Schools and education centres are shutting down, the gap between student and their teachers is going to increase and widen, the best solution for this problem is remote learning.
Edmodo is supposed to be the best tool for remote education collaboration because it is built for students, teachers and parents. But what if Edmodo is not enough and you need more online learning tools so students can study from home, we have more recommendations like Zoom Video conferencing service, Otter audio recording, Loom screen recording and Google Classroom!
So let’s discuss these useful online tools for remote education in more detail.
Zoom
Zoom is a great video conferencing tool that can be used for remote learning as well.
Along with the video conferencing, it offers content sharing of files, whiteboard, polling, transcription the conference and more.
How It Works: You sign up and can start your meetings instantly. You can download the desktop and mobile apps to hold online discussions. These sessions can be recorded or can be held in collaborations. The screen can be used to give access to multiple users and is used for remote sharing as well. So teachers can hold online classes very easily and learners dont have to feel alienated in these tough times.
Price: Basic plan is free with limitations.
Padlet
Padlet is an online collaboration tool. Much like Basecamp, Microsoft Teams, Trello and more, Padlet for School is something that’s used for teamwork. Padlet has extensions for browsers and apps for mobile platforms.
How it works: Signup to open an account and create a virtual lesson. You can upload huge files pre-recorded by teachers so students can learn directly from teacher without the issue of ‘live session’ or being ready on time. Its exactly like distant education where you study in your own time. Teacher can further ask students to write main points from what they have studied and student can then leave their messages, and replies.
Price: Padlet offers 30-day free trial.
Loom
Loom is a screen recording application best for long training sessions. Why write emails explaining what you have done and what your feedback is? Just record the screen and annotate your feedback.
How It Works: With their free signup and basic plan, Loom is easy to use. Just start the recording and explain what you want to while displaying your screen. You can download the video you record and also share link of the same if your want to. Imagine teaching an Urdu lesson; with Loom it would become seamless if the teacher explained the lesson while reading it herself and explaining in detail. If the teacher has a touch screen, she can even write examples that can greatly benefit the students.
Price: Loom has a basic plan, free trail and these days their Pro Plan is free for students and teachers.
Otter.ai
Otter is popular for recording lectures, notes and meetings. Why? Because it transcribes it in real-time with the intuitive AI running in the back. You can export the files too!
How It Works: Otter is a speech recording tool where you can record yourself or numerous people at the same time. The app picks the words from the speech and turns them into text. It is a tool with good application if you want to write content but you are unable to do so. You will speak and the app would write it for you. It only takes about six minutes for the app to transcribe your audio to text.
Price: Free basic plan! Our special link gives you 1 month free for premium features!
Kialo
Kialo is a tool that is particularly designed to aid students in their critical thinking and to encourage healthy debate. It is considered as one of the world’s largest argument mapping and debate site designed for the use of classrooms. Teachers around the world believe that it provides them an easy access to break complex subjects so they can scrutinise information and get to the bottom of the issue/topic.
How it works: Kialo is designed to remove the unnecessary distraction from social media. You set up a thesis statement which is either supported or opposed by arguments. These arguments are divided into pros and cons which can contain further sub arguments.
Price: Kialo is a free service for educators to use.
Explain Everything
Explain Everything is a collaboration tool that allows teachers and students to use various methods such as sketches, diagrams, videos and presentations. The site allows you to connect both in real time and asynchronously.
How it works: The platform is available on both websites and mobile applications with monthly subscription plans. The concept of Explain Everything aids in understanding through the infusion of creative elements that attract students via curiosity of topics.
Price: The service is free for starters and there are no charges for up to 3 projects.
Educreations
Educreations is a mobile phone app that has the ability to turn your iPad into a recordable whiteboard. You can insert pictures, record your voice or even process handwritten notes to produce lectures and lessons that your students can then view.
How it works: Your students would be required to have the app as well if you are a teacher. If you want to set up a classroom, there is monthly subscription but your students would not be charged for viewing the lessons.
Still confused? Take a look at the video below to see a real-life example
Price: The basic package has no charges which allows one to share and record lessons
These are some online tools for remote education. They give confidence to shy students and enhance the creativity of the whole class on a very different level.
There any many more education tools out there but these just some great and most useful ones to study from home in these difficult times.
Excellent article!