Supercharge your professional (and personal) development with our 4 most loved apps that will inspire and motivate you to give the best of yourself to yourself and your students!
Teachers are busy people with busy lives. We get it! Master multi-taskers, teachers thrive on giving the best of themselves so students can get the most out of their learning.
The opportunity to grow, learn, and excel is there for the taking, all at the touch of a button, anywhere, anytime.
These 4 apps are sure to help feed your thirst for knowledge, ignite inspiration, and jumpstart motivation!
1 TED Talks
2 Goodreads
3 Spotify
4 LinkedIn
TED Talks
We’ve all seen TED talks that have struck a chord. Often we might want to revisit one down the track to watch it again or forward it to a friend, but have forgotten where to find it. Frustrating, right?!
Well, awe-inspiring TED talks lost down the internet rabbit hole are now a thing of the past with the TED app. Now you can curate your favourite TED talks by liking and saving them to a list to watch later or share via other platforms.
When you set up your account, TED asks you what topics interest you and suggests videos based on your interests, which you can edit any time via Settings. You’ll see trending content and topic-specific recommendations in your main feed, and there is a podcast tab for loads of fantastic TED podcasts.
If you are likely to be out of network coverage or want to save that mobile data, you can easily download videos to your device at home connected to your WiFi to watch offline later.
Goodreads
If you’re a die-hard bookworm like me, but never remember recommended book titles (also like me!), have I got the app for you! Now that I use Goodreads I have one designated place where I can keep track of all the books on my bucket list, and much more!
Among its many cool features and aesthetically pleasing layout, you can:
- Set yourself reading challenges
- Engage in discussions about what you’re reading with other readers around the globe (think: virtual book club)
- Connect with friends and see their recommendations
- Integrate with your Kindle
BEST FEATURE: My absolute favourite feature is the ISBN scanner. Simply pick up a book in an airport book shop, at the library, or at a friend’s place, and scan it in the Goodreads app to add it to one of your personalised lists. No more regrets that you didn’t remember that title.
Get Goodreads on Apple App Store here or Get Goodreads on Google Play here
Spotify
Spotify has been my dependable companion for many years now. Nothing gets me more pumped up for my day than great music! Spotify also holds a wealth of fascinating podcasts on every topic under the sun.
As a master multitasker myself, I love soaking up knowledge whenever and wherever I can. Whether I’m on a walk, on a plane, or even cooking dinner, podcasts are a great way to learn passively while engaged in other tasks – win-win!
So before I go on a walk, a trip or start cooking dinner, I spend a little time finding and downloading podcast episodes in advance. Creating playlists of specific content is also a good way for me to collate podcasts I want to share with others.
You can direct people to a specific podcast playlist by sharing via link or social media, as well as creating a collaborative podcast playlist where others can add their favourites within a certain theme.
Spotify has recently revamped their app so navigation and filtering is easier than ever before.
Networking is important for a host of reasons, but my main motivation is to learn from others. Whether it’s following the events my favourite industry leader attends, seeing what products and services they use, or just a way of keeping up with what’s what and who’s who, LinkedIn holds a wealth of insider knowledge.
LinkedIn is an excellent business platform to use to keep up with your favourite organisations, current trends driving your industry, and provides plenty of opportunity to connect with like-minded people, and to branch out beyond your own professional community.
When you request a connection via LinkedIn remotely it’s often a good idea to send a personalised message. This lets the person know that you’ve taken the extra effort to connect in a more meaningful way.
Not only does sending a personal message mean it’s more likely they’ll engage with you, but it sets the tone for a positive working dynamic or a potential future one if you haven’t already met them in person. If you are adding them in person, tap the QR icon in the search bar to quickly add or be added as a connection.
What’s YOUR Favourite?
We’d love to hear from you in the comments below if you have any particularly interesting TED talks, podcasts, or books relating to the fields of business, education or professional development!
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