The 7 Best Apps for Educators and TeachersPosted by Harshal on September 21st, 2021 1. Google DriveMost of us are already familiar with this one. Google Drive helps everyone from business people to teachers and students store and transfer their important files. Drive’s cloud-based system lets users work on written documents, spreadsheets and more from any internet-connected device. The collaborative nature of Google Docs lets students submit their work entirely online, where their instructor can edit and leave notes in the document as needed. You can upload supplementary images, create spreadsheets or put a Powerpoint-style set of lecture notes together in Google Slides. If students need to download a file to use in their work — such as a video file for a multimedia editing course — just store it in Drive in a shared folder your students can access. It’s that simple. You can also schedule video lectures as Google Calendar events, so everyone gets a reminder. Add important due dates and the course syllabus to a group folder so the class has everything they need for tests and homework assignments. Good for: Educators that need a solid file creation and sharing solution Cost: Free Availability: iOS and Android 2. CalendlyPrimarily a scheduling tool, Calendly can help teachers keep track of multiple calendars at once. You can use it as a shared calendar app for iPhone and Android since it works with both Google and Apple calendar apps. That can be especially helpful if you teach classes at multiple institutions or teach multiple subjects. Parent teacher communication doesn\'t have to come at a premium. Calendly lets you choose your own time slot according to your availability, so you can program in a time frame for Q and A sessions with students, one-on-one discussions about a semester project or remote meetings with parents. Since you set your availability beforehand, you never double-book. Students can also use Calendly to set up and participate in career advising appointments. Universities that won’t be opening for the Fall semester can take their candidate interviews online, connecting with applicants wherever they are. Good for: Educators bogged down with scheduling admin tasks Price: Free for Basic membership, /user/month for Premium, /user/month for Pro Availability: iOS and Android 3. Chronicle CloudChronicle Cloud at its most basic is a note-taking tool and Class Management App. This applies to both anecdotal and conferring note taking. While you can take notes with written words, it\\'s also possible to enrich that with audio, images, and video attachments. All that can combine to help make it easier to recall student behavior, during a certain performance level, at a later date. Chronicle Cloud with its uniquely designed dashboard allows you to manage your classroom activity on the go. Integrated Note-taking, Gradebook, Scoring, and Sharing capabilities within the app allow you flexibility in managing your daily teaching chores effectively. Good for: Teachers and Note-taking
Price: Free Availability: iOS and Android 4. AdditioAdditio takes classroom and team management digital. Use this app to take notes on participation and attendance, calculate grades and keep track of student performance. The app has a lesson planning feature to map out the semester or quarter and rubrics you can use for assessments. Additio also integrates with Google and Microsoft’s classroom features for easy importing of grades. Like most of the other apps on this list, Additio has a messaging feature you can use to stay in touch with both students and parents. The app’s developers make a point of stating that Additio is compliant with FERPA and GDPR privacy rules, and that they do their best to keep sensitive information secure. Good for: Educators that want to digitize their classroom management system Price: Free with paid in-app upgrades available Availability: iOS 5. Haiku DeckHaiku Deck lets users make beautiful presentations easily. The app’s streamlined interface gets rid of the clutter surrounding your average slideshow presentation, creating a more professional look. Haiku Deck gives you an assortment of creative commons images and pre-built templates to choose from so you can put together your next lecture in a snap. Presentations are optimized across platforms and work on a smartphone, tablet or laptop. Students can use the app as well, so they can create something more interesting for their next project than slides full of text blocks. Good for: Educators that want to spice up their presentations Price: Free to try, .99/month billed annually or .99 billed monthly for Pro, .99/month for Premium Availability: iOS 6. The TED AppTED’s motto is “ideas worth spreading,” and chances are you’ll find plenty of knowledge to share with your students on their app. From politics to philosophy, TED has cataloged thousands of hours of talks and presentations from some of the world’s most interesting people. Volunteer-hosted TED Circles let a small group of people watch a particular TED talk, then discuss it amongst themselves. Form a circle with your class or have your students form their own to dive deeper into important and controversial topics. There are over 3,000 talks currently uploaded to the app. Users can watch talks or listen to them like a podcast. Users can even download them for later offline use. TED also lets you share your favorite talks and sync them across multiple devices. Good for: Educators that want to expose their students to a broader range of topics Price: Free (contains ads) Availability: iOS and Android 7. SlackSlack made a name for itself as a reliable workplace messenger long before COVID hit, and it lends itself well to today’s digital classroom. Users can create Slack channels for different classes where your students can discuss their projects, assignments and topics. Features like polling are useful for quickly getting an opinion from your students. You can block out virtual office hours for yourself, establishing a set time for students to reach you. Hold voice or video calls with your class and easily send and receive files. Slack can also integrate with other apps like Google Drive to provide expanded sharing capabilities. Good for: Educators who need to set up dedicated communication channels Price: Free Availability: iOS and Android Like it? Share it! More by this author |