Have you ever wanted to learn about online interactive tools for students? Or about online teaching tools for teachers? Did you know there are free online tools that you can use as a teacher at school? Did you know there are some really amazing interactive tools that your students can use in and out of the classroom? You’re probably wondering what they are and if they’re worth the investment. I’ve tested many of these out with my own students, and thought I’d share my findings with you because I think they’re pretty cool and definitely should be given a chance.
Would you like your students to try online tools that give them a chance to show what they know in a fun, interactive manner? Do you want to try online tools as a way of improving your own learning experience? Check out these free online interactive tools for teachers and students. These are simple and useful browser-based tools they are currently using to make learning more fun.
Twiddla (www.twiddla.com)
Twiddle provides a really easy to use collaborative online whiteboard. This “no setup web based meeting playground†is quick and easy – inviting others to collaborate by just hitting the green GO button to start a session and then use the Invite option. This app provides a great set of tools. You can easily add an image, web page, or document as a background to markup. There is a color palette tool, pen width tool, a shapes tool, and text can be inserted. There’s even a chat option built in.
Edmodo
Edmodo is an educational tool that connects teachers and students, and is assimilated into a social network. In this one, teachers can create online collaborative groups, administer and provide educational materials, measure student performance, and communicate with parents, among other functions. Edmodo has more than 34 million users who connect to create a learning process that is more enriching, personalized, and aligned with the opportunities brought by technology and the digital environment.
Socrative
Designed by a group of entrepreneurs and engineers passionate about education, Socrative is a system that allows teachers to create exercises or educational games which students can solve using mobile devices, whether smartphones, laptops, or tablets. Teachers can see the results of the activities and, depending on these, modify the subsequent lessons in order to make them more personalized.
Projeqt
Projeqt is a tool that allows you to create multimedia presentations, with dynamic slides in which you can embed interactive maps, links, online quizzes, Twitter timelines, and videos, among other options. During a class session, teachers can share with students academic presentations which are visually adapted to different devices.
Google Drive (drive.google.com)
Most of you are probably already familiar with Google Drive, which lets you share and collaboratively edit Google Docs with anyone else who has a Google account, for free. Sweet. Being able to collaboratively edit documents and worksheets opens up a world of possibilities for interactive classroom activities and projects.
Bubbl.us
This free tool* allows users to easily create bubble maps, that can be exported in various formats, saved (by exporting and re-importing them in an appropriate format), and yes … edited collaboratively. The use of bubble maps as a teaching tool has been a good practice for decades, but bringing it to a new level by enabling collaborative editing through an online tool is totally 21st century!
Clickers
Classroom clickers may not be the higher-water mark for innovation in education, but as a simple and useful tool that you can use almost every day, it’s a no-brainer for many classrooms.
This is a tool for teachers, to help assess students’ understanding of concepts and their engagement with the material. With some tools, teachers can project questions onto their screen using while students answer them in real-time. Students’ answers show up on the teacher’s phone screen, and teachers can see which students got answers right and which didn’t. This gives teachers an accurate picture of how students are following the information, and adjust their lessons accordingly.
Note, this is more of a general recommendation than an endorsement of a specific clicker tool or app. The problem with this otherwise ‘no-doubter’ recommendation is that many of the clicker tools are expensive–at least the ones we know of. Plickers, iClicker, Top Hat, and other tools are not only not free but often have monthly subscription-level pricing. If your school has the budget and you put it to good use, it’s likely worth the investment.
Scratch
Scratch is a simple, fun, and engaging introduction to programming, designed specifically for 8 to 16-year-olds. Users can combine music, graphics, and photos to create interactive games, animations, and slideshows. All of their creations are shareable with others in a student’s online community. It’s important to note that Scratch will really only teach programming concepts, not so much real, authentic programming.
Prezi
According to Prezi, “creating, giving, and tracking beautiful interactive presentations is as easy as 1,2,3” with their cloud-based presentation software. Prezi presentations are nothing like your traditional presentations; zooming in and out and moving side to side across one single, very attractive and modern canvas, focusing in on images and videos inputted by the user. Prezi is very popular and consistently receives excellent reviews.
Haiku Deck
- suitable for students and teachers
A digital tool with whose help you can easily make presentations on your iPad, iPhone, and on the web. The tool works online and offers a huge database of stock photos with which you can create image-based slides. Haiku Deck makes it easy to create presentations on the go and literally carry them in your pocket. Haiku Deck can be also integrated into Google Classroom which has been very popular lately.
Animoto
- suitable for students of all ages
- suitable for teachers
Video is one of the most engaging mediums of the modern day which is why you should definitely incorporate it into your classroom. Animoto is one of the digital tools for classroom that can be used by both teachers and students for educational purposes. Animoto helps you create animated videos easily. You can create photo slideshows, stitch various videos together, add text and more images to come up with a truly engaging video in the end.
Google Forms
We’re starting with what’s likely the simplest app on the list (well–aside the from background noise strategy): Google Forms
One of the best ways to engage all students in your classroom is to give students an easy (and even anonymous) way to ask questions, receive feedback, or otherwise reach out to the teacher. While there are many ways to do this, one of the most universally accessible (and free) methods is Google Forms.
Whether you provide specific questions and prompts for students to respond to as an exit slip (e.g., Was there any point during today’s lesson where you were confused?), or you simple leave it as a way for students to post questions anonymously (which can be useful for some struggling students who might otherwise be hesitant to reach out), a simple messaging system or basic form can help improve student engagement.
Class Dojo
This is a fun tool to gamify the classroom. Students make their own avatars, gain and lose points based on classroom behavior, discussion approaches, and other soft skills agreed upon by the teacher and the class. Teachers can also use Class Dojo to take attendance and create graphs that breakdown the information for teachers. Not only will this tool encourage students to uphold class values, but it will also provide key metrics to help teachers adjust their teaching tactics accordingly.
Buncee
Buncee understands how much more kids learn if they’re engaged, so their platform makes it easy to engage students from anywhere. Teachers have the flexibility to create activities that their class will enjoy with over 1000 templates, and students earn badges as they complete their work. Buncee also makes it easy for students to collaborate with sharing and discussion functionality.
Bakpax
Bakpax is an AI tool that autogrades student work, giving them (and the teacher) instant feedback on assignments! As teachers know, hand grading student work can take hours, so Bakpax allows teachers to save time with the more administrative aspects of teaching, so they can focus more on creative lessons/activities and individualizing student instruction.
Bakpax wants to support educators during the transition to remote learning, so teachers can currently access Bakpax for free!
Pear Deck
Pear Deck allows teachers to make lessons interactive so every student can actively participate, whether instruction is synchronous or asynchronous. It utilizes formative assessment, active learning, retrieval practice, and more to close the achievement gap, even for students who are learning from afar. Bonus: PearDeck has the stamp of approval from many Ozobot Certified Educators.
SelfCAD
SelfCAD is a free, cloud-based 3D CAD software package for students. It is incredibly easy to use, yet provides an authentic, ‘real world’ 3D design experience. Another notable feature— SelfCAD has teamed up with MyMiniFactory, to provide a database of already completed 3D printable designs, making thousands of 3D objects available for immediate 3D printing. All round, it is a very powerful and effective tool for learning in STEM, and a number of schools are getting on board.
Pixton
- suitable for students of all ages
Why make students write a story when they can draw it for a change? Digital tools for classroom like Pixton boost the children’s visual thinking and creativity while it engages them to the fullest. This tool allows little and big students to make comics and storyboards. This activity can be both educational and fun. If you are an educator, you can try Pixton for free before introducing it to your kids. A perfect tool to boost the students’ imagination!
Conclusion:
Interactive online tools for students or teachers are crucial for classroom learning. As a teacher, it is important to use different kinds of teaching methods when presenting lessons. In the classroom, students can interact with their peers and the teacher.