Education and technology are interweaved these days, and nearly every instructor has a few favorite edtech tools that make their job and connecting with learners a lot easier and much more fun.
As anything related to technology is constantly changing, new tools keep hitting the market, and older ones rise to prominence by broadening their scope or just upgrading their features, making them better suited for education. However, it offers a challenge for instructors as the most tech-savvy teachers need help to keep up with the newest and most valuable tools.
Here, we’ve compiled a list of EdTech tools that are becoming increasingly popular and widely used. These tools have become a part of every teacher’s arsenal, whether they are using them in in-person classes or as educational aids in online classrooms.
Social Learning Tools
The term “social learning tool” refers to
“An educational technology app that incorporates social software, media, social interactions, communities, and others to enhance education.“
Some of the most popular social learning edtech tools are;
Sakai
This open-source LMS (Learning Management System) provides dedicated social learning services and facilitates learning, teaching, research, and collaboration. Sakai’s key features include forums, chats, quizzes, and interactive learning. It is perfect for students who want free and easy-to-use learning tools.
EdApp
EdApp is one of the best social and educational technology tools that offers its users a wide range of academic courses, materials, functions, and solutions. In addition, learners can access various social learning courses once they sign up with EdApp.
The app’s standout features are dedicated forums, video conferencing, face-to-face learning, one-to-one mentoring, and others. EdApp is a go-to choice for those who prefer social learning and fun without investing heavily.
Headspace
Headspace is a distinctive learning app that presents its users with a broad range of solutions and courses focused on meditation, yoga, stress relief and management, spiritual empowerment, etc. If you are interested to learn these courses via social learning processes, then Headspace is an excellent choice.
ePals
One of the important names among the top educational technology applications is ePals. It offers competitive learning solutions facilitating collaboration, improved communication, and connection between learners and instructors. ePals is best for learners interested in technology-based learning or diverse social learning courses.
Peergrade
Students can utilize Peergrade to participate in competitive social learning through videos, documents, dedicated sessions, and other tools.
Furthermore, detailed feedback, assessments, and reports provide comprehensive information about students’ learnings, progress, and milestones achieved.
Learning Content Tools
These tools allow students to learn through innovative solutions that make the education process fun and engaging. Some of the learning content tools are as follows:
SimpliTaught
SimpliTaught is an eLearning platform that uses AI and machine learning (ML) to support college students. Our AI model hunts the web for quality content explaining the core concepts in textbooks. But that’s not it – our ML model watches student interactions with the content to personalize future recommendations. For educators, this means real-time insights into how students are interacting with their content, what’s working and what’s not, and most importantly, what they can change to make their courses more useful for students.
And the best part? Our community feature allows students and educators to connect and collaborate, which also supports social learning!
Edpuzzle
If learners want to learn in an informative, interactive, and fun way, Edpuzzle is the best tool to accommodate their needs. Edpuzzle enables educators to create interactive learning videos on different topics and integrates well with various apps and websites. Moreover, it provides a complete solution for students’ progress tracking, assessment, and monitoring to offer 360-degree feedback and an overview of learners’ needs.
Newsela
Newsela is an educational technology platform that offers diverse news, current events, news, respective learnings from the news, and information regarding myths, science, legends, technology, etc.
It provides extensive information, news, literature, and educational content to cater to different user requirements. So if you are looking to gain more knowledge on diverse topics or learn more about news, Newsela is the ed-tech app for you.
Bookful
Bookful is one of the top edtech tools, with several study materials, content, books, and relevant games. What sets this app apart from the rest is its extensive pool of segmented information in the form of books and other learning materials presented as 3D graphics and Augmented Reality (AR). Additionally, this app is widely accessible due to its compatibility with various platforms or media.
EducationCity
This educational technology application provides learning tools and software for schools and home learning. EducationCity takes the whole digital learning experience to a new level by providing dedicated learning solutions on Science, Language, and Math. It is a helpful app for students and teachers who want to learn subject-specific courses.
Lesson Planning Tools
Lesson planning plays a vital role in online learning, where you need to avail the educator’s roadmap to learn, progress, evaluate and optimize the effectiveness of their teaching and learning. There are several lesson planning edtech tools available. Here are a few:
Quizlet
Quizlet has many features, such as flashcards, textbook solutions, and expert learning and planning tools. To improve the overall learning experience, it also provides gaming and fun lesson planning and learning solutions.
Mentimeter
Mentimeter is an educational technology app offering solutions to create presentations on various lessons and topics and provide real-time feedback. It simplifies the lesson planning process and helps educators track, assess, and improve student learning through customized presentations. Moreover, it lets instructors give effective online lectures via interactive and engaging classes and lesson plans.
Wakelet
For effective learning, Wakelet is a popular educational tool with a dedicated solution for planning lessons, organizing, sharing, and tracking content. Utilizing the latest technologies can help you gather content such as documents, images, and text. In addition, it facilitates lesson planning by making the creation and sharing of multimedia resources easier.
Ted-Ed
Ted-Ed is the most efficient educational tool for lesson planning and learning. It allows you to plan, organize, create, and assess study lessons from abundant resources, including inspirational TED talks and educational and informational videos. Therefore, you can easily share, distribute, and track learning progress through such lessons.
Useful Tools
There are many additional educational technology tools available that meet the needs of the ed-tech industry in addition to the ones mentioned above. The best tools are listed here for your convenience.
Adobe Scan
It is one of the essential educational technology tools that help scan documents and upload them online, thus aiding in online tests, assessments, and learning.
Grammarly
A well-known tool for checking grammar, identifying problems, and fixing them is Grammarly.
Zoom
This online meeting app is frequently used as an ed-tech tool that facilitates online learning, virtual discussions and question-and-answer sessions, one-on-one sessions, and other activities.
Draw.io
This tool aids in the creation of numerous diagrams, meeting the needs during learning, document creation, and other activities.
Storybird
Through a variety of writing prompts, tests, lessons, and other features, Storybird aids in the development of creative writing, critical thinking, and knowledge of numerous subjects.
Touchcast
It is an effective ed-tech tool that makes learning fun and interactive. The Touchcast platform offers interactive learning sessions, Q&A, polls, quizzes, and other features to meet the needs of online learners.
Conclusion
Due to the increasing popularity of online learning, the demand for educational technology tools has increased over the past decade. Thus, this trend will get more prominent in the future due to the adoption of newer technologies and digitization.
If you are planning to utilize an ed-tech tool to enhance and improve the educational journey of students, you can get started with SimpliTaught and many other platforms mentioned above. The features that set SimpliTaught apart from others are that it altogether encompasses the qualities of social learning, lesson planning, and learning content tools.
