This free platform runs on their website or as an app on mobile devices and works well for information blasts or quick reminders. Remind allows students to sign up using a code you provide and then they will receive messages as emails or text messages. You can opt to allow students to reply directly. Remind maintains anonymity of your cell phone number as well as students' numbers, and students can opt to use email instead. You can schedule reminders in advance for the whole semester. It can also be a great way to communicate with your majors or a community of followers about upcoming events.

Slack is both a web-based and app-based communication tool that allows you to create a group, then create channels within that group. Students or peers can then signup for specific channels (which can be projects, tasks for a project, threads in a discussion, etc.). Slack is another alternative to the discussion board, or if you would like to use social media tools but not necessarily require students to use their Facebook or Twitter accounts--they can create an account for slack and their messages are in a closed group. It is also excellent for project management and allowing everyone to keep up with the latest information. You can also share files or links within the conversation and tag specific people to send them a notification. The free version includes storage for 10,000 messages and no limit on the number of users in a group. The tools is popular in business and industry.

Padlet is like a digital cork board. This tool can be used as an alternative way to hold discussions, providing a more visually appealing layout that the Blackboard forum. Students can write a short initial post or upload a file/video, and the tool allows them to comment on items posted to the course board. The tool can also be used to collaboratively create collections of resources (by posting links) or even as a way to collect and share assignments by uploading a file as the initial post. A free account limits you to three boards, although a paid account includes unlimited boards and costs $10/month or $96/year.

FlipGrid is a tool for video-based discussions. Students can post short video responses to the discussion topic you create, and respond to one another with short videos. Students and participants do not have to create an account to participate; simply create a topic and share the join code with your class. This article from eLearn Magazine has some great tips for integrating FlipGrid into your courses.

The Google suite provides many software tools for creating documents and collaborating in real time, all for free. Although the campus does provide access to Microsoft 365 for students, Microsoft Teams may be less familiar to students than the Google products. You can also use Google Drive to create and share all your course documents in Blackboard. This makes it easy to manage and update files in one location even if you have multiple sections of a course or use the same materials from semester to semester.

Monday.com is a free web-based platform for project management. You can create a free student account and track up to 1,000 items in any number of groups that you create or join. It can be a great tool for students to track progress and deadlines on components of a project, which would allow you to follow along easily with a color-coded system of green-yellow-red for items completed, in progress, and stuck or behind schedule.

Peergrade allows you to create assignments and allow students to submit their work for peer review and comments. You can have students review work anonymously or you can have the students' names visible (premium account feature), as well as randomly assign peer reviewers or select the pairings yourself. You have access to all the premium features and unlimited students for one month from the creation of your account. After that, you can select free or premium account options. Here are some tutorials that show how the tool works.

Diigo is a social bookmarking tool. It is an add-on to your internet browser than allows you to easily save websites to your Diigo account. The benefit of this tool is that you can create groups and collaboratively build a collection of websites, or even annotate or highlight sections of the website and share that with the group.

Explain Everything is a digital whiteboard that allows you to work collaboratively and create content live on your screen, record and narrate the session, and share the video. It works well for collaboration as well as creating animations and movies, making tutorials, or sketching interactive or visual lessons. It works equally well for the arts or for mathematical equations, so there are a number of ways to use the tool for education. Teachers and students can work on up to three projects with the free plan, and premium plans start at $3 a month (per user, so students would have to pay this too to access unlimited projects).

By now most faculty have used Zoom or attended a Zoom meeting. It is easy to preschedule and manage meetings in Zoom, and with a pro account through UCM you are not limited to the number of attendees or length of time for the meeting. You can share your screen and work collaboratively on projects, in addition to streaming events and live class sessions where necessary. Tips from Zoom for creating community in your virtual meetings.

Google Meet is easy to use, especially for people new to meeting virtually. You can launch a meeting directly from your email account in addition to pre-scheduling meetings for multiple attendees. That can be easier to understand how to use than creating and sharing a Zoom link and walking the person through downloading Zoom. It includes a whiteboard space and the ability to share your screen, as well as to turn on live captioning. Note: using external headphones or speakers or an external camera can be tricky with Google Meet, and using the built-in camera and mic tend to work best.

An alternative to Zoom and Google Meet that has been used in the business world for some time is WebEx. A free account allows for 1 host and up to 100 participants for a 50 minute meeting. The next level in the premium option would likely work for most educators and costs $13.50/month for one host, up to 100 participants, and up to a 24-hour meeting.

Blackboard includes tools that can be used for collaboration and discussions as well. Using the Discussion Board feature you can set up course-wide discussions, but you can also use the Groups feature to create a workspace for a subset of students. The Groups area allows you to turn on file-sharing, discussions, blogs, and other Blackboard features for the students in the group to use for collaborative work.