When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, schools around the world closed their doors and sent their students to learn online. For most teachers who were unfamiliar with online education, teaching online meant presenting material on Zoom in much the same way that they would have if they had been standing in front of a class teaching frontally.
Slowly, however, it became clear that online learning has much more to offer than Zoom presentations. Today, there are dozens of high-quality edtech tools that make learning more engaging, more challenging and more collaborative than ever. Each teacher needs to evaluate his/her students and the material to assess which of these edtech tools are right for their class. But once the commitment to maximizing online learning has been made, finding the right edtech tools with which to work is like achieving Juicy Stakes casino bonuses – a 100% win!
Some of the top edtech tools for 2022 include:
Flipgrid
Flipgrid is a great tool for social learning by giving students the opportunity to create their own videos where they can add comments and respond to content. The teacher posts the content – a video or text – and students participate interactively in the follow-up discussions by filming themselves as they discuss and ask questions about what they saw and learned.
Flipgrid was created so that students could learn to find and share their voices while respending the diverse voices of their peers. By discussing ideas and experiences through the media of video, students build and strengthen social learning while reviewing and reinforcing the core content of the lesson.
Kahoot!
Kahoot! Is one of the first and most popular of the new generation of edtech tools. It’s basically an online quiz but it presents the quizzes in a way that engages and motivates students for review or for homework. Students can play individually or in teams as they read the questions and give their answers. Kahoot! Can be hosted live in class or via video conferencing.
Kahoot! Activates and motivates student learning. It tests knowledge, reiterates important concepts and helps learners retain information. Teachers like Kahoot! Because it gives them the chance to expand the class discussion and student-to-student interaction while giving them an assessment tool that allows them to note where students are strong, where they need more review, and which students are succeeding while which students are struggling.
Google Classroom
Google Classroom provides a selection of interactive tools that promote collaborative learning. With Google Docs, students can create documents that can then be shared with other students where comments can be made and shared. Multiple students can share a document, add content and comment on each other’s content and all of those submissions can be seen by everything.
Google Presentations offers the same option but in a presentation format. Student presentations can include text, images, video content, polls, charts, drawings and other interactive media. Educators can create presentations where each student has his or her own page so the content can be collaborated.
Google forms allows both teachers and students to create polls and questionnaires where the answers are collected on one main summary sheet. Students can participate individually or in pairs/groups so every student can participate in the way that best suits his or her learning style.
Khan Academy
Khan Academy’s math, science and finance lectures and quizzes can be used to supplement classroom materials or allow students to move forward on their own. Khan Academy has been a pioneer in the field of online learning for years, offering material for both homeschooling independent learners and for teachers who want to supplement their classroom materials.
Users can find practice exercises and instructional videos plus a personalized learning dashboard to facilitate individualized instruction. Subjects covered include history, art history, economics, math, science, computing and more. Preparation materials for SATs, LSATs, and Praxis are available. The focus of Khan Academy is to give students the foundations to learn on their own.
Educreations
Students and teachers can use the Educreations app to record videos that are stored on the cloud to be shared whenever they want. The easy-to-use recording tool gives teachers the opportunity to record assignments an material that students can use to complete assignments or for students to make recordings showcasing data that they’ve mastered or information to be shared with teachers and peers.
Educreations can be used for any subject. Once the video is made, a link is created that can then direct others to the presented content.
Canva
Canva is a design tool that allows the user to create documents that include differentiated texts, images, video links, animated graphic images, etc. Once the material has been presented the students can move on to create an enticing visual that showcases what they’ve learned and have fun doing so! Users are given a selection of templates, text, audio, elements, and animation files to create their document.
Storybird
Teachers can expand student language skills with Storybird, a learner-based online tool that gives the student the elements that s/he needs to design picture books – either individually or in teams. The student(s) become the author and artist as they display representations of their knowledge. There is even an online shop where books can be printed.
Docebo Learning Management System
One of the easiest ways to individualize learning is to use a learning management system. These systems help educators and students organize their work as each student works at a pace that is comfortable for him/her. The platform is all-in-one where lessons can be presented, work assessed, grades reported, data gathered and communication with parents facilitated. The Docebo LMS delivers all of this and more on its user-friendly platform.
