Technology tools bring limitless possibilities for enhancing the effectiveness in the classroom. Not all teachers know how to use these tools and not all tools are right for the specific classroom environment, but the right tool can do wonders in the hands of the right teacher.
To help teachers choose the best tools that will enhance their own and their students’ effectiveness, we chose some of the most awesome online tools that can greatly enhance the learning environment.
1. TutorsClass
This is an online tool designed to help tutors manage their tutoring business online, as well as to help students learn in a convenient online classroom. If you are a tutor, TutorsClass is the best way to schedule lessons, attract more students in your group and get paid through your free personal webpage.
If you are a teacher, you can recommend this website to students who need tutoring in any subject or concept. Students love the online environment, and this website provides all tools necessary for interactive learning.
2. Professional editing services at Help.PlagTracker
If you want to work on your own teaching material and create textbooks for your students, they will definitely require professional editing. Help.PlagTracker offers professional editing assistance that will polish your content and make it absolutely free of any flaws. Hiring a professional editor is the best way to make sure that your content has a logical flow and is completely understandable for your students.
3. Writinghouse
Your students have difficulties formatting and referencing papers according to the style you require. By recommending Writinghouse (which, by the way, is completely free), you will make the entire writing process much easier for them, since the tool applies citations automatically.
You can also use Writinghouse to create citations for your textbooks. The tool supports MLA, APA, Harvard, and Chicago referencing styles.
4. EDU 2.0
The extensive library at this website is hosting over 15,000 pieces of content, and keeps expanding every day.
You can learn a lot by networking and collaborating with the other members of EDU 2.0. Besides, the website enables you to access some great tools free of charge, including classroom blogs, chat, a specialized tool for debates, customized quizzes, a cool online gradebook, customized portal page, and the ability to track proficiency.
Collaborize Classroom is an awesome app that gives you four choices of discussion format. Your students can have a choice between voting for someone else’s response or adding their own response, posting responses, answering multiple choice questions, and agreeing or disagreeing with statements.
6. SymbalooEDU
The EDU version of Symbaloo comes with resource pages classified according to the academic subject, as well as fully-embeddable tools such as Google Docs, Slideshare, TeacherTube, Flickr, and others.
SymbalooEDU is a great way to organize the teaching methods and websites you use, as well as a safe place to store your work. Your students can also use the tool to easily share projects and useful resources with their classmates.
6. TeacherTube, SchoolTube and YouTube
TeacherTube and SchoolTube are alternatives to YouTube, specifically focused on resources for educators. Both websites are great resources of lesson materials and ideas, but the videos can also be used at class as refreshment to your lectures.
Let’s not forget the original YouTube, which also offers great teaching resources. Unfortunately, this website is commonly blocked in schools.
7. Edmodo
Every aspect of Edmodo is a great way to enhance the collaboration and engagement within your class. You and your students can share assignments, files, ideas, and resources on a communal wall.
If you want to take it a step further, you can use Edmodo to organize groups of students and watch over their work and progress from one dashboard.
8. Kidblog
General blogging platforms are not safe enough to be used by your students, but Kidblog makes blogging safe for school use. Your students won’t see any ads, the website doesn’t ask for their e-mail addresses, and you will have complete moderating control on the activities.
9. Edublogs
This is another blogging platform that supports educational content and is not usually blocked by school filters. Edublogs can be used for publishing parent newsletters, class web pages, school newspapers, reflection journals, and group projects. The blogs can also be creatively integrated into the curriculum, making the classes much more fun for your students.
Conclusion
Teachers can and should use educational tools to access, organize and share different types of material, including videos, lesson plans, experiments, quizzes, and much more. The online environment is less intimidating, making it easy for each student to collaborate and get involved.
The entire process of teaching and learning can become much more convenient and more organized with the use of the right online tools.
