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How Educators Can Use Apps in the Classroom

App stores have become a shopping mall for educational materials. Increasingly, students are turning there for their study and review needs. While we want our students to study—and use dynamic resources that match their lifestyle—the quality varies widely among app offerings. Educators don’t always know what their students are getting.

Apps that have been screened for functionality and content do have a place in the classroom during class and upon completion for exam review.

Suggestions for How to Use Apps in the Classroom

  • Ask students to bring in challenging questions from the app. These are great fodder for discussion. It allows you to discuss question items from another source, gauge how much the students are studying and it encourages other students to study.
  • If you have a few extra minutes at the end of a class, use the required app to go through some study cards or review questions. You can usually choose by topic—or randomize from the whole app if the NREMT is near—and it won’t take any time to prepare. Again, it sends a message to students about the value of study.
  • Use app content for homework, supplemental exams, extra credit or remediation. You can assign a section of an app just like you can assign a book or workbook chapter. Students usually consider this medium more dynamic creating more intrinsic motivation.
  • Apps are a gateway method to using available Internet resources – You want your students to think critically. Part of this process involves looking at multiple sources and determining the value and relevance of information. The integration of Internet-enabled devices like tablets and smartphones allows broader research and the use of sources only available in a technology enabled classroom.

Using apps in the classroom encourages students to use them outside the classroom during downtime in internships, before or after class or whenever they have a free moment. Apps are quick and convenient study tools available instantly at their fingertips to review and reinforce  concepts they encounter, or in preparing for summative and NREMT exams.

The Best Apps for EMS Students and Educators

All Limmer Education apps provide high-quality content and app functionality that serve both the student and the educator. Students can email their results directly to you. You may also view student and aggregate classroom scores in adopted apps through our LC-Ready.com Instructor Dashboard.

These apps are created and vetted by some of the best minds in EMS, including nationally-renowned speaker, educator and Emergency Care textbook author Dan Limmer, former executive director of the NREMT Bill Brown, and former NREMT exam coordinator Todd Vreeland.

Here are a few specific ways you can use some of our different apps in your classroom.

For EMT Review Plus, AEMT Review Plus, Paramedic Review Plus and Paramedic Module Apps, and ACLS and PALS Review:

  • Assign study cards and review exams for each module of the course.
  • As you get near the end of class, assign students exams in the test section. This begins the integration of material learned throughout the class and starts exam preparation before they finish the program.

For EMT PASS, AEMT PASS and Paramedic PASS:

Our PASS apps are full of challenging material that will both teach and prepare your students. Each app contains hundreds of top-quality NREMT review questions with detailed rationales, plus NREMT test-taking tips. When students think they’re ready to take the NREMT, the PASS apps have simulated practice exams to test overall readiness.

  • Early in the semester (like on Day 1 ), assign PASS app work to help students understand the nature of the NREMT and prevent overly-linear thinking.
  • As a capstone assignment after completing a major area of study in class, assign a group of topical review questions from the app.
  • For extra credit at the end of the course, assign an exam from the section of the app containing simulated final exams —it helps students get into the exam state of mind!

Next Steps for Educators

  1. Contact us to get FREE demo copies of Limmer Education apps. We have almost 30 apps for EMT, AEMT, paramedic, allied health and nursing classes. We’ll help you narrow down the best classroom app for your needs, and we’ll even help you implement it into your curriculum.
  2. Download a printable version of this article to keep for future reference or share with colleagues.
  3. See if there’s a “Using Apps in Class” demo coming up that you can register for. We host these free webinars from time to time to help EMS and allied health educators understand their options and make the best use of technology in the classroom.

Implementing apps in your classroom is easier than you think! Contact us today to learn how.

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