For teachers, the question of how to incorporate technology into teaching is a constant dilemma. How can you teach students to use technology responsibly, when it’s so tempting as a teacher just to hand out devices for every possible assignment? How do you give kids the opportunity to work on their own projects outside of school hours, or prepare them for a technology-related career?
The following list contains some digital resources you might find useful in your classroom. For ease of use, they have been divided into different categories.
Communication Tools and Learning Management Systems
- ClassDojo: This tool is helpful for teachers, particularly those with young students, to provide feedback on their performance.
- Edmodo: Edmodo is a free online learning and collaboration platform for teachers and students.
- Engrade: The site offers online learning management systems and educational assessment products for K-12 schools. Engrade has a variety of teaching/learning tools, including quizzes, wikis, and flashcards, along with attendance tracking and grading.
- Google Classroom: Google developed this free service for schools in order to make the creation, distribution, and grading of assignments easier.
- Google Sites: Use this site to create a class website with the Template called Classroom site.
Audio and Video Tools
- Ted-Ed: This site offers a curated series of educational videos that cover topics such as robotics, architecture, and science education.
- Khan Academy: The website offers video lessons and supplementary exercises for teachers. Access to all resources is free on the website as well as the application.
- EDpuzzle: It is completely free, and you can upload video lessons and monitor whether or not students watch them, as well as see their answers to embedded questions. EDpuzzle also offers students the opportunity to create their video projects, which are private, which may cause some concern for many educators teaching K-12.
- Google Hangouts: This tool allows up to ten people with Google+ accounts to attend an online meeting where a chatbox is available, as well as audio and video.
- TeacherTube: This website allows educational professionals, such as teachers, to post educational resources like video, audio, documents, photos, and virtual classrooms.
- YouTube: YouTube is an excellent resource for sharing learning materials with students since it is free and has some cool features.
Tool for Storing and Organizing Information
- Dropbox: With Dropbox, you can create a special folder that you will keep in sync with the Cloud so that you can access your files from any computer and mobile device. The advantages of this tool are: synchronization, access to files from anywhere, the ability to share folders with other users, and other users can edit the documents in these folders.
- Evernote: This is one of the best online organizers you can find. With its convenient dashboard, you can create notebooks and organize your thoughts into separate notebooks that sync across all your devices. It is also possible to set reminders so that you don’t forget any important tasks. Everything is searchable and you can collaborate with your friends, colleagues or students with ease.
- Google Drive: It allows you to create folders, upload files, and customize your files so they’re accessible from anywhere. It also keeps track of who’s editing what and shows revision history. Students can view folders shared with them, be notified of upcoming deadlines, and more. Your drive is accessible from any computer, tablet, or smartphone.
Presentation and Poster Tools
- Prezi: This presentation tool allows you to put ideas into motion with dynamic links and visuals. You can create, edit, and publish presentations online and collaborate with others on any device.
- Google Slides: This web application lets you create and edit presentations online, and share them with others. The presentations are saved as Google Drive files.
Learning Resources
- Coursera: Coursera is a provider of massive open online courses (MOOCs). They offer courses in subjects such as Biology, Medicine, Programming etc. Their courses are free and the certificates are paid for.
- edX: edX is another provider of MOOCs. Their course is free and the certificates are paid for.
- CodeAcademy: CodeAcademy is an excellent website to learn to code for free. It provides tutorials in web development technologies such as HTML, CSS, PHP, JavaScript and Python.
- Udemy: This website offers a wide variety of courses on any topic imaginable – from Shakespeare to Excel. The courses are taught by experts and industry leaders, so you can be sure your learning will be top-notch.
- Skillshare: Skillshare offers many of the same lectures as Udemy, but with more hands-on activities that allow you to learn more interactively.
Tools to Support Reading and Writing
- Duolingo: Duolingo is a free, award-winning language learning system. You can learn by conversing with locals in real-time while travelling, improve your vocabulary with flashcards and practice speaking through text chatbots, or simply brush up on grammar rules that you learned in school.
- Elevate: Elevate is a brain training program that aims to improve focus, speaking skills, processing speed, memory, math skills, and more in a fun way. Its focus on vocabulary building and comprehension through interactive games differentiates it from other apps.
Student Response Systems and Survey Makers
- Google Forms: This is a great tool for creating online surveys. They’re easy to set up, and you and your students can complete them on either their computer or mobile device. It takes just a few minutes to create a form, and the data is automatically stored in your Google Drive account.
- Kahoot!: Kahoot is a game that helps you create quick and engaging quizzes. You can make it as simple or as detailed as you like, and all your students need is a computer with internet access.
- SurveyMonkey: Survey Monkey also makes it easy to create surveys online and track responses in real-time. They offer both free and paid accounts, but their free service offers many of the same features that are available with other survey creators at no cost; it’ll be well worth checking out before you commit any money.
