There is no denying the importance of technology in every aspect of our lives. Technology helps you automate/streamline monotonous tasks and focus on things that actually require your brainpower. Its impact on the education industry is no different – the simple blackboard has been largely replaced by PowerPoint presentations, and classes are conducted remotely (accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic). In fact, the EdTech market is projected to grow from USD 85,818 in 2020 to USD 181,265 by 2025. But that is not all; there are lesser-known but very powerful tools in the market that can help teachers make the most out of their profession. Let us look at 10 teacher technology tools you’ve missed in the past.
This takes the top position in our list of teacher technology tools. A necessary upgrade to the classic white-boarding app, this tool can create pretty accurate drawings from mere outlines that you feed into it. AutoDraw is also part of Google’s ongoing AI experiment. This especially comes in handy when you’re creating a PowerPoint presentation that requires intense visual stimulation. Simply start drawing, and the tool will start to determine what you’re trying to draw. Once you’ve drawn enough for the tool to guess correctly, you can switch your drawing for a perfectly constructed one. For example, you can draw two circles, attach them together with the outline of a car, and it will render a perfectly detailed drawing from it. You can then edit it as you please.
This is ‘THE’ tool for collaboration and curation. Both teachers and students can create “wakes” full of information from articles, blogs, tweets, and more. It closes the gap between humans and algorithms to curate functional content in a personal way. You can even integrate content from third-party apps into your collections. You might struggle to tell stories that are engaging, organized, and inspiring. This is where Wakelet could benefit you because it allows you to curate customizable content. It is also a great tool to keep research material interactive and social. Best of all, it is a completely free app!
This is particularly useful if you teach a subject like Economics, where current affairs are important to keep track of. Feedly lets you see all the news of the day in one convenient spot. Once signed in, you can follow sub-sets of news or information feeds. You can also create a feed for specific topics like biology and mathematics. This would be perfect for a quick morning update for the class. To encourage class participation, you can even ask your students to share their feeds with you.
As a teacher, you will go through many websites a day looking for fresh content. There is a possibility that you might want to revisit one of those webpages where you saw something noteworthy. Memex is a Google Chrome extension that will let you annotate pages as you read them. You can then go back and search them later based on time or keywords. These are the perfect tools to help you with lesson planning or encouraging students to start planning for a big project.
The fact is that students value the feedback given by their own peers more than the ones given by anyone else. This is why you will love Peergrade. The goal of the product developers is to change the way students give peer feedback. Teachers can upload a rubric for students to evaluate each other, and they can anonymously share feedback. Students are then allowed to respond to this feedback through comments.
This is a tool that has built itself a solid reputation among teams of workers that require extensive collaboration. It also has the potential to alter the way communication works in the education sector as well. Users can create boards and add lists filled with cards that denote tasks or things that need attention, those that are work-in-progress, and also a list of things that are already dealt with. All users can communicate right on these boards. For things that need special attention, you can tag specific users and assign responsibility. As you might have guessed, it can also be used to streamline work with your fellow teachers. Don’t underestimate the importance of project management for organizing your tasks, even in the education sector.
As the name suggests, this tool will help you with your writing. But it does much more than just checking for grammatical errors. It also checks for style and tense. It even goes as far as comparing your writing to the industry’s best writers to see where you stand. This tool is important to you as well as your students. As your students look up to you for inspiration, even the tiniest detail of your style of teaching will have an impact on your students – even your style of writing. So, it has to be completely error-free.
Slack is a company that started with the goal of eliminating emails, and it is safe to say that they’re doing just that – one company at a time. Once teams start using Slack, they tend to stick on to it. Many of you might not think of Slack as one of the teacher technology tools. But Slack could be a perfect tool for communicating with your students and peers. It also creates a lively virtual study environment using emojis, GIFs, music clips, and a lack of delays in response. Students can also second the opinions of their peers using the thumps up feature. They can even use the notes channel to collaboratively take down notes from lectures.
With so much content to read, it is extremely laborious and tiresome to read through everything. But you can’t also risk not reading something that you deem to be important. It is times like this that call for accurate summaries of webpages. That is what SMMRY does. It is very simple and absolutely necessary for the classroom. All you have to do is paste a URL in the textbox to get a summary of whatever is on the webpage. It can also help teach your students how to effectively summarize the content.
PowerPoint presentations are not so cool anymore. People want storytelling to be much more interactive now. Creaza can help you out here. You can easily create cartoons, simple graphics, videos, and anything else using this tool. For example, you can create a simple animation to show students how inertia works.
These are our list of 10 powerful teacher technology tools that you can use to build your online tutoring business. Combine this with a powerful Learning Management System like Learnyst to accelerate your growth.
Learnyst is much more than an LMS. It is a one-stop-shop for the new age online tutor. The following are the features that make Learnyst the most trusted partner by over 400+ educational institutes and independent tutors.
Further Reading: Ultimate Online Teaching Tools
Reach out to us if you’d like to know more about how Learnyst can benefit your online tutoring business.