Are you a teacher, but tired of having to deal with the administration and paperwork involved in running a classroom? Have you considered to teach online? This page will give you an overview of what you need to know about the best online teaching platforms for teachers.
You don’t need to be online all day to run a full-time business. Thanks to the wonders of the Internet, there’s no reason you can’t work from anywhere in the world with an Internet connection. Check out this complete guide for best online teaching platforms for teachers free.
Skype
As an online teacher, you have probably already harnessed the power of video conferencing to chat with students or content area experts all over the world. And you probably already know about Skype, as it’s been around for at least a decade.
Effective and easy to use, Skype has helped countless online educators bring language and culture to life in their classrooms. Some teachers even enjoy the fun of a unique activity called Mystery Skype, in which classes converse and have to guess what country the other class is from based on their conversation.
Skype has undergone many changes and updates over the years, and has some new and compelling features that you may not know about. For example, it’s “Capture” feature allows you to easily add images, attach funny GIPHY comments and add videos within a message thread. This can give online conversation a whole new dimension of realism. Imagine a lecturer on Spanish architecture including real-life photos and video of the buildings as he talks about them, or a conversation about French food enlivened with real video footage of a meal as the speaker describes it.
LiveBinders
Remember those old three-ring binders? They were stuffed with lecture notes, handouts, worksheets and homework in various stages of completion. The idea was to keep everything needed for one class organized in one place—but sadly, this commendable goal often went awry.
LiveBinders is technology’s answer to all that old-school paper wrestling and desperation. You can easily upload presentations, documents, worksheets and web resources, appropriately organized under relevant tabs. This makes it easy for students and parents to see what they need to work on and to track their progress. As an added bonus, it greatly simplifies co-teaching, as lesson plans can be easily shared for collaboration.
Zoom
In addition to Skype, another free video conferencing tool called Zoom has recently come on the scene. It functions similarly to Skype, but offers a number of extra features that lend themselves exceptionally well to collaboration. Its unique “Zoom rooms” make group calls a breeze, facilitating collaborative work as well as conversations with other classrooms around the world. Another advantage that Zoom has over Skype: you can record conversations to use for later assessment and feedback, an invaluable tool for helping your students improve.
Google Meet
Google Meet for teachers is another popular software application for online tutors, virtual teachers and anyone conducting classes online because of its integration with Google’s suite of other apps like Google Classroom and Google Drive.
Google Meet offers the following free options for its users:
- Share screen to your students
- Adjust your layouts
- Group classes up to 1 hour
- Chat with students in the chatbox
- And other normal features of a virtual video conferencing platform
Anyone with a Google account can create a video meeting or virtual class of up to 100 students (participants) and meet up to 60 minutes for free.
If you are conducting one-on-one tutoring classes, you can spend up to 24 hours together (but why would you?!).
Visme
Visme is an online design tool that anyone can use to create presentations, infographics, concept maps, schedules, reports and more.
It’s packed with tons of features, like free photos and graphics, customization options and an easy drag-and-drop editor that both non-designers and designers love to use.
Many tools are directed either at the educator or the student. In the case of Visme, our integrated design tools benefit both.
How Visme Can Help Teachers
Teachers are always creating content for their students to learn with. From slide presentations to fillable worksheets and more. With a Visme education license, teachers and students can use the tool together for a creative and interactive educative experience.
Below are some of the solutions Visme offers for educators at any level.
- Interactive content as presentations and infographics
- Visual posters and infographics
- Webinar materials
- Interactive schedules
- Syllabus and lesson plans
- Printable lists and worksheets
- Embed third-party content like quizzes and forms
- Share news about a class on social media or email
- Personalized report cards
- Personalized certificates
To help you get started, here are some handpicked Visme templates for teachers. Click on the button below each template to customize it for your own use.
Class Schedule Template
Create a class schedule in the form of a presentation and share it with your students to help them stay on track with their weekly lessons.
This class schedule template is designed with engaging colors and visuals to make it easier for students to remember the information.
Customize this presentation template and make it your own!
GOOGLE CLASSROOM
If your school does not have an online learning management system (LMS), then I highly recommend Google Classroom to streamline your remote teaching. Google Classroom is intuitive and user-friendly, and it syncs with many of the websites and Chrome apps/extensions I mention below. Your school does not need to be “a Google school” for you to utilize Google Classroom with your students. All you need is a free Google account. Your students will need one too. With Google Classroom, you will be able to do the following (and lots more):
- Check students’ progress on ALL assignments
- See students’ work & writing (via Google docs/slides) in REAL TIME
- Send reminders to students who have not completed assignments
- Provide personalized feedback to students through comments
- Automatically grade Google form tests, quizzes, exit tickets, etc.
- Efficiently grade all other work submitted through Classroom
- Facilitate class discussions through the “Ask a question” feature (more info on that HERE)
I could write an entire post on utilizing Google Classroom, but then I wouldn’t have room for the other tools…so let me know if that is something you’d like to see and I can work on a separate post.
GoToMeeting
GoToMeeting, as stated on their website, puts the “class in online classes.”
They are an up-and-coming competitor to some of the larger video platforms because of how they gear their functions to suit teachers and students in an online class.
With their free account, you can expect:
- Personal URLs for students to join the class
- Instant messaging, file sharing & screen sharing
- Powerful mobile capabilities for students
- Clean and simple interface with powerful functions
Unfortunately, their free version is quite limiting but it will allow you 40-minute classes/meetings but with only up to 3 participants.
GoToMeeting free would be perfect for independent tutors who have 1-3 students and classes under 40 minutes.
Conclusion:
Sometimes people get confused between online teaching platforms and online education platforms. And it’s a big deal because different platforms offer different kinds of educational solutions. For a teacher, a good online education platform would be enough to create a high-quality learning program, but the best online teaching platform makes it more fun and engaging.