Online culture is making its way into the educational field even more fiercely than before. Apart from fully online lessons held via Skype, WebEx, Zoom, and other platforms, digital breakthroughs in learning in the form of apps, platforms, and websites are squeezing into the everyday classroom setting. Blended learning seems to be taking the lead from traditional techniques as far as the students’ preferences are concerned. A mix of the two is what appeals to students, as they have the opportunity to use technology in the classroom either in the form of an iPad, mobile phone, or whiteboard.
Parents, students and teachers alike are always on the lookout for exciting online classroom tools that will actively generate a desire to learn. Below, you will find some of the best. And students, feel free to try them out and recommend them to your class.
Kahoot!
Kahoot! is a tool for designing quizzes and questionnaires for the classroom. It has taken the educational world by storm, with the company gathering more than 30 million users and generating countless questions and answers. What makes Kahoot! exceptional is its compatibility with a variety of devices, providing the students with the element of game that makes learning fun.
Edmodo
Edmodo quenches the thirst of the new generation’s thirst for social media by making it all about connecting with your classmates. Parents, teachers and students alike benefit from Edmodo, as it makes it easier for parents to stay informed about their child’s progress, easier for teachers to grade assignments, and fun for students to stay connected with their classmates and educators. Since Edmodo provides controlled access to the social media used, students remain safe and perhaps more focused when interacting with the learning material on the platform.
StudyBlue
More focused on the needs of middle and high school students, StudyBlue provides users with a vast array of user-created flashcards and study guides. Users are able to store and share class materials, flashcards, and practice quizzes. The website has two versions: the free version that gives users access to certain materials of special interest groups, and the paid version allows access to a library of more than 275 million decks.
Prezi
As presentations are undeniably a big part of a student’s life, whether it’s a book report or a history project, Prezi has departed from the traditional PowerPoint slides by making presentations more interactive and grabbing the audience’s attention. Students can collaborate on projects in real time and can upload their work to their different devices.
Cold Turkey
Distractions are everywhere, and with the increasing use of mobile devices in the classroom for educational purposes they are inevitable. However, there is a way for teachers to ensure that when students use their phones in the classroom, they only do so for the sake of the lessons: and that way is Cold Turkey, which allows you to block apps, websites, or even your access to the Internet, thus helping you to concentrate on your task at hand. Parents can also try that at home as an alternative to taking their children’s phones away from them while doing their homework.
There are countless choices available in the vast sea of the Internet for educators, parents, and students to work with. It’s undeniable that apps, websites, and platforms have changed the way we educate nowadays. My advice? Make the most out of this wonderful online world.