Covid-19 has thrown the education sector into panic.
Many schools use conventional teaching methodologies where learners must be in class to access learning.
Ironically, even the so called distance learning modules championed by universities were least prepared for the sudden disruption of learning occasioned by the covid-19 outbreak.
Nobody saw it coming. Lo and behold, the reality has hit us now and schools are shut indefinitely.
The say necessity is the mother of invention. Schools are now grappling with what to do in the wake of the Covid-19.
Well, hundreds of digital education tools have been created with the purpose of giving autonomy to the student, improving the administration of academic processes, encouraging collaboration, and facilitating communication between teachers and learners.
The following 11 digital tools could come in hardy as education stakeholders navigate this trying moment:
Edmodo is an educational tool that connects teachers and students, and is assimilated into a social network.
In this one, teachers can create online collaborative groups, administer and provide educational materials, measure student performance, and communicate with parents, among other functions.
Edmodo has more than 34 million users, who connect to create a learning process that is more enriching, personalised, and aligned with the opportunities brought by technology and the digital environment.
Designed by a group of entrepreneurs and engineers passionate about education, Socrative is a system that allows teachers to create exercises or educational games which students can solve using mobile devices, whether smartphones, laptops, or tablets.
Teachers can see the results of the activities and, depending on these, modify the subsequent lessons in order to make them more personalised. This one can help the CBC classes more.
Projeqt is a tool that allows you to create multimedia presentations, with dynamic slides in which you can embed interactive maps, links, online quizzes, Twitter timelines, and videos, among other options.
During a class session, teachers can share with students academic presentations which are visually adapted to different devices.
Thinglink allows educators to create interactive images with music, sounds, texts, and photographs.
These can be shared on other websites or on social networks, such as Twitter and Facebook.
Thinglink offers the possibility for teachers to create learning methodologies that awaken the curiosity of students through interactive content that can expand their knowledge.
TED-Ed is an educational platform that allows creating educational lessons with the collaboration of teachers, students, animators—generally people who want to expand knowledge and good ideas.
This website allows democratising access to information, both for teachers and students. Here, people can have an active participation in the learning process of others.
cK-12 is a website that seeks to reduce the cost of academic books for the K12 market in the United States and the world.
To achieve its objective, this platform has an open-source interface that allows creating and distributing educational material through the internet, which can be modified and contain videos, audios, and interactive exercises.
It can also be printed and comply with the necessary editorial standards in each region. The books that are created in cK-12 can be adapted to the needs of any teacher or student.
ClassDojo is a tool to improve student behaviour: teachers provide their students with instant feedback so that good disposition in class is ‘rewarded’ with points, and students have a more receptive attitude towards the learning process.
ClassDojo provides real-time notifications to students, like ‘Well Done David!’ and ‘+1’, for working collaboratively.
The information that is collected about student behaviour can be shared later with parents and administrators through the web.
This platform allows teachers and students to share and explore references and educational material.
In eduClipper, you can collect information found on the internet and then share it with the members of previously created groups, which offers the possibility to manage more effectively the academic content found online, improve research techniques, and have a digital record of what students achieved during the course.
Likewise, it provides the opportunity for teachers to organise a virtual class with their students and create a portfolio where all the work carried out is stored.
Storybird aims to promote writing and reading skills in students through storytelling.
In this tool, teachers can create interactive and artistic books online through a simple and easy to use interface.
The stories created can be embedded in blogs, sent by email, and printed, among other options. In Storybird, teachers can also create projects with students, give constant feedback, and organise classes and grades.
Animoto is a digital tool that allows you to create high-quality videos in a short time and from any mobile device, inspiring students and helping improve academic lessons.
The Animoto interface is friendly and practical, allowing teachers to create audio-visual content that adapts to educational needs.
Kahoot! is an educational platform that is based on games and questions.
Through this tool, teachers can create questionnaires, discussions, or surveys that complement academic lessons.
The material is projected in the classroom and questions are answered by students while playing and learning at the same time.
Kahoot! promotes game-based learning, which increases student engagement and creates a dynamic, social, and fun educational environment.
Ashford Gikunda & Diana Ross are MA students in Project Planning and Management at UoN.
