When we go to school, we are taught by our teachers. So, we often follow the teaching method and style of our teachers. Our learning environment is usually fixed and interactive. But how about online teaching? What are the effective online teaching tools for online teachers and e educators?
Do you need technology tools for online teaching? I know because I have been teaching online for years (just look at my teaching profile). But if you are a new to online teaching, choosing best technology tools for online teaching can be intimidating. So I’ve created this post to help you decide which online teaching tools to use and how to use them.
Storybird
Storybird aims to promote writing and reading skills in students through storytelling. In this tool, teachers can create interactive and artistic books online through a simple and easy to use interface. The stories created can be embedded in blogs, sent by email, and printed, among other options. In Storybird, teachers can also create projects with students, give constant feedback, and organize classes and grades.
eduClipper
This platform allows teachers and students to share and explore references and educational material. In eduClipper, you can collect information found on the internet and then share it with the members of previously created groups, which offers the possibility to manage more effectively the academic content found online, improve research techniques, and have a digital record of what students achieved during the course. Likewise, it provides the opportunity for teachers to organize a virtual class with their students and create a portfolio where all the work carried out is stored.
Trello
Trello is another online productivity app that works similar to Asana but has some differences.
Trello is a collaboration tool that lets you organize your projects into boards.
It can tell you what’s being worked on and where your tasks are in terms of the completion process.
Of course, it also lets you add to-do lists, tasks and other similar features to Asana.
Moodle LMS
While commercial software has its place, sometimes it is truly impressive what an open source project can achieve, such as in the case of Moodle LMS. This open source learning platform can be downloaded and used for free. While direct support is lacking (although an organization can engage one of 80 Certified Service Providers to remedy that deficit), there is still plenty here, including documentation such as guides on how to use this platform.
Learners and teachers are sure to like the expansive feature set, such as interaction with multiple choice questions in the content, an integrated text editor, and support for 3rd party cloud storage providers, such as DropBox to submit assignments. It is also multi-language capable, and supports open standards such as SCORM.
We also like that teachers can make comments on assignments, and the integrated all-in-one calendar. With so many features, it may be open source, but it hardly will feel like it, which explains why it has over 200 million users.
Thinkific LMS
Thinkific is an online platform that has enjoyed meteoritic success as a relative newcomer to this space. It has useful functions, such as the ability for educators to build a website, and templates are provided to facilitate this for newcomers.
We also like that this platform can be used to issue certificates of completion. It is used worldwide, and can accept payments from learners signing up for courses from over 100 countries.
Some omissions, such as the lack of a direct phone number or email for support, and no smartphone apps for either Android or iOS show the immaturity of the platform. We also wanted to see more user reviews than what we found online. However, with a choice of tiers starting with a free one, and a track record that has already earned its experts over $650 million dollars, it is seriously hard to dispute.
iSpring Free
iSpring Free is an eLearning authoring tool that allows you to turn boring PowerPoint presentations into mobile-compatible online courses with quizzes. The main advantage of the tool is its simplicity. Its intuitive interface enables any novice course developer to create an unlimited number of courses quickly and easily.
Calendly
Stay in control of who you meet and when with Calendly, a free calendar booking app. Calendly integrates with your calendar so you are never double-booked – a miracle when teaching – and allows you to save time when booking in your parent-teacher appointments or meetings with colleagues.
Edpuzzle
With Edpuzzle, you can create interactive video lessons with embedded audio notes, assessments, and quizzes. Its analytics tool enables you to track how students are watching your videos and if they understand the content.
ClassDojo
A favourite among teachers, ClassDojo is a free school communication platform that teachers, students and parents can use every day to build close-knit communities by sharing what’s being learned in the classroom through home photos, videos and messages. Parents can track their child’s progress, and children can showcase their learning. There are also free class behaviour management tools system and lots of added features for teachers too. Check out this free beginner’s guide for teachers to learn what ClassDojo can do for you.
Starfall
Starfall is an online service that was initially designed to teach children to read. Its phonics-based learning model supports online games and print series, which can be downloaded for use at home and in the classroom. Now, it also features animated songs, movies, and mathematics activities for Pre-K, Kindergarten, and Grades 1 to 3.
Schoology
An award-winning learning management system, Schoology allows teachers to create a private social network for their students, parents and colleagues. Communicate with families and students, manage your classroom, collaborate with your colleagues, plus much more.
Asana
Asana is your personal teaching secretary all in one powerful app that gives you control over your tasks, projects and to-do lists.
Essentially, Asana is a productivity management solution for teams, individuals or anyone that needs more control over their tasks.
Teachers will enjoy Asana for a number of reasons.
Firstly, from a simple angle of gaining control over the multitude of to-do’s and projects that teachers need to manage, this app will do it all.
Some ways that teachers can use Asana in their teaching life can include:
- Creating lesson plan tasks with manageable subtasks that have deadlines
- Managing students’ information, progress and other important details
- Helping with teams of teachers to manage projects that need to be completed
- Create online lesson plans that allow teachers to see what parts of the lesson were and weren’t completed
This app is great for teachers in brick-and-mortar schools as well as online teachers who need to gain control over their schedule by focusing on what matters each day.
Additionally, if you are a teacherpreneur building your own online teaching business, Asana will be your go-to place to make sure that everything in your business is running smoothly.
With the free account, teachers will be able to create projects and tasks through a variety of different layouts.
ClassMarker
This simple tool allows teachers to create an online test that is instantly graded, which can save them a whole lot of time and allow them to focus on more important issues. What’s really good about this tool is that it allows multimedia content, so teachers could add pictures or videos to the test sheet to make the whole experience even more attractive and interactive.
The teacher has the ability to create groups and give each group a separate test, but also has the option to create a single test and share a link to the test with the entire class via email. The students get the test results instantly, and all of the tests are stored in the teacher’s personal database, which is a great way to keep track of each student’s progress. Additionally, ClassMarker allows setting a time limit for each quiz and availability dates, which can help teachers in case they have a large number of students to pay attention to.
Edmodo
Another useful tool that not only makes the teaching experience easier but also helps integrate teachers, students, and parents in the learning process. Edmodo allows teachers to create groups, quizzes, assign papers, manage students’ progress, etc. It’s also possible to connect Edmodo with your Google or Microsoft account and transfer files from one service to another seamlessly.
This tool is a great way to keep parents up to date with future events, current grades, progress, etc. Since teachers can allow access to both students and parents, each user has a certain level of access to Edmodo content. This way parents will be able to see where they should jump in when it comes to helping their children achieve better results.
Talking about achieving more, Edmodo also allows teachers and students from all over the world to share knowledge and resources with each other. One of the features of this tool is the ability to share any type of content with other users and get access to materials that others decided to share.
Kahoot
Did anyone say that games are not educational? Kahoot is a learning tool that allows teachers and students to create fun games in order to test knowledge and engage the entire class. There is virtually no limit to the number of questions or their format; you could place videos, images, and even diagrams to each question to make the game more interesting.
This type of learning experience can really keep the whole class engaged, as each student joins the game via their smart devices while the results appear on a shared screen for everyone to see. Forming multiple teams can build a competitive atmosphere which students would enjoy. In addition, the online nature of Kahoot allows you to include even those students that are unable to attend the class, but are willing to participate in the game. Furthermore, teachers could assign homework using this tool, and have instant access to results.
Conclusion:
I have spent a lot of time knocking out walls and creating classrooms. I’m a teacher. I teach middle school technology. That’s my world. It’s what I do. One thing that persists is that teachers who are teaching online or virtually miss the technology tools for teaching, classroom management tools for teachers, tools for online educators, etc., we miss the really important elements of being a good teacher. Actually, we don’t miss them at all. We hate them. We loath them and we hate ourselves for not being better at it.