Digital Tools for Blended Learning
Content Delivery & Interaction
"Use EDpuzzle's tools to enhance your flipped video content, as well as your in-class lessons and lectures. Teachers who choose the highest-quality videos (or create their own) and add voice-overs, interactive quizzes, and audio notes can create a much more interactive experience for their students and one that encourages students to not just be active viewers but reactive viewers who critique what they watch."
"Nearpod is the go-to tool for interactive presentations and assessments. At the Nearpod website, teachers create their own multimedia presentations or use an extensive and growing library of pre-made offerings (many CCSS-aligned and some at a cost). Teachers can create from scratch or drag and drop files to modify. They can upload videos, images, audio clips, and PDF files and can embed multiple-choice quizzes, slide shows, polls, Draw Its (students write directly on a slide), collaboration boards, and open-ended questions. Teachers launch the presentation and monitor progress either from the website or through the app. Using the Nearpod app on their devices, students input their names to access the content and submit responses.
With Nearpod, teachers can interact with students as they move through the presentations and can view student responses in real time. Students can take ownership of their learning rather than passively viewing a teacher-directed whole-class presentation. Teachers can control the timing or launch homework sessions in which students move through at their own pace. Either way, teachers are aware of who is and who isn't viewing the presentation, which helps with classroom management and reinforces appropriate use of technology in the classroom."
"Wizer is a website where K-12 teachers can create augmented digital worksheets in any subject area. Once users sign up for an account, they can immediately start browsing or creating worksheets. Users choose a template and then add a title along with written and/or voice-recorded instructions and create their questions based on videos, images, charts, tables, and more. Once teachers save, preview, and assign the worksheet, students can access them on computers or mobile devices via LMS logins (Google, Edmodo, Microsoft), a class code, or a link to a URL. Teachers can opt to give students a choice of response format, such as verbal, written, or drawn. As students complete the assignment, they have to save it before handing it in, as Wizer doesn't save automatically, but Wizer will remind them to review answers before submitting them. Teachers can then score the open-ended questions and review the objective ones. They can also mark favorite answers, provide written or verbal feedback, and see how long the student took to submit the assignment. Once all assignments have been graded, students can review the feedback but cannot make changes."
"TED-Ed is a website (and Chrome extension) featuring a curated series of educational videos on a huge variety of subjects. From the folks at TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design), whose TED talks have featured some of the world's brightest minds, TED-Ed is a place where kids can get some of that same inspiration.
Videos are primarily geared toward a high school audience, but motivated middle schoolers might enjoy a lot of the offerings as well. Along with all of the free video content, the site allows teachers to take any educational video, not just TED's, and easily use it to create a customized lesson."
"InsertLearning (formerly DocentEDU) is a Chrome extension (with companion iOS and Android apps) that lets teachers turn any site into an interactive online lesson. There's a free trial available, but extensive use will require the paid version. (That being said, it's one of those tools that some teachers can use every day.) InsertLearning can be loaded quickly by the user clicking on the browser extension icon and opening the toolbar. Once the toolbar pops up, teachers and students can add annotations, embed videos into websites, add maps, quizzes, discussions, and do much more. Ultimately, the goal is that teachers can guide student learning with questions or class discussions online so students can learn outside the classroom and teachers can help the next day in class.
The toolbar consists of a few features: an assign button, highlight and sticky note buttons, and question, discussion, dashboard, and feedback buttons. All features allow for manipulation of a site, but the amount of manipulation and additional features added to any site is up to the teacher. There is a teacher dashboard where teachers can see their docents, copy others' docents, and assign them to students. Teachers are also able to view student annotations to docents, their answers, and interactions in discussions."
"Actively Learn is an interactive ereading platform (and Chrome app) where students can highlight and annotate text as they read. What's more, it lets teachers assign texts to students, and groups of students, so that whole classes can read, annotate, and interact around a text. The site contains thousands of free ELA, science, and history texts, from "The Portrait of Dorian Gray" to George Washington's Farewell Address. Don't see what you want? Teachers can upload any text of their choosing, from online articles to your own media." For a quick overview of Actively Learn, click on the image below.
"ThingLink is a tool -- available as a Chrome app, on the Web, and on iOS and Android -- for embedding multimedia content in images or videos. The media-embedding process, for both teachers and students, simply involves uploading an image or video and linking it to other resources on the Web. Links can lead users to informational Web pages, audio recordings, and videos. Prompts guide users most of the way, and a Search Content option helps support the embedding process with links to commonly used Web resources.
The educational version of the platform -- designed just for students and teachers -- features the addition of "channels" that can be used for specific classes or class projects and are only accessible by members of the registered class or group. ​Teachers can register students, arranging them into specific groups or classes. In addition, schools and districts can use the organizational management platform to monitor all users. There are three plans: basic (free), edu premium ($35/year), and school/district (discounted)."
At first glance, Freckle (formerly Front Row) seems to be intended for practice and reinforcement, but a closer look reveals valuable teaching resources and opportunities for engagement. For example, if you're working on a specific Common Core standard -- say, 4.NBT.4 -- a simple click from the dashboard gives you access to a host of instructional materials, including videos and lessons from YouTube, Khan Academy, and LearnZillion. Students can complete teacher-assigned activities or practice skills independently, getting feedback and earning coins that they can spend on virtual goods in the Piggy Store. Teachers can also customize printable worksheets and activities in a variety of subject areas in order to address specific standards for which students need more practice.
At any point, you can have students complete an adaptive 10-30 minute pre-assessment for any domain. Afterward, check your dashboard to gauge their progress, and assign more practice as needed. Using this information, you can group your students accordingly to encourage more social learning. Though kids have the option to use either the web or the tablet app, they're likely to find the app more appealing; the touch interface may allow better manipulation of tools such as the virtual scratch pad and highlighting feature.
Quoted descriptions are taken directly from Common Sense Media unless otherwise credited.