3 Tech Tools to Keep Online Learning Current
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Online learning is the new norm, which means it’s time to mix things up! Here are three tech tools you can use to keep online learning current.
Adobe Spark is a web- and mobile-based tool that allows users to design visual content in the form of posts, videos, and web pages. Adobe Spark has three components: spark post, spark video, and spark page. Spark post creates a visual storyboard that represents what the user is desiring to convey. With spark Video the user can utilize images, video clips, and symbols to create a one-of-a-kind learning tool. Not a coder? No problem! Spark page allows the user to insert pictures, videos, and text to curate content that reflects their unique perspective. This entire suite of Adobe spark tools is not just for students; educators can also use them to create their own learning artifacts.
To get started, sign up for a free account or download the mobile application via the iOS app store. There are a variety of themes and templates to choose from for every tool, and it’s easy to upload videos to YouTube, embed pages into a learning management system (LMS) such as Blackboard, and send out URLs for posts to anyone you like.
Quizlet is a test-taking tool that is both easy to set up and easy for students to use. Once you set up your free account, you simply click “create” on the dashboard to make a quiz, which can then be uploaded to a course in any LMS. The quiz has five optional modes for the student: Learn, Flashcards, Write, Match, and Test.
One of the top benefits of using quizlet is that it helps students with retrieval practice, or when a student is made to recall information for a test or quiz. Retrieval practice increases information retention more than a comparable amount of time spent studying without quizzes. Students are also not limited to using only their laptops to study, as Quizlet is conveniently accessible on smartphones. That means students can use retrieval practice, improve their scores, and succeed in class from school, home, out shopping, or wherever they want.
The final of our three tech tools uses text messages as the main form of contact. A 2018 study examined the effects texting had on students in Ohio and West Virginia Community Colleges in the STEM program. Findings showed that students who received text message nudges from their professors performed better than the group of students who didn’t receive text message nudges. Remind allows educators to communicate with students via text. Once a teacher creates a course and students sign up, students can send and receive messages by text, app, web, and e-mail. One of the best features of this free and simple messaging tool is that it keeps the instructor’s and student’s personal information, including phone numbers, private.
Allison Green
Boston Tutoring Services