, I paid $600 for school textbooks. Needless to say, it really helped enforce the stereotype that students are poor. No wonder! Socialbib attempts to solve this problem by facilitating textbook trading, promising 100% free textbooks. The idea of getting free textbooks is absolutely stunning. The idea is that students can trade old textbooks with other students who might have textbooks that they need in return. Anything to save some money on textbooks, even if it's just one, gets my full approval.