Back to School :10 Totally Awesome (Yet Free) Apps for Teachers
In today’s world, teachers have one of the most difficult and least appreciated jobs as most of them spend many unpaid hours after school doing extra work coming up with lesson plans and managing their classrooms. From helping students collaborate to communicating with parents, from keeping track of grades to sharing lesson plans, teachers now have a host of web-based tools at their disposal to help them stay organized and make their jobs easier. With the increase of teachers using blogs and wikis, and students networking and utilizing online tools, the demand for easier and more efficient ways of learning is on the rise. To me, the growing interest for web-based learning is amazing, which brought me to thinking that if I were to consolidate some of the helpful online products and services that can help students, teachers and administrators alike. Here is a collection of ten teacher applications that are making it easier for teachers to manage the administrative tasks so they can focus more energy on helping students learn.
BrainHoney is a learning platform, not a curriculum provider. It was developed with the assumptions that students learn at their own pace, that learning takes place both inside and outside of the classroom and that learning should be aligned with objectives. It provides teachers with a grade book, objective mastery charts to create activities, assignments, quizzes, assessments or complete courses in alliance with new or existing state or school standards.
Google Apps offers for educational institutions its services at discounted rates and if that is not something that your Principal will agree to pay, there is always the free Gmail account with a huge capacity compared to hotmail or any other accounts. Email is considered to be the preferred mode of communication for students and parents alike. Shooting an email seems to be official rather calling parents at work may not be the most efficient option for both the parties.
This web application serves as an online docking management system that facilitates real-time communication. The service can automate the process of getting feedback and approval on projects created with just about any file type. It enables groups to access a shared document and make notes and corrections. It saves time in group projects, draft assessments and even grading.
Instead of printing paper quizzes and grading them by hand, teachers can use ClassMaker to make online assessments that are graded instantly. Teachers can choose between five different formats including essay responses (obviously excluded from the “instant grading” feature). They can also randomize test questions and set time limits. Moreover this online test generator allows teachers to embed the tests in websites, grade all the tests online and send the results right away to students and parents as well.
Edmodo.com is a private online social platform for teachers and students to share ideas, files, events and assignments. Built on a microblogging model, the site allows teachers the ability to handle a good deal of class activity online. Teachers can send out assignments, receive completed assignments and assign grades using the online platform. Teachers can also use the site to send text (SMS) alerts to students.
Plagiarism Detect is another high-tech plagiarism program crafted for the teachers. As internet has provided easiness for students, but some students misuse this opportunity by completely copying data from internet without using their brains and skills. So this application is really helpful for teachers to keep a check on such students and bring them back on right track.
Engrade is an application that fosters organization and efficiency in education. Teachers can use this tool to manage grade books and attendance books, post assignment due dates and add individualized student reports. And this is considered to be one of the most popular applications for teachers.
Originally part of You Tube, Teacher Tube is a focused video sharing site that holds videos of interest to teachers. The videos range from those you could actually use in the classroom with your students to those that are designed to help you solve classroom issues and get new ideas for presenting lesson plans and motivating your students.
Sparknotes has evolved to serve students and teachers on the World Wide Web. This application helps students learn and practice basic skills, write a paper, study for a test and achieve their academic goals. From summaries of classics like to Science guides, teachers can utilize this app for supplementary learning.
It is an online spreadsheet app with widespread teamwork features. This application is very useful for teachers as it helps them to plan and schedule classes for upcoming semester as it is very important for teachers to plan this before time for their comfort. And the most interesting feature is many users at the same time can edit the document and it is visible to everyone as it has the ability to be embedded in the school’s official webpage or blog.
