Following the adverse effects of the pandemic, it’s possible that some teachers are offering their services remotely. This, in the beginning, could be difficult for them as they are trying to learn new and better ways to increase the efficiency of their respective means of teaching. Therefore, it calls on creativity and innovation in order to maneuver the existing challenges. The digital market managed to develop useful ways of making students’ learning experiences better. The tools have features that have been helpful in actively engaging the students and sparking their interest in learning. Those, who have been online tutors for a while now and the challenges aren’t new to them. But they decided to hunt for new ways of arranging their teaching sessions efficiently and handling their students in a more professional way without physical interaction. Tutors wanted to organize interactive and informative sessions with the students, in addition to recording and sharing their lessons to boost a firm grip on the content. They also wanted to develop creative ways to enable students to interact with and internalize the contents of documents shared.
With a wide array of instruments at the teacher’s disposal, sharing data and information and creating spaces to discuss the same becomes the mission.
The availability of state-of-the-art technology has led to the development of websites that gives instructions and promote ways of involving the students in the entire learning process. The ability to connect with students through short videos and interactive sessions has been key in helping foster genuine channels of sharing information and inculcating self-drive in the students.
The following tools are essential in creating better learning experiences for students and getting teachers started.
Web cameras and screen recorders
Currently, there exist unlimited alternatives for applying screen recorders and utilizing web cameras to create videos. Below are some options that are easily accessible, free and less intrusive.
1. RecordCast
This is one of the simplest ways of recording the contents of your screen during an interview or lesson. It also provides video editing avenues and doesn’t need any strenuous procedures to use. During editing, you can add texts, audio and symbols. It also brags about diversified options when it comes to increasing participation during a tutorial.
2. Veed.io
This is a unique platform because apart from creating the features for changing podcasts to videos, it also provides tools to amend projects like adding subtitles. As if that’s not enough, you can also add a progress tracker for audio and video transcription.
2. Flipgrid
This tool has the capability of incorporating various backgrounds into live recordings, and the recordings can go up to 10 minutes. This feature is quite interesting to apply because as the students share and exchange opinions when learning, they also enjoy the fun of attaching backgrounds and emojis to their creations. To sum it up, Flipgrid is free to use.
Strategy and fruitfulness tools.
With the advent of vigorous online learning, there has been an enormous reduction in paperwork. However, this denies the students the thrill and engagement of writing their ideas and points on paper as they learn. Even as they transition into a full-fledged online learning environment, a grace period has to be extended to them. Therefore, development of implements that enable the conversion of written documents to PDF is paramount. The following are alternatives to explore:
1. Kami
Google has several online features that help improve learning experiences for students. Google’s Chrome has an extension called Kami that is mostly used to edit PDFs. It’s highly preferred by many Google users since it has options for fabricating exercises and allowing students to freely interact with their PDF documents.
2. Teachermade.com
This platform harbors numerous online opportunities for both students and teachers.
Teachers can design and grade assignments and also add videos and audios to PDFs in order to make them more engaging to the students.
It is blended with Google Classroom and has several options for short responses, check-ins and checkboxes.
3. Notability
This tool comes in the form of an app and it is significant in taking notes, drawing, and annotating among others. As a teacher, you can better interact with your students by demonstrating concepts via photos and asking your students to annotate them. Finally, you can have a room for sharing information and involving your class via Email, Google Drive among others.
4. My learnie
Instructors have been using this interactive tool to develop short courses, add videos to them and create and create room for student engagement. It’s one of the best ways of dividing long courses into tiny chunks that the learners can easily comprehend and apply.
The teacher can also fashion a few questions and include all relevant information in the course. The courses are also not tied to My learnie alone as one can add them to other platforms.
Management implements
Classroom screen
This tool has wonderful and highly unique features that come in handy when having an online class. It enables the tutor to set classroom time durations, add various backgrounds and engage the students via short thrilling exercises. It has superb overall performance and efficiency.
Generally, the chief aim of these tools is to create an interactive session in digital learning environments and enhance the efficiency of sharing information across the platform. As a result, students develop self-drive and better communication skills.