# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Welcome to Online Tools for Teaching and Learning!

This site was designed to help you identify online tools that you might use for teaching or learning. Each page includes a wealth of information about a specific tool (e.g., price, ease of use, description of the tool, innovative ways to use the tool for teaching and learning) to help you evaluate the tool and determine whether to use it in your practice.

This site was created as part of a collaborative class project at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Students in the class conducted in-depth research about four online tools and designed pages for each tool.

**The site was updated in 2019 with 21 new tools (see 2019 New Tools page).

If you have any questions about this site, please contact Dr. Torrey Trust.

The tools on this website are organized according to the National Research Council's (2000) four types of learning environments: assessment-centered, community-centered, knowledge-centered, and learner-centered.
Assessment Tools
Assessment tools (e.g., Kahoot, Socrative, Google Forms, ePortfolios) allow educators to conduct pre-course/lesson, formative, and summative assessments.
Community Tools
Community tools, including social media, virtual games, and collaborative design spaces, encourage and foster social learning experiences.
Knowledge Tools
Knowledge tools, such as virtual timeline creators, mind mapping software, and study sites (e.g., flashcards, tutorials), help students acquire, construct, and organize information.
Learner-Centered
Learner-centered tools can be used to personalize, differentiate, and empower learning.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Online Tools for Teaching & Learning - Designed by students in EDUC 595A at the University of Massachusetts Amherst

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Welcome to Online Tools for Teaching and Learning! This site was designed to help you identify online tools that you might use for teaching or learning. Each page includes a wealth of information about a specific tool (e.g., price, ease of use, description of the tool, innovative ways to use the tool for teaching and learning) to help you evaluate the tool and determine whether to use it in your practice.

# data[].attributes.headline
Fantastic Selection of interactive videos to use for teens and adult learners

# data[].attributes.subject
Fantastic Selection of interactive videos to use for teens and adult learners

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The British Council brings British culture and the English language to millions across the globe. Our work in Arts and English reflects this goal, and The English Channel combines arts content with English-language learning.

# data[].attributes.headline
British Council Covid19 learning Support

# data[].attributes.subject
British Council Covid19 learning Support

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Many of you around the world are having to stay at home. We'd like to share some ideas with you on how you can make the most of your time by practising your English.

Use the free resources on LearnEnglish

Whether you have ten minutes or an hour to practise each day, you'll find a wide variety of learning materials to help you make progress and improve your language skills. All the material on the LearnEnglish website is designed for self-study to support your learning.

We also have support for parents of primary-aged children on our LearnEnglish Kids website and learning support for teenagers on LearnEnglish Teens.

Take our online level test: Start by taking our free English grammar and vocabulary test to help you find your level. All the material is labelled with the level, to make it easier to find material to suit your needs.

Explore our Skills sections: In our Skills sections you can find self-study lessons to practise your listening, reading and writing skills. There are different types of texts and audio recordings, all with interactive exercises and worksheets that practise the skills you need. Choose your level and then choose a lesson!

Practise grammar: In this section you can improve your grammar with our clear and simple grammar lessons. The lessons start with an exercise to test your understanding, then an explanation to improve your grammar knowledge and finally another exercise to test your understanding again to see if you have improved. Choose your level and then choose a grammar point!

Read our Magazine sections: Are you looking for something quick to read? Our Magazine and Business magazine sections have short interesting articles for you to read about special days and business topics.

Watch a YouTube video: Our Video zone is a selection of YouTube videos about a wide range of topics. To make them easier for you to understand, we have prepared preparation activities to teach the difficult vocabulary and we've also written out the transcript so you can read and listen to help you understand. When you've watched the video, you can do the exercises to check your comprehension.

Challenge a friend or colleague: If you want to play a quick online game and practise your English vocabulary at the same time, have a go at Wordshake. See how many points you can get in three minutes! You can challenge a colleague to play too and compare your points to see whose English vocabulary is improving the most.

Take an online course

With our online English classes and courses, you'll soon improve your English speaking, listening, reading and writing skills. Our teachers are highly qualified and will help you build your confidence as well as your English level.

Download our LearnEnglish apps

We also have a selection of apps for both adult learners and primary-aged and pre-school children. Download the LearnEnglish Podcasts app to listen to Learn English from Home, a brand new podcast series with three episodes a week, especially for those of you who are staying at home because of Covid-19.

Follow us on Facebook and Instagram

Our social media team is working around the clock on our Facebook and Instagram channels to keep you up to date with the latest material on the website. They also share lots of interesting videos and links, and you can share your thoughts, ideas and suggestions with our learning community.

We hope these suggestions help at this challenging time, and you may find these become new English learning habits even after the world goes back to normal.

Take care and best wishes,

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Many of you around the world are having to stay at home. We'd like to share some ideas with you on how you can make the most of your time by practising your English. Whether you have ten minutes or an hour to practise each day, you'll find a wide variety of learning materials to help you make progress and improve your language skills.

# data[].attributes.body
6 Ways to teach English

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
How can teachers of English create learning material with streaming services? Melissa Thomson, a British Council teacher and trainer based in Bilbao, describes her top six approaches.
Last year I asked my teenage learners to list the five places they were most likely to encounter English online, and the top answer was Netflix.

Over 37 per cent of the world's internet users subscribe to Netflix, a streaming service for movies and television series.

Almost everyone I know is a user of media-streaming services. That includes friends, family, colleagues and my learners.
I asked my learners what they watched
I also asked them how much they watched, and how they watched it (such as with subtitles or dubbed). From this, I made a list of series and films that most of the class had seen. I used these for lesson material.

I involved my learners in the planning process by asking them what language skills they wanted to improve.

They often told me that they didn't have time for homework, but also said that they spent between a few hours each weekend to a few hours every day watching television online. So, I suggested setting homework tasks based on series and films.
Learners have varying tastes in series and films
From my experience, this doesn't matter. My learners were motivated and interested in the material because they chose it collectively.

I was surprised to discover that most learners watched their favourite series in its original version without dubbing. Many, however, grew up watching dubbed series and films.

Learners with a lower level of English chose to use subtitles.

If you plan on using streaming services with your learners, please do so legally, following copyright and viewing laws for the country where you are based.
Activity 1: Take a film still Level: beginner to advanced
Ask your learners to watch a television episode or film of their choosing at home, and to bring a drawing or other image of their favourite scene to the next class. Ask learners to discuss their images using conversation starters:

In this scene there is...

We can see...

The main character / (name of character) is +ing

He/she is about to....

Before, he/she was +ing

You can adapt this activity for all levels, and it can last anywhere from 30 seconds to five minutes.

You could ask a beginner to describe what they can see. You could ask an intermediate learner to say why the scene is important, or what came before and after the scene.

Advanced learners could ask questions to do with production and direction:

What camera angle would you have chosen for this scene?

Advanced learners could also describe the film still to their partner without showing it to them. This will take away the temptation for learners to provide basic descriptions, while adding the fun of imaginative thinking.

For more practice on recalling the events in the image, ask learners to have their conversation in groups rather than pairs.
Activity 2: Language detectives Level: elementary to advanced
Tell your learners that they will watch their next English show as a language detective. Throughout the episode, they have to observe and note down examples of the language you've been studying in class.

Learners can show their observations on posters in the classroom, which could include the usage of certain tenses or phrases. It's a great activity for raising grammar awareness and improving noticing skills. It also shows learners how the lessons in their textbook are used in real-life situations.
Would you like to receive more articles like this? Sign up for our monthly newsletter. Activity 3: Thought bubbles Level: beginner to advanced
Ask your learners to choose one episode of a television series that they will all watch during the week.

Next, have them develop a phrase or series of phrases to insert into the episode at crucial moments, like:

I can't believe he/she just did that!

This is boring.

While each learner watches the series at home, they must choose where they think the thought bubble fits best, and note the timing in the episode.

When they return to class, place learners in small groups to explain their decision. Monitor, and choose the best example to show to everyone.

Depending on their level, the learners can discuss their choices in their first language or in English. Teachers could assist learners with a lower level of English by providing scaffolding sentences:

I think X's idea is best, because...

I recommend setting a three-minute time limit for this step. The time limit often gives learners an incentive to reach a decision.

The task gives learners a reason to listen and concentrate on reading between the lines, thus developing information literacy and critical thinking skills.
Activity 4: Thought bubbles, part two Level: intermediate and up
Re-use the episode from the previous activity. Instead of inserting their thoughts into the scene, learners will dub over the dialogue using their own script.

For the best outcome, I recommend choosing a funny or dramatic scene with only two or three characters and some movement.

Re-play the scene to your class and ask them if they can remember the exact dialogue. They might remember the gist but not the actual words.

This is ideal because the activity requires learners to dub the scene by writing the script or improvising, depending on the skill you want them to practice.

Learners can either stay true to the story, or stretch themselves by doing a parody version. They can then perform their scene in front of the class.
Activity 5: Three, two, one Level: upper intermediate and up
As in the previous two activities, the whole class will need to decide on one episode to watch. Instruct your learners to watch it in the original language with English subtitles, and to take notes of the following items:

three words or phrases they learnt from the episode (this works best if learners have a dictionary nearby while watching)

two of the best lines of dialogue

one best scene.

In class, you can give feedback by dividing your board into three corresponding sections. Ask learners to fill in their observations. Work with them to:

create sentences with the words/phrases they've chosen

form corresponding dialogue with the best lines

discuss why they liked their chosen scenes.

You could also ask your learners to make posters to display on the walls.
Activity 6: Documentaries as research Level: upper intermediate and Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) classes
This activity works well if your class prefers documentaries to fictional series, or if you are a CLIL teacher (a subject teacher teaching in English).

There are many biopics and documentaries online that learners could use to research a famous person, location, animal or concept of interest.

Ask learners to watch a documentary at home and take notes on six-to-eight important events or ideas. In class, your learners can turn their notes into a piece of writing or a presentation.

If you are a science, history or geography teacher, you could set up a poster project in which learners use a documentary film as their research.

With this 'listening into writing' activity, learners will practice valuable note-taking skills. Graphically representing a process or explaining a concept in a poster uses creative and evaluation skills, which can make it a motivating activity.
This is how my learners responded
I found it interesting to see how my learners' interests outside of the classroom influenced their classroom material, and vice versa.

My learners became more interested in the series they liked, because the class activities allowed them to better understand the dialogue and scenes. A few of them even caught the bug for a new series that a classmate had recommended.

My class was motivated to talk about their homework in class and just wouldn't stop watching episodes, films and documentaries in English outside the class.

What more could a teacher of teenagers ask for?
Teachers, visit our TeachingEnglish website for more lesson plans and activities, and find out how you can become a TeachingEnglish blogger.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Netflix and learn - six ways to teach English language skills with television

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
How can teachers of English create learning material with streaming services? Melissa Thomson, a British Council teacher and trainer based in Bilbao, describes her top six approaches. Last year I asked my teenage learners to list the five places they were most likely to encounter English online, and the top answer was Netflix.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Here you can find a wide range of ideas for using stories and poems in your secondary classroom. All of the materials are based on authentic texts or stories written especially for secondary learners and are designed to engage and motivate teenagers as well as develop their understanding of important themes and encourage personal, social and emotional development. Written by young learner experts from around the world, our ideas for using stories and poems are easy to use and aim to give your students the skills and confidence they need to enjoy learning English.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Here you can find a wide range of ideas for using stories and poems in your secondary classroom. All of the materials are based on authentic texts or stories written especially for secondary learners and are designed to engage and motivate teenagers as well as develop their understanding of important themes and encourage personal, social and emotional development.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
If we missed any helpful resources along the way, please let us know and we'd be happy to add it to our list.

131+ Tools for Distance Learning

We've scoured the web for helpful apps, tools, and platforms to help you as you set up your distance learning environments during your school closures.

If we've found the organization has announced something confirming COVID-19 supports, we include the link within the description of the tool.

Full Curriculum Coverage Distance Learning Tools

1. Albert: Thousands of standards-aligned practice questions for grades 6-12. Curriculum coverage of ELA, Math, Science, Social Studies, AP, SAT®, ACT®, Regents, STAAR, and Common Core needs. Click here to evaluate Albert for free.

2. ABCmouse: Reading, math, science, art & colors curriculum for ages 2-8. They offer a 30-day trial after you watch their video on their homepage.

3. BrainPOP: Over a 1,000 short animated movies for grades K-12 in all subjects, with quizzes and related materials. You can request free unlimited use of the BrainPOP suite for the duration of your school closure here.

4. CK-12: Free and customizable K-12 open educational resources that are aligned to state curriculum standards.

5. EducationCity: Targeted at grades PreK-6 providing lesson plans, resources and activities. 21-day free trial here.

6. Edulastic: Library of standards-aligned practice questions to create assessments in minutes. They're offering Premium and Enterprise features for free until July 1, 2020. Learn more here.

7. IXL: K-12 curriculum supports for math, language arts, science, stocial studies, spanish, and Common Core. Teachers can start a 30-day trial account here.

8. : 100% free covering a wide range of subjects. Particularly strong in STEM subjects.

9. MobyMax: Targeted towards K-8 teachers providing CCSS-aligned content, assessments, and activities. Free COVID-19 support announcement here.

10. Nearpod: Thousands of customizable lessons with student activities. Request support here.

11. PBS: Free K-12 classroom resources ranging from media galleries, videos, and lesson plans. Create a free account for full features.

Reading or English Language Arts Distance Learning Tools

1. Albert: Thousands of standards-aligned practice questions for grades 6-12. ELA content is high-interest, evidence-driven, with built-in differentiation. Click here to evaluate Albert for free.

2. Accelerated Reader: Reading quizzes on a variety of books. Requires subscription.

3. ActivelyLearn: Standards-aligned ELA, Science, and Social Studies for promoting students to stop and ask questions. COVID-19 offer here.

4. Book Creator: Lets you create digital books online. Fosters creativity in the classroom for telling stories and more. They're offering 90-days of free access you can start using here.

5. BoomWriter: For grades 2-8. Somewhat similar to Book Creator in that it allows students to create original stories that can be published into softcover books. But also allows teachers to send students engaging fiction and non-fiction and vocabulary exercises.

6. CommonLit: 100% free site that provides a digital lesson library, formative insights, and interim assessments. Features some Spanish materials as well.

7. Epic: Digital library for K-5. There are learning videos and quizzes within as well.

8. Learning Ally: Equitable access to a large library of "human-read" audiobooks, including, curriculum-aligned literature, fiction and nonfiction, and STEM textbooks.

9. MyOn: Digital library of 6,000 titles sorted by grade and Lexile reading level. Requires subscription.

10. Newsela: Leveled readings to build literacy skills. Most require a subscription.

11. ReadWorks: Free content, curriculum, and tools for grades K-12 targeted at building reading comprehension. You can read about their recommendations regarding using the site remotely here.

12. Starfall Reading: Targeted at K-3 for teaching basic English reading and writing skills. Lots of games and phonics. Some features require a subscription.

13. StoryKit: Simple free storybook creation app that allows students to add pictures and recordings with their own voices. Targeted at K-5.

14. ReadTheory: This is an online reading comprehension platform that is completely free for teachers.

Writing Distance Learning Tools

1. Albert: 100% free grammar course with over 3,300 original practice questions and explanations. Includes contemporary, informative and engaging texts and aligns to Common Core, Regents, and TEKS standards.

2. Draftin: Simple site that allows you to have students share drafts with easy version controls. Good for those who may not want to use Google Docs and wants to emphasize focus in writing. Has a free version.

3. Grammarly: Free browser extension or desktop tool that detects tone, typos, and helps build cleaner writing skills.

4. Hemingway: Similar to Grammarly, provides annotations to help make student writing bolder and more clear. Free.

5. Quill: Free writing and grammar activities for K-12. Includes lessons for teachers to lead writing instruction as well as diagnostics.

6. Scholastic Story Starters: Tool focused for K-6 to help students brainstorm ideas for writing a fictional story. Prompts for adventure, fantasy, and sci-fi are included.

Math Distance Learning Tools

1. Albert: Hundreds of free questions and explanations in Foundations of Algebra and Algebra 1. Aligned to Common Core, Regents, and TEKS standards. Albert is providing supports for impacted schools you can learn more about here.

2. Dad's Worksheets: This site provides printable worksheets, online calculators, games and puzzles for free. Targeted for K-6.

3. DeltaMath: Interactive math practice for middle and high school students. Accounts are free for teachers and students.

4. Desmos: Free online graphing calculator that includes digital activities for students from 6th to 12th grade. Teachers can create accounts to assign student activities.

5. Free Math App: A platform where teachers can assign, review, and leave feedback on student work.

6. FunexpectedApps: Targeted for kids 3-7 to develop mathematical thinking. They are offering a pack of free activities and a free desktop version of their app.

7. Geogebra: Online tools for graphing and geometry. Classroom resources and activities are free.

8. Illustrative Mathematics: Free math curriculum and resources for grades K-12 with a focus on creative word problems.

9. LegendsofLearning: 2,000 3rd through 8th-grade math and science games and simulations correlated to state standards. They are offering free access to all premium features for schools closed due to the outbreak for the duration of their closure.

10. Mathigon: An interactive math textbook where students can learn and practice new concepts. Targeted towards high school students.

11. Mathletics: An adaptive, interactive math platform centered on math challenges and quizzes that allow students to "compete" with one another. Schools and home users can try a 30-day free trial.

12. Mathsonline: A collection of math tutorial videos, questions, and summaries. Accounts are required, but students, teachers, and parents can get a free trial.

13. Mathspace: An adaptive mathematics platform including practice questions and interactive textbooks.

14. Myimaths: Math lessons and homework assignments for students ages 11 to 18. Schools can sign up for a 30-day free trial.

15. National Association for the Education of Young Children: Activities that parents and guardians can do with young children (elementary and below) at home.

16. National Council of Teachers of Mathematics: Resources and activities for student exploration of mathematics.

17. SplashLearn: Game-based math learning program for grades K-5 available on iOS, Android, or Web. They're COVID-19 support announcement can be found here.

18. The Math Learning Center: Free games and activities for students in Pre-K through 6th grade.

19. VirtualNerd: Math video support in middle school, Pre-Algebra, Algebra 1, Algebra 2, and Geometry.

20. Youcubed: Inspirational math tasks, films, and textbooks to help students develop a growth mindset.

21. Zearn: Digital lessons and printable activities aligned to EngageNY and Eureka Math. Resources are free and targeted towards grades K-5.

Language Learning Distance Learning Tools

1. Duolingo: 100% free language learning. Personalized with immediate grading and gamification. Optional paid subscription to remove ads and get offline access.

2. Fabulingua: Teaches Spanish through magical interactive stories on phones and tablets specifically for kids ages 2-10. FabuLingua is suspending their subscription services and providing their entire platform for free to those impacted.

3. FluentU: Language immersion through real-world videos. 14-day trial is available to sign up for.

4. Fluency Matters: Provides e-courses that include e-books, audiobooks, quizzes, and activities. Typically $3.50/student. They're offering extended 21-day trials. More information here.

5. justlearn: Here you can find a native tutor and online teacher to help you with language learning.

6. TeachVid: Allows you to create language learning content with interactive text reconstruction activities and quizzes

7. English Tools: Over 25 free tools for learning English language learners, including grammar tools, worksheet creation tools, and more.

Science Distance Learning Tools

1. Albert: Thousands of standards-aligned practice questions for grades 6-12. Science content is high-interest, evidence-driven, with built-in differentiation. Click here to evaluate Albert for free.

2. Discovery Education: Arguably best known for their science textbooks, but also support other STEM subjects. They are providing free access to their materials for the remainder of the school year. Learn more here.

3. Mystery Science: Interactive lessons targeted at K-5 science curriculum that are NGSS-aligned and Common Core aligned. They've made their most popular lessons free here.

4. STEMScopes: K-12 STEM curriculum with digital resources, print materials, and exploration kits. General information of how their online platform can support during this time can be found here.

Computer Science Distance Learning Tools

1. Codecademy: Free basic courses in computer science. Paid subscription optional; subscription unlocks members only content, study-plans, real-world projects and community support.

2. Minecraft Education Edition: Perfect for students to learn problem-solving - free lessons through June 30 with more details here.

3. Penjee: Free site that provides a supportive way to learn your first text-based programming language.

4. Tynker: Coding site targeted for ages 5+. Includes a complete coding curriculum, automatic assessments, and classroom management tools. Google form for COVID-19 supports can be submitted here.

Social Studies Distance Learning Tools

1. Library of Congress: Classroom materials and digital collections for teachers that align to CCSS as well as state standards. Sortable by Common Core, State Content, and Organizations.

2. National Constitution Center: Free online civics learning including the Interactive Constitution and Scholar Exchanges, live virtual interactive conversations about the Constitution.

3. Seterra: Geography games for students. Targeted primarily at grades K-5. Learn more about their free access announcement here.

4. Smithsonian Education: Features a Learning Lab that allows you to build collections and educational experiences for students. Also has a Game Center for younger STEM learners and an extensive library on AMerican history.

5. Stanford's Civic Online Reasoning Curriculum: Provides free lessons and assessments for students to evaluate online information. The Stanford History Education Group provides other history lessons for free here as well.

6. Teaching Tolerance: Site dedicated to providing free resources K-12 for creating civil and inclusive school communities. You can build a learning plan following their guide here.

7. Zinn Education Project: Targeted towards grades 6-12 built off Howard Zinn's A People's History of the United States. Free downloadable lessons and articles you can use based on theme, time period and reading level.

Return to the Table of Contents
Music Learning Distance Learning Tools

1. Cyber Fret: Video based guitar lessons.

2. Metronome: Online metronome.

3. Moosiko: Online practice tool for guitar teachers to help their students learn chords, play songs, and track skills.

4. Ultimate Guitar: World's largest source of guitar tabs.

5. Online Guitar Tuner: Tune your guitar online.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
131 Tools for Distance Learning & Strategies for Student Engagement | Albert Resources

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Has your school closed? We put together a list of 100+ digital and online tools to support distance learning and remote classrooms here.

# data[].attributes.headline
How to make your lesson more interactive

# data[].attributes.subject
How to make your lesson more interactive

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Unlike traditional EFL (English as a Foreign Language) texts, which are graded and fairly simple for lower level class, texts in CLIL books are usually long and more demanding in terms of vocabulary, structure and are usually different in terms of task types (e.g. students may have to complete a Venn diagram).

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
For an overview of making the transition to remote learning and resources to help you get started, see our remote learning home page.

Resources to assist educators and students with remote learning are available in Remote teaching and learning in Office 365 Education.

This article covers the actual steps to take in order to get your educational institution set up for remote learning.

Note

If you're an educator, educational leader, or IT professional, these resources may help:

Don't miss the March 4, 2020 blog, How schools can ramp up remote learning programs quickly with Microsoft Teams.

Learning online can be just as personal, engaging and socially connected as learning in a classroom. Students and educators can stay in touch and help each other using conversations, and can feel like they are meeting in person using live meetings. Educators can track student progress in their daily work using Assignments. No one needs to feel out of touch. Many students who learn online say they feel they have more of a voice, and they feel more connected to their educators and peers than they did in the classroom. And, just like in a classroom, educators can use the apps and functions of Teams to support how they work best.

Microsoft Teams is a digital hub that brings conversations, content, assignments, and apps together in one place, letting educators create vibrant learning environments. Build collaborative classrooms, connect in professional learning communities, and connect with colleagues - all from a single experience.

Within Teams, educators can quickly converse with students, share files and websites, create a OneNote Class Notebook, and distribute and grade assignments. Built-in OneNote Class Notebooks and end-to-end assignment management allow educators to organize interactive lessons and provide effective and timely feedback. Educational institute administrators and staff can stay up-to-date and collaborate using Staff Teams for announcements and topical conversations. Educators can share instructional material using Professional Learning Communities.

Use the best practices in this article to start using Teams for your educational needs to enable remote learning capabilities. Class Teams can be used to create collaborative class spaces, provide a virtual meeting platform, facilitate learning with assignments and feedback, and lead live calls with students.

Teams has clients available for desktop (Windows, Mac, and Linux), web, and mobile (Android and iOS) to make sure all your staff and students can stay connected.

Learn more about Teams usage scenarios at the Teams for education webinar series.

User accounts, licenses, and identity security

Teams leverages Microsoft 365 capabilities to authenticate users and provide services. Staff, instructors, and students should have identities established to facilitate collaboration. If identities do not already exist, follow this process to establish them.

Microsoft Teams is included in Office 365 A1, which is free for educational institutions. For IT guidance on how to deploy Office 365 and get your entire educational institution started on Teams, check out this page. For support, you can file a ticket here and for trainings on Teams, visit your local Microsoft Store to speak with a Specialist.

Easily set up Teams

These are the two things you need to do to get up and running with Teams:

1. Allow users to create teams

Students and educators will get the most out of Teams when they can use it with minimal barriers and have the flexibility to tailor it to their needs. One way users can tailor their Teams experience is by having the ability to create teams that meet their needs. By default, everyone can create Microsoft 365 groups and Teams. There are times when this capability may not be appropriate; for example, some customers may want to restrict primary-secondary students from creating Teams. If needed, Microsoft 365 group and Team creation can be restricted to certain security groups within your environment.

Higher education institutions benefit when you let everyone, including students, create teams for classes, research, group projects, and study groups. Primary-secondary schools may want to restrict students from creating Teams to make sure that all student to student communications are happening within a forum that include an adult. In this case, Microsoft 365 group and Team creation can be restricted to all educators and staff.

For a walkthrough of how to create Teams, check out: Create a class team in Microsoft Teams.

2. Configure user experiences using policies

Important

You can run the Teams for Education Policy Wizard to easily apply policies for your students, educators and staff. The tool adjusts the Global (Org-wide default) policy definition of a core set of policies with settings that we recommend for student safety and applies it to students. The tool also creates and assigns a set of custom policies to educators and staff. If you already used the wizard to apply policies for your students, educators and staff, use this article as a reference or only if you want to manually create and manage policies for your students, educators and staff.

Teams policies provide the ability to control the options available for specific users or groups of users. Policies can be applied to define who should be allowed to use private chat, private calling, meeting scheduling, content types that can be shared, and more.

Higher education staff, educators, and students benefit from the capabilities included with the default (global) policies. Some additional policy settings can be enabled to add more functionality to Teams, including enabling translate capabilities in the messaging policy and allowing for automatic meeting transcription in the meeting policy.

Primary-secondary school students may need restricted capabilities provided to students. Policies set boundaries on what the students can do. Because the student population is often the largest set of users and they often receive the most restrictive settings, it is recommended that student policy changes be made to the 'Global (Org-wide default)' polices.

Important

For meeting policies assigned to any users, we recommend setting the "Automatically admit people" setting to "Everyone in your organization". This setting will ensure that non-authenticated users must be admitted from the lobby before they can join Teams meetings. For more information, check out Manage meeting policies in Teams.

Primary school staff and educators should be assigned policies that grant the core capabilities that may be restricted for students. Create new policies that allow the for private chat and meeting scheduling (the default settings for a new policy). Assign these policies in bulk to your staff and educators.

Start using Teams

Create class teams for secure classroom use

Microsoft Teams for Education offers  specific team types  for educational use. The Class team type is designed for classroom use and comes with specific features that support classroom needs including:

Assignments

Grades

OneNote classroom notebook

Class Materials folder  for securing read-only content for students

Insights to provide real-time data regarding student's engagement, assignments, and well-being for each classroom.

Early educator access to set up the class before students are added

The ability to mute disruptive students and other special permissions

There are a few ways in which class teams can be created, and Teams for Education has a unique set of deployment tools to make it as easy as possible.

We'll step through various options to help you choose the right deployment path that best fits your needs.

Automatic team creation using SDS

Automating team creation saves both IT admins and educators time. It ensures that educators have all their class teams created and ready to set up upon sign in. School Data Sync (SDS) is a free Office 365 Education tool that reads the data from an educational institution's system of record, for example a Student Information System (SIS) or Learning Management system (LMS). SDS uses the data to enrich Office 365 setup in many ways, including creating class teams in bulk and staying in sync with your information system to keep your instructor and student membership updated as enrollment changes. SDS can import data from any system of record and has built-in connectors to many of the world's existing SIS vendors. We highly recommend using SDS, as it provides the following benefits.

Benefits

Automatic creation and maintenance of class teams - educators will be able to sign in to Teams and immediately start teaching.

Membership sync with SIS/LMS to maintain student membership changes.

EDU Customer Success Team available for free deployment assistance.

Early educator access: Educators have time to prepare their team before admitting students.

Optionally creates users and applies Office 365 licenses.

Creates security groups for use across Office 365 including Teams policy.

Creates Administrative Units for scoped administrative delegation and Teacher Password Reset.

Built-in error and retry handling, throttling backoff, and session stability for large scale processing to reduce work on admins.

Built-in cleanup capabilities to rename and archive groups and teams once they are obsolete.

Grade Sync: Educators can do all their grading in Teams and have it automatically write grades from Teams back to the SIS gradebook.

Student Data Protection: Prevent students from using non-Microsoft apps and to track and manage parent consent.

Imported data is used to enrich Education Insights with user roles, organizations (schools) and other important data.

Considerations

SDS creates teams in two steps. The first step creates a Microsoft 365 group in Azure Active Directory (Azure AD) and the second step automatically turns that group into a team. The second step of creating teams is optional in SDS. An admin may not want to automatically create teams depending on deployment time and the number of unused teams that may result. We recommend institutions with 500,000 teams or more to turn off the automatic team creation toggle in SDS and use the educator-led team creation method.

Get started

To get started, go to School Data Sync (SDS) and contact https://aka.ms/sdssupport deployment assistance.

Educator-led team creation from Office 365 class groups

Educator-led team creation is a great deployment option if you want to make it easy for educators to quickly create the classes they need. We also recommend that institutions with more than 500,000 teams use this method to minimize the number of extraneously-created teams.

This hybrid approach allows you to either use SDS to create groups for each class (recommended) or use Graph API to create them on your own. After class groups are prepared, educators can convert their groups into teams by using the Suggested classes icon.

Benefits

Early educator access: Educators have time to prepare their team before admitting students.

Reduces the number of unused and unnecessary teams. The classes are prepared and suggested but not created unless the teacher intends to use them. We recommend this option for large institutions that have more than 500,000 teams to reduce clutter.

SDS

Membership sync with SIS/LMS to maintain student membership changes.

EDU Customer Success Team available for free deployment assistance.

Optionally creates users and applies Office 365 licenses.

Creates security groups for use across Office 365 including Teams policy.

Creates Administrative Units for scoped administrative delegation and Teacher Password Reset.

Built-in error and retry handling, throttling backoff, and session stability for large scale processing to reduce work on admins.

Built-in cleanup capabilities to rename and archive groups and teams once they are obsolete.

Grade Sync: Educators can do all their grading in Teams and have it automatically write grades from Teams back to the SIS gradebook.

Student Data Protection: Prevent students from using non-Microsoft apps and to track and manage parent consent.

Imported data is used to enrich Education Insights with user roles, organizations (schools) and other important data.

Graph API

Additional flexibility and control.

Doesn't require integration with SDS.

Considerations

Not fully automated and requires some educator action.

Educators who don't have permission to create teams can still create teams from existing groups as shown here.

Graph API requires a high level of technical expertise and time to create and run the script and fix any issues when creating class groups.

Get started

To get started with the SDS method, go to School Data Sync (SDS) and contact https://aka.ms/sdssupport deployment assistance.

To use the Graph API method, see Graph API and Create a class team.

Note

To use this method with SDS, you'll need to turn the automatic team creation toggle off in your SDS profile. You can also use a combination of automatic and educator-led team creation for required and optional class teams by using two SDS profiles.

PowerShell script using Graph APIs

With PowerShell, you can write a script to create teams, channels and configure settings automatically. It requires the admin to first create the group, add educators and students, and then create the team as outlined here. You can also use the Microsoft Graph API to create, configure, clone, and archive teams. For more information, see Use the Microsoft Graph API to work with Microsoft Teams, Microsoft Teams PowerShell and Create a class team. Using Graph APIs is a great way to have more control and flexibility, however, it requires a high level of technical expertise and takes more time to set up initially.

Benefits

Additional flexibility and control.

Option to create early educator access teams or immediate student access to teams.

If you create teams from groups, educators will have early access and student membership changes to the Azure AD group will be synced.

Considerations

Requires a high level of technical expertise and time to create and run the script and fix any issues when creating class groups.

No built-in error handling or retry logic.

Membership changes are not synced with SIS.

Note

Class teams require hidden group membership so only educators and students within the class can see the members of that class. To create an Office 365 class group, see Create a class team to meet the same privacy requirements.

Manual team creation

Students and educators will get the most out of Teams when they can use it with minimal barriers and have the flexibility to tailor it to their needs. One way users can tailor their Teams experience is by having the ability to create teams. Educators set up their own class type team and invite students as shown here. Educators can invite students by adding students to the team, sharing a join code, or sharing a link to the team. If possible, it's best to have educators add their students to the team to ensure the students get access and are notified that they've been added to a team.

Benefits

Additional flexibility for educators.

Immediate team creation and access.

Considerations

Requires educator action and time.

Student membership is not synced with SIS and requires manual management.

Doesn't give educators early access to their teams. Students will gain immediate access.

Recommended best practices

Deploy early! Deploy early to ensure everything is working reliably and ready for the first day of school.

If you have more than 500,000 teams, we recommend using the educator-led team creation method. It reduces unused teams and clutter by only creating class teams that are relevant and needed.

If there are any issues (for example, classes are missing) with SDS automatic team creation and educators need them immediately, then they can use the educator-led team creation method to retry. Manual team creation is another solution, however, it won't keep your team membership updated.

The tenant team limit is 500,000 teams. Therefore, admins should proactively try to reduce the number of unused teams to avoid hitting these limits and extending their setup time. For more information about limits, see Limits and specifications for Microsoft Teams.

Early access to class teams

Early Access Class Teams allows educators access to their class teams before their students can view it and begin participating. This allows educators time to set up, add files, and get organized before granting access to their students. When they are ready for students to access the team, they can easily activate their class. As an admin, you also have additional control and capabilities around creating and setting up Early Access Class Teams.

How do I create class teams that allow educators early access to set up a team before admitting students?

Teams created from groups (through SDS, educator-led or Graph API) automatically create early access teams by default. To create your own early access teams using Graph API, you'll need to create a class and create the team from a group.

How do I check if a class is activated?

In the team resource type, we added a new property, isMembershipLimitedToOwners, to determine whether a class is activated. Use the Get Team API to query the isMembershipLimitedToOwners property for a specific class. If the team is activated, it will return a value of false. If the team hasn't been activated by the team owner, it will return a value of true.

How do I activate a class for an educator?

Use the Update Team API and set the isMembershipLimitedToOwners property to false to activate the team on your educator's behalf. Note that after a team is activated, it can't be reversed.

Create staff teams for staff communication and collaboration

Staff type teams are designed for educational institute administrators and staff to easily share information and work together on institute-wide initiatives, including making announcements, settings up meetings, sharing content, and bringing in external apps, like Planner for task tracking. Educational institute administrators can add staff members to the team via the team creation wizard, adding members after the team is created, or by sharing a join code or link to the team. Creating channels is a great way to organize conversation and files by workstream or subject. The Go-to guide for team owners is an excellent place to learn about team owner duties and capabilities.

Teams meeting scenarios

Collaborative meetings for virtual classes

In Teams, meeting organizers can end a meeting for all participants. With this capability, educators can ensure that students don't stay in a meeting unsupervised after a class is finished.

Recommended Tips & Tricks

You can learn more about how Teams is used in Education at: Microsoft Teams for Education.

Note

Some key Teams features are not specific to education. Tips and tricks for core Teams capabilities can be found at: Teams Help and Learning.

Prevent users from changing their profile photo

Teams honors the Outlook on the web mailbox policy setting that's configured by tenant admins to control whether users can change their profile picture. If the -SetPhotoEnabled setting is turned off, users can't add, change, or remove their profile picture. To prevent students or staff from changing or removing their profile picture, turn off this setting in the Outlook on the web mailbox policy that's assigned to them.

For example, if a student uploads a profile picture that's approved by your educational institute's IT or HR department, no action is needed. However, if a student uploads a picture that's inappropriate, change the picture according to your educational institute's internal policies.

Adoption content

Additional adoption resources include:

Support Readiness

IT professionals and support staff can get up to speed with Teams architecture and underlying use of Microsoft 365 capabilities with the Teams IT architecture posters and admin technical training.

Additional support resources include:

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Get started with Microsoft Teams for remote learning - Microsoft Teams

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
For an overview of making the transition to remote learning and resources to help you get started, see our remote learning home page. Resources to assist educators and students with remote learning are available in Remote teaching and learning in Office 365 Education.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.authors[].name
Russell Stannard (Teacher Training Videos)

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Teach on-line with Zoom:  Key settings you need to understand   #teachonline   #onlineteaching

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
How to make groups in Zoom | Zoom training for Teachers | Using Zoom for large groups

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
More than 300 million learners worldwide are affected by the spread of Coronavirus, and educators are striving to ensure that learning continues in spite of massive disruption.

Whether you're an educator or a learner, experienced in an online or distance learning environment or adapting to new challenges, at Pearson English our commitment is to support you and your educational objectives wherever you are.

If you're faced with a new remote class and you're not sure how to approach it, follow these six tips on our blog and you'll soon be ready to teach online.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
More than 300 million learners worldwide are affected by the spread of Coronavirus, and educators are striving to ensure that learning continues in spite of massive disruption. Whether you're an educator or a learner, experienced in an online or distance learning environment or adapting to new challenges, at Pearson English our commitment is to support you and your educational objectives wherever you are.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
A Bloom's Digital Taxonomy For Evaluating Digital Tasks
by TeachThought Staff

What makes Bloom's Taxonomy such a power tool is its flexibility in framing almost anything-which is why you've been seeing a lot of it around lately, and will likely continue to.

Whether you're creating a checklist for instructional design, evaluating an assessment, skimming a favorite unit of yours, or using it as a walk-through instrument to get a feel for the level of student thinking in a classroom, Bloom's Taxonomy is a powerful tool for any educator at any level.
See Also: Bloom's Taxonomy (New Edition) Digital Planning Verbs & Cards
So the following Bloom's Digital Taxonomy was was especially interesting in how it mashes digital tasks-podcasting, blogging, networking, hacking, bookmarking, social media sharing, and so on, with the stalwart learning tool so graciously delivered by Benjamin Bloom.

The result is Bloom's Digital Taxonomy, from edorigami's excellent wikispaces site.
One Takeaway
Thematically, this is a chart version promoting technology in learning-or rather technology-infused learning. It clearly suggests the cognitive burden so many common "internet" activities require, helping to visualize what these activities are asking our brain's to do when we do them.

The "Communication Spectrum" to the right lists the most common digital communication channels, though it's either a tad vague or outdated considering the limited discussion of specific social media platforms. Each platform-from facebook to pinterest, twitter to Google+ and everything in between has subtle differences between them that bear analysis when looking at exactly how we communicate.

While some of the activities could be placed in other categories-hacking, for example, could be in evaluating and creating-the end result is a well-laid out chart that helps demonstrate the potential of properly-designed technology-based learning activities.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
A Bloom's Digital Taxonomy For Evaluating Digital Tasks

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
A Bloom's Digital Taxonomy For Evaluating Digital Tasks by TeachThought Staff What makes Bloom's Taxonomy such a power tool is its flexibility in framing almost anything-which is why you've been seeing a lot of it around lately, and will likely continue to.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
1. Whole-group instruction

2. Guided practice

3. Independent practice

4. Reflection

1. Personalize whole-group instruction and gather formative data.

Whole-group instruction has traditionally been delivered in lecture format: the teacher stands in front of the class and presents the same lesson to everyone at the same time. Lessons can be personalized using Nearpod, which allows the teacher to control delivery from his or her device. The material appears on any student device, whether tablet, phone, or computer. The formative component allows teachers to embed quizzes, polls, a draw feature, and open-ended responses into the lesson.

Megan Cinfel, a first-grade #ipadacademy teacher in Bellevue (Nebraska) Public Schools, gathers her students on the rug in a circle, sits with them, and presents new math concepts to all of their iPads simultaneously. She uses the draw feature daily to collect formative data. Students use the pen tool to draw responses and send it back. Teachers immediately see the data and can share student work back to their screens in just a click. This is a powerful way for students to see peer responses and explain their reasoning.
Nearpod is a free presentation tool available for all computers, tablets, and phones. There is an app for Android and iPhone/iPad. All Nearpod features mentioned in this post are free, and additional features are available as in-app purchases.
2. Provide feedback to every student during guided practice from anywhere in the room.

Research shows that timely and immediate feedback has a significant impact on learning. Classkick allows teachers to see every student iPad screen, privately provides feedback while students are working, and has a feature where students can raise a virtual hand. These features transform how teachers provide feedback to students and how students interact with teachers.

Emily Salie, a sixth-grade teacher at Leonard Lawrence in Bellevue Public Schools, says that she enjoys using Classkick for guided instruction because she can see all student screens at the same time while each works at his or her own pace. Students easily draw, write, use different colors, and erase. "I love using Classkick," says Paige, one of Salies' students. "It lets us work at our own pace and ask silly questions without being judged, like we could be if we asked them out loud. It is super easy to fix mistakes."
Classkick is a free iPad app that allows teachers to assign student work, see iPad screens, and provide feedback as students work. Students can also edit and provide feedback to their peers.
3. Use screencasts for truly independent practice.

Screencasts are a powerful way for teachers to duplicate their presence and provide each student with his or her own personalized lesson. A screencast is a short, teacher-created video lesson. Cinfel creates screencasts of daily math lessons. What makes this so powerful is that each student controls the lesson and can work independently. They can pause, rewind, and listen to their teacher again. Additionally, those who miss class no longer lack the instruction, instead receiving the same lesson presented to their classmates

Discrete differentiation personalizes the learning. Students who need the material repeated can now listen as many times as they wish. Students can even slow the narration to ease comprehension. This has been especially beneficial to English-language learners (ELLs).

Another significant outcome is the teacher's ability to provide math interventions during the same block of instructional time. "I just have the students push pause on their lesson and join me for a few minutes of practice on a math skill they need based on the formative data I collected using Nearpod during whole-group instruction," says Cinfel. "They return to their seat, push play, and keep working. It is wonderful."
Educreations is a free screencasting app for the iPad. Videos open in the app and are hosted on the Educreations server. For a fee, you can add more features and storage.
4. Use video reflections for closure.

Cinfel's students create a daily reflection using the Explain Everything app to show what they know. By the end of the unit, they have video reflections showcasing all of their learning. These videos can be exported to the iPad's camera roll.

Students work harder on their videos when they know that they'll have a wider audience than just their teacher. They can upload their video to Seesaw, a digital portfolio app that allows them to view and comment upon one another's work. Students can check the Seesaw class feed and leave their peers either a written or audio comment. The audio feature makes it easy for our youngest students to leave comments. Everyone is thrilled to receive comments from classmates. Seesaw portfolios are also easy to share with parents.
Explain Everything is available through both iTunes and Google Play for $3.99. This whiteboard app has a number of tools that allow for creation and exports in many formats. Primary teachers like the simple interface available in settings. Seesaw is available as an app in iTunes and Google Play. Students can share their work by taking a picture of it, uploading a photo or video, and adding text or narration. Peers can comment and "favorite" posts. Parents can also access their individual student's portfolios.
Teaching and learning are transforming as technology becomes more accessible. Crafting a learning environment combining pedagogy and technology places students at the center of learning. Effectively leveraging technology to construct a personal learning environment is possible by leveraging these transformational tools every day.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
5 Apps to Transform Teaching and Personalize Learning

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Whole-group instruction Guided practice Independent practice Reflection Whole-group instruction has traditionally been delivered in lecture format: the teacher stands in front of the class and presents the same lesson to everyone at the same time. Lessons can be personalized using Nearpod, which allows the teacher to control delivery from his or her device.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Edutopia is a free source of information, inspiration, and practical strategies for learning and teaching in preK-12 education. We are published by the George Lucas Educational Foundation, a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
21 Digital Tools To Build Vocabulary
by Kimberly Tyson, Ph.D

If you follow this blog, you know that I believe effective vocabulary instruction is just about the most important instructional activity for teachers to get right. For lots of reasons. Vocabulary influences fluency, comprehension, and student achievement. How's that for starters?

In addition, a broad vocabulary is important for effective speaking, listening, reading and writing. Vocabulary is a foundational component of an effective K-12 comprehensive literacy framework. And, vocabulary plays an important role in the Common Core State Standards.

I write frequently about the importance of effective vocabulary instruction and my recent infographic - the 10 Do's and Don'ts of Effective Vocabulary Instruction - has proved very popular having been Pinned over 31,000 times. Since a broad vocabulary program includes both direct and indirect word learning strategies, the following online tools can be easily integrated to support word learning.

In today's 21st century classrooms, digital tools must coexist alongside more traditional tools. Online tools, compared to their more traditional counterparts, provide a broader array of information about words and word meanings. In addition, some tools allow teachers to easily customize words so that students can practice, review, and play games with content or unit-specific words.

Digital tools have advantages. For example, many allow students to:

hear pronunciations;

read words in a variety of authentic examples;

view photos and images related to words (important for English language learners);

reinforce word learning through interactive games;

play with and manipulate language;

discover rhyming words; and

collaborate with classmates to create virtual words walls.

The following digital tools show promise to support word learning, review, and playing with language. I've grouped these tools into four categories: Reference Tools, Word Clouds, Games and Review, Word Walls and Virtual Field Trips. They're not listed in any particular order, so check out the entire list. Like other digital tools, they're not all created equal. Choose tools carefully to support standards and learning goals.
21 Digital Tools to Build Vocabulary Reference Tools
Lingro is a cool tool for both the "wow" factor and for its usefulness. Simply type in a website address on the Lingro website and it instantly turns the website into a clickable dictionary that translates text in 12 languages. Lingro hides in the background until students need it. To use, students simply click on any word and several definitions of the word are instantly displayed. I could see this as very useful tool for just-in-time support for English language learners.

2. Lexipedia

Looking for a visual thesaurus? Then Lexipedia is for you. Simple to use. Just type in any word and Lexipedia instantly displays the target word along with other words. It also color-codes the words by both parts of speech and relationships. As you hover over a word, a complete definition is displayed.

Shahi, as described on the website, is a visual dictionary that combines Wiktionary content with Flickr images, and more! An absolute new favorite for me. Besides serving as a nonlinguistic tool, I can also see this as a very useful tool for English language learners.

4. Snappy Words

Similar to Lexipedia, Snappy Words is another visual thesaurus. Teachers may want to introduce several of the thesaurus tools and allow students to select which works best for them. The visually sparse, cleaner display of Lexipedia works better for me.

5. Visual Dictionary Online

Check out Webster's visual dictionary which is simple to use. Type in a single word or choose a theme that also includes many sub-categories from which to choose. Even though Webster's is simple to use, there is a downside to this tool. After typing in a word search, 4 or 5 Google ads quickly appear above the definitions. Distracting. Yuk. It's so clunky I almost didn't include this tool.

6. Word Hippo

An all-in-one reference tool, Word Hippo does the following: defines a word, provides a meaning, provides a word that is opposite, pronounces a word, provides rhyming words, places the word in many different contexts, and translates the word. Whew! That's a lot.

7. Wordnik.com

Wordnik has the look and feel of a traditional dictionary with a twist. Along with the definition, students can see images related to the word, hear related sounds, and even see tweets with the target word highlighted. The "related words" feature is particularly helpful. Wordnik also features a "Word of the Day," "Random Words," and pronunciations of words.

8. Your Dictionary

Your Dictionary bills itself as providing simple, straightforward definitions and the easiest-to-use online dictionary. That's about right. Sometimes simple is good. In addition to providing a definition, Your Dictionary also includes a thesaurus and places the word in varied sentence examples.

9. MathWords

Math Words is a simple-to-use online dictionary specifically for math terms and formulas. This dictionary appears most appropriate for intermediate and secondary students.

10. A Math Dictionary for Kids

A kid-friendly math dictionary. I like the simple, bright appearance that includes visual examples of each term. This math dictionary seems to be appropriate for elementary students.
Word Clouds
11. Wordle

Type (or copy & paste) in a chunk of text or individual words and Wordle generates a word cloud of the key vocabulary based on word frequency. Wordle can also be used for many varied purposes - check out these 52 ideas for using Wordle to support learning.

12. WordSift

Similar to Wordle, students type (or copy & paste) in a piece of text and WordSift sorts the text based on word frequency. The visual thesaurus that displays beneath the words is a nice addition in WordSift. With the visual thesaurus, students immediately see how words are grouped semantically. A useful addition, I think.

Tagxedo is a word cloud app with style! Tagxedo provides a good deal of customization for users. For example, if teachers or students want to create a word cloud in a shape such as the apple shown above, then Tagxedo is the right tool for the job. For younger students, Wordle is much more straightforward to use; however, older students will love the customization Tagxedo provides which includes colors, shapes, fonts, and themes.
Games and Review
14. Flashcard Stash

While I think that flash cards are sometimes poor practice, students can benefit from instant recognition. Fluency, if you will, with a specific set of words. Now, if understanding doesn't go deeper than instant recognition, students are in trouble. Teachers can sign up for a free account and create flashcards to coordinate with units of study.

15. Vocabulary Games

While I'm not a fan of word searches for review or "seatwork," this website also includes a wide assortment of other vocabulary games that can be used on a SmartBoard for review purposes. To make a tool like this more effective, be certain to review the meaning of words as students play games.

16. Vocabulary Spelling City

A beefed-up version of vocabulary games, Vocabulary Spelling City includes many more game-like activities useful for reviewing words. A number of teacher-made lists are included such as analogies, compound words, math words, and many more. The free version seems to include about 5 activities and teachers can save lists. "Teach Me" pronounces words and uses each word in context. Teachers can use pre-selected sentences or create their own. Vocabulary Spelling City is a useful tool for students, teachers, and parents. While there is both a free and paid version, Vocabulary Spelling City seems like a natural for PTA funding. The classroom paid version allows students to practice in school and at home as well.

17. VocabAhead

VocabAhead is a useful tool for secondary students and teachers. Short videos - 30 to 60 seconds - accompany each word and make this tool stand out among others for secondary students. The Study Lounge, for students, features leveled word lists (grades 6-12) and SAT word lists. Students can view videos, hear pronunciations, practice, take quizzes, play games, track performance, and more. In addition, teachers can create their own word lists for students. Custom word lists can be embedded in a blog or class website which makes integration and review a snap. Apple and Android apps are also available for free download.

18. Free Rice

At Free Rice, students can practice matching words to the correct definition, and donate rice at the same time. For each correct answer, the United Nations World Food Programme donates 10 grains of rice to a country in need. How's that for combining word learning with social goodness? When a student plays, there is a visual display of rice (see image) which is added to a bowl each time the student makes a correct response. Free Rice includes subject area lists in Geography, Science, Math, and others. It is leveled so students can play at just the right level of challenge for them.

Note of caution: Free Rice may be addicting to you and your students.
Word Walls & Virtual Field Trips
Padlet is an online space to create a collaborative, digital word wall. Getting a leg up on the more traditional word wall, Padlet allows users to create sticky notes that can include text, images, links and videos. Teachers can embed this into a classroom website or blog which makes it a go-to collaborative space for students. For primary students, teachers will probably want to create the wall with words and links for students. Older students will get the hang of it fairly quickly. A great, collaborative tool and virtual classroom space to build online references and key vocabulary for content units.

20. ThingLink

ThingLink is a tool for making images interactive. To use, simply upload an image, identify hot spots on specific parts of the image, and add text or web links to the image. In the classroom, teachers could use ThingLink to launch a unit by introducing students to key vocabulary or students could design interactive images as they become more familiar with vocabulary. There are many possibilities; I'd love to know how you use ThingLink to extend and deepen student learning.

21. TrackStar

TrackStar, a free online program, allows teachers to collect a series of websites and annotate them so that students can follow an online journey. With a little work, teachers can create a visual vocabulary field trip for students. Teachers determine topics which support units of study. TrackStar is a great way for students to experience multiple exposures to words in varied contexts ( a characteristic of effective vocabulary instruction).

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
21 Digital Tools To Build Vocabulary by Kimberly Tyson, Ph.D If you follow this blog, you know that I believe effective vocabulary instruction is just about the most important instructional activity for teachers to get right. For lots of reasons. Vocabulary influences fluency, comprehension, and student achievement. How's that for starters?

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
A collection of web and mobile based tools to help teachers & learners exploit the web

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
App users can also apply Google Street View by taking a picture in 3D and pushing that experience to virtual reality. "You and your students can create your own content," Martinez said.

"You can zoom in really close, the kind of close you can't get when you're at the museum," Martinez said. The app allows users to see brush strokes in detail, as well as some of the aspects of older art that aren't always visible to the naked eye, like elements that have been painted over.

If students click on the little yellow figure at the bottom (known as Pegman) they can dive into the 3D world of the museum space, affording them a view of other paintings on display in the same gallery. If a user is logged into a Google account, she can also create a gallery of art and even arrange works on a timeline.

World Wonders Project
This app is also part of Google Arts and Culture. Similar to Art Project, it lets students explore famous sites around the world like the Great Barrier Reef or Pompeii. Each site has videos, but also allows the user to dive into a 3D view when she clicks on Pegman. Students can zoom out to see a world map and pick locations all over the world.

YouTube
There are tons of powerful YouTube videos for learning available now, but it can be a giant task to search through everything to find the best clips. Martinez has started to compile a database of YouTube Channels by subject to help educators with discoverability (hint subjects are by tab along the bottom of the document).

If teachers have streaming problems in their schools, or filters that block YouTube, they can download the video from SafeShare.tv and upload to Google Drive.

YouTube Time Machine
This simple tool allows users to search and filter by time period. Unfortunately it depends on users who uploaded videos to accurately tag content. But it can be a useful tool for finding footage from historical moments relevant to class discussions and it's also possible to filter by subject.

Google CS First
Built on Scratch's programming language, this easy tool gives step-by-step instructions to get started and is great for the hesitant teacher who is just beginning to dip a toe into coding. Martinez estimates this works for grades 5th and up because the reading level of the instructions is more advanced.

Martinez has also created several posters about Google Apps For Education that are available to anyone for free. They can be a helpful reminder of different apps for different uses. She recommends adding the folder to a Google Drive account, which will automatically populate with any new posters that she adds.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
App users can also apply Google Street View by taking a picture in 3D and pushing that experience to virtual reality. "You and your students can create your own content," Martinez said. "You can zoom in really close, the kind of close you can't get when you're at the museum," Martinez said.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Welcome to the official guide to technology and learning by Edudemic! This part of Edudemic is meant to offer you, the teacher, some of the best and most popular resources available today. We've combed through hundreds of resources in order to narrow down our guides into something easy to read, easy to use, and easy to share.

Below are links to the guides we have made so far. They're always a work in progress so be sure to let us know if we missed something or if you have more resources you want us to call out in the guides. We're always looking for the best and most useful resources so don't be shy, share!
Just click on the title or image of each guide to view that particular resource. Enjoy! The Teacher's Guide To Twitter
Twitter has proven itself to be an indispensable tool for educators around the globe. Whatever skill level you may be, Twitter is downright fun and worth your time. So here's a useful guide that we curated from Edudemic's archives in an effort to put something together that was a bit easier to read than random blog posts. We hope you enjoy and will be regularly adding to this guide so feel free to leave your ideas down in the comments or by, what else, tweeting us @edudemic anytime!
The Teacher's Guide To Flipped Classrooms
We talk a lot about flipped classrooms on Edudemic. In fact, it's by far one of our most sought-after topic in terms of questions on social media, search queries, and more. So we thought it would be useful to organize all of our many resources into one easy-to-use guide. That's the teacher's guide to flipped classrooms. It's a curated list of all the most useful flipped classroom resources we've seen. We hope you find it interesting, useful, and want to lend your expertise to make it even better. Just leave a comment at the bottom of the page to share your flipped classroom resources with your fellow readers!
The Teacher's Guide To Copyright And Fair Use
Today, so much of our research happens online, and part of what makes the internet so wonderful is the ease at which it brings information into our lives. But when that information is so easily available to us, it is sometimes easy to forget that someone else produced that information, and they deserve credit. Plagiarism is as much an issue now as it ever has been. Teaching students about copyright is more than just letting them know that they should be doing their own work, and not copying off the web.
The Teacher's Guide To Google Glass
If you're as excited as Katie and me about Google Glass, this guide is for you. We like to take on the latest technology and see how it fits into education. If it doesn't, we typically don't write about it or will mention it in passing. But the potential for Google Glass in education is just too great. That's why we thought it would be useful to compile an early-stages 'Teacher's Guide to Google Glass.' Once the expensive pair of glasses actually makes it into the hands of a teacher, the typical lecture will become something totally different. In fact, much of the education process will be flipped as students will be able to view the world through the lens of a teacher (literally) and get a new perspective on learning.
The Teacher's Guide To Badges In Education
What encourages students to do well in school? Often, it comes down to grades. Many students will work harder in order to earn a higher grade. Colleges want to see good grades. Parents want to see good grades. Grades are good, right? Of course they are, but the grades should not be the only goal. Learning for the sake of it should be a goal, including what they learned, how long they remembered it, and how they applied it to new situations.

Unfortunately, some students are not motivated by grades. Yes, this includes your brightest kids. Some kids could get an A on any test you give them, so they do not see the need for homework. Why do an hour of work every night when they know they are going to get an A on the test? Now you have a student who gets Fs on all his homework and As on all his tests. It turns into a C average, and he doesn't care. How do you motivate him to do more or do better? The old-fashioned way - you give him a badge.
The Teacher's Guide To The Library Of Congress
We've discussed the benefits of the U.S. Library of Congress many times on Edudemic. Usually we focus on some particular parts of the vast amount of resources or instead offer a more overall picture of what it offers. This time around, we thought you might enjoy an actual guide (written for teachers and education in general) that's easy and a solid resource to refer back to as needed.

There's no denying what an incredible resource teachers have in the Library of Congress. As the largest library in the world, it's home to millions of books, recordings, photographs, and other materials, many of them original sources.
The Teacher's Guide To Keeping Students Safe Online
Most students are familiar with and active users of mobile technology. While it does facilitate sharing and knowledge exchange, it can be a dangerous tool if improperly used. By this I mean students using their smartphones (or dumbphones, for that matter) to share things they would never normally share. From inappropriate comments to sexting, it's a dangerous minefield.
The Teacher's Guide To Digital Scavenger Hunts
If you've got a smartphone or a tablet in your classroom, you're ready for the adventure to begin! By adventure I mean, of course, the world of active learning through digital scavenger hunts. In this hunt, students are tasked with finding a particular physical object, person, or place and have to use technology to track it down. Note: an 'online scavenger hunt' usually implies that you're hunting around online and not physically with classmates. For the purpose of this article, I'm focusing on the physical version I've dubbed 'digital scavenger hunts'.
The Teacher's Guide To Pinterest In The Classroom
Do you love to pin? Are you addicted to Pinterest? It's okay if you are. You're not alone. In fact, there are plenty of professors out there pinning right along with you. They're using it to share quotes, lectures, notes, research material, get student or peer critiques, and more. What follows below is one of the most useful infographics I've seen on Pinterest's role in education. And I've seen a lot. One of my favorite parts is toward the bottom where it lists out how exactly different universities are using Pinterest in the classroom (in the appropriately named 'In The Classroom' section).

More Guides Coming Soon!

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
The Teacher's Guides To Technology And Learning

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Welcome to the official guide to technology and learning by Edudemic! This part of Edudemic is meant to offer you, the teacher, some of the best and most popular resources available today. We've combed through hundreds of resources in order to narrow down our guides into something easy to read, easy to use, and easy to share.

# data[].attributes.headline
T-PLUS Technology for Professional Development

# data[].attributes.subject
T-PLUS Technology for Professional Development

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Wouldn't it be great if creating infographics was as simple as writing regular ol' text-based blog posts? Unfortunately, the reality is that making visual content like this usually takes a lot more time, effort, and let's face it -- skill -- than the written word. Usually.

But considering the popularity and effectiveness of visual content in marketing today, you can't just afford to throw in the towel.

That's why we decided to take all the pain and suffering out of infographic creation. Seriously -- don't give up just yet. You, too, can create infographics that are professional-looking, high-quality, and completed in under an hour. I'm going to prove it. First things first:

Then, all you have to do is provide the content to use inside them. Easy as that. In fact, I'm going to show you just how easy it is to make your own infographic by demonstrating with one of our 15 infographic templates in PowerPoint (pictured above). Then, I'll explain exactly what I did so you get a sense of how easy it really is.

Would you rather watch this tutorial instead of read it? Check out the video below:

How to Create Infographics for Free in Under an Hour

Step 1: Collect Your Data/Content, and Choose Your Desired Template

Your first step is to collect the data/content you'll be using to populate your infographic, and choose an infographic template appropriate for representing that data. The important thing is to choose a template that specifically works for the type of data set/content you want to present. As you saw pictured above, you can download our 15 infographic templates in PowerPoint and choose whichever template you'd like. Some of your template options here include a timeline, flowchart, side-by-side comparison, and a data-driven infographic.

You can either collect third-party data or use your own original data. If you use third-party data, just be sure you properly cite your sources -- just like in any other good piece of content.

To keep your infographic uncluttered by a ton of different source URLs, a great way to cite your sources is to include a simple URL at the bottom of your infographic that links to a page on your site. It can also list the individual stats used in your infographic, and their sources -- such as the landing page to the full offer on which you're basing this free infographic.

That way, your infographic looks clean and professional, yet people will still be able to access the sources no matter where the infographic gets shared or embedded. It may also even drive visitors back to your site.

For the sake of time (remember, our mission is to create an infographic in under an hour), I'm going to create an infographic based on a compilation of steps and best practices we've put together in our new guide, How to Run an Inbound Marketing Campaign in 2018. For this, I've picked the "World's Greatest Timeline" infographic template from our collection of infographic templates, which is helpful for my data set since it outlines each step of the campaign creation process in order.

The timeline infographic template is pictured below, and full of opportunities to make it your own:

Step 2: Customize Your Infographic

Obviously, this is the most time-consuming part -- but it's also the most fun! Simply come up with a catchy title, plug in your data/content, and adjust your font sizes and formatting. Feel free to switch up the graphics and colors, too, so they're relevant to your brand and the data you're providing. For other templates, you can use the simple graphs and charts provided by PowerPoint to create things like the bar graph or the pie chart. (Note: Download our free infographic templates for a cheat sheet for using PowerPoint's various features and tools.)

To customize the look of the infographic even more, you might add or change up the colors or font styles.

Finally, I included a link to my source (which can be found here), as well as the HubSpot logo so people know who created the infographic if it gets shared in social media or embedded on other websites -- which is definitely something you want, since one of the main benefits of creating infographics is their shareability.

That's it! This whole thing took me under an hour to put together -- much shorter than it would've taken me if I'd started from scratch (not to mention more professional looking ... and less expensive than hiring a designer). Here it is:

Share This Image On Your Site

Step 3: Add an Embed Code and Pinterest Button, and Publish It

The only thing left to do is to publish and promote your awesome new infographic. As I mentioned earlier, we recommend using your blog to publish it (including your list of sources), including a Pinterest button for visitors to easily "pin" your infographic on Pinterest, and create and add an embed code for visitors to share it on their own websites and blogs, as we did above.
Want more? Read How to Create Top-Notch Visual Content in PowerPoint [Tutorial].

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
How to Create Infographics in Under an Hour [15 Free Infographic Templates]

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Wouldn't it be great if creating infographics was as simple as writing regular ol' text-based blog posts? Unfortunately, the reality is that making visual content like this usually takes a lot more time, effort, and let's face it -- skill -- than the written word. Usually.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
I've been a long term advocate of the use of infographics in education and especially enjoy thinking of ways that students can be encouraged to engage with and question the content as well as create their own graphics, so when I rediscovered Visme.co I was really delighted to find the tool that I once thought was a PowerPoint substitute for creating online presentations had turned into an awesome interactive infographic creator.

What's so impressive about Visme?
I've used quite a few infographic creation tools and most are either template based or they have a library of assets which you can drag and drop to construct your own layouts.

Visme.co offers a combination of both these options along with the possibility to animate the elements within the graphic, drop in your own images or online videos and also embed html elements such as polls and quizzes into the graphic.

This enables your infographic to be more than just data display, they can act as multimedia tools to encourage user responses and build learning and research and it's built on html 5 so it works across mobile platforms too.

How to use Visme
When you go to the Visme.co dashboard you get three main options. You can create a presentation, an infographic or use a blank space to create any kind of hybrid of the two.

If you choose presentation you get a number attractive templates which you can flick through and select. Once you have selected one you can edit the design and images and add your own content.

If you choose infographic you can search through a wide range of completed infographic designs and choose one with a structure similar to what you want to display and edit and customise it for you own data.

Every element within the graphic can be edited, moved around and animated.

If you choose a blank canvas, then you can search through the images and icons library and create your own design from scratch. You can choose the size of your canvas so that it can be presentation size or more of a poster format.

You simply drag on any elements that you want to include from the graphics library and then click on then to edit them to suit your design. It's easy to resize them, change the colour or even animate them. You can also search through and add images.

You can find some really nice examples of what's possible on the Visme blog.

What I like about it

Visme.co is a really flexible tool which offers the choice between using templates to develop your content and an open canvas.

There is a huge range of professionally designed icons and graphics you can simply drag and drop into your creations to make them look professional.

The potentials for dropping in html objects such as quizzes that enable interaction can make static data much more dynamic.

The ability to drop in multimedia and particularly video can lend more significance and impact to the information in the graphic.

You can hyperlink elements within the page to pages on the internet so you can use this to show sources of information or link to other images or background information.

Visme.co is built on html 5 so runs across platforms and devices.

How use it with students

Create multimedia posters - You can get students to research a famous person and create a poster about them. This could be a fan poster about someone they like, a historical character or even someone in the news. They can add short video clips about the person as well as a range of facts.

Combine lectures with visual notes - You can combine a short lecture video with some notes about the lecture to teach students visual note taking skills or to make the content of the video more meaningful and memorable.

Create interactive animated work sheets - You can create colourful worksheets with images or text that links to various resources around the internet and embed them into online courses or blog posts.

Poems or songs with visuals - You can have videos or audios of songs dropped into graphics and add images and icons that help students to understand the words. This is an example of a poem reading with a visual gap fill activity. The images below illustrate the words of the poem, but there are some clouds with question marks and students have to listen and hear the missing word. The cloud is also hyperlinked to the answer (an image of coral), so they can check their answers. They can then use the images to help them remember the words of the poem.

Publish student research - You can ask your students to do research and find data and information about various topics and then create their own infographic display of the information.

Transforming text to visual - You can get your students to create a visual representation of a text as a means of checking comprehension. This could be based around literature, such as a play or story they are reading or it could be a representation of the information in an article or essay.

Tools like Visme.co are great to lift the level of engagement in your classroom whether you use them to create tasks, present information or put them in the hands of your students to do the creating. There is a learning curve with these tools, but Visme.co provides some great tutorials and support to get you and your students started.
Visme.co is a commercial product with premium lisences but there is also a free lisence you can use with your students.

I hope you enjoy using this amazing tool.

Nik Peachey

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
I've been a long term advocate of the use of infographics in education and especially enjoy thinking of ways that students can be encouraged to engage with and question the content as well as create their own graphics, so when I rediscovered Visme.co I was really delighted to find the tool that I once thought was a PowerPoint substitute for creating online presentations had turned into an awesome interactive infographic creator.

# data[].attributes.body
Educational Technology: impact on teaching and learning

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Educational Technology  Evidence of impacts on teaching and learning

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Presentation: Educational Technology- Evidence of impacts on teaching and learning. Key findings from DFID Research. By Tom Power, Programme Director, English in Action, The Open University, UK @Day 1: Education and Technology-The Revolution! at the policy seminar, "Education,Technology and Women - Key Issues for Development" 16 and 17 September 2014.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
by TeachThought Staff
The Backstory of the Pencil Metaphor
If you're looking for the 6 ways part-well, hold your horses; first, a little backstory.

The pencil metaphor for edtech integration isn't new. In fact, two years ago, someone else wrote a blog post saying the same thing. Apparently, there is an old Australian education site that first hosted it, but it's no more. We first saw the image about four months ago, and have been intrigued the way it continues to resurface every dozen weeks or so like a kind of zombie graphic.

Steve Wheeler shared a post about in in January of 2012 as part of a #pencilchat discussion, and there was even an intended PD session in South Africa designed around it in April of 2012. Here's a slideshare presentation from a university in Malaysia on the idea. But it goes further back than that- at least to 2007, to ISTE 2006 Educator of the Year Linda McKeown.

In fact, here is a 2006 post -going on ten years ago-that mentions it specifically, and also attributes it to McKeown (which itself tries to link back to the now-gone Australian site, which may indeed be the first known mention of this now legendary mythical metaphor).
The Persistence Of The Metaphor
The takeaway for this kind of durability? More than likely, the pencil metaphor persists because of the simultaneous overlap and juxtaposition of pencils, education, and technology. (It's a neat party trick.) There was also a bit of thinking that went into this-Ferrules? And everyone loves familiar and iconic symbolism.

The for or against education technology argument is an odd sort of argument that some in education have taken up as their niche altogether.

There are also the Luddites, who are wary of any technology at all, and want us to wait a cotton pickin' minute before we rush into anything foolish.

Which leaves us a tempting segue to say "moderation is everything," and recommend teachers find a middle ground. But we won't do that because, well, it's not that simple. So we'll just point back to the types of responses the graphic identifies, and leave you to draw your own conclusion. It's a cool graphic.
6 Ways Teachers Respond To Education Technology: The Pencil Metaphor "1. The Hangers-On
Hangers-on know all the right lingo, attend all the right seminars, but just don't do anything.
2. The Erasers
These people endeavor to undo much, if not all, of the work done by the leaders.
3. The Ferrules
These people hang on tightly to what they know. They keep a strong grip on their traditional practices, and feel that there is not a place for technology in their classroom.
4. The Wood
These people would (get it?) technology if someone would just get them the gear, set it up, train them, and keep it running. All they need is help from some sharp person, and they would be doing it too.
5. The Sharp Ones
These are the people that see what the early adopters have done, willingly grab the best of it, learn from the mistakes of others, and do great stuff with their students.
6. The Leaders
These people are the first to take on the technology, the early adopters would usually document and enthusiastically share what they have tried, warts and all."

If you know who actually first published this metaphor, let us know!
The Pencil Metaphor: 6 Ways Teachers Respond To Education Technology

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
The Pencil Metaphor: How Teachers Respond To Education Technology

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
by TeachThought Staff The Backstory of the Pencil Metaphor If you're looking for the 6 ways part-well, hold your horses; first, a little backstory. The pencil metaphor for edtech integration isn't new. In fact, two years ago, someone else wrote a blog post saying the same thing.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
mLearning vs eLearning Infographic

mLearning vs eLearning Infographic

Many people assume that mLearning and eLearning are the same, however the differences between using mobile devices and computers are numerous, and designing effective courses for these two modes of learning can differ in many aspects. The mLearning vs eLearning Infographic shows that although mLearning is usually considered as the extension of eLearning, it requires a different pedagogical approach for several reasons.

Why mLearning is important?

A recent survey showed:

100% of participants would complete more training if it were in the mobile format,

99% believed the format and presentation enhanced their learning,

75% praised the convenience and time management benefits,

45% less time was taken in training, with no loss of comprehension.

Webanywhere provide eLearning and mLearning solutions to schools, businesses, healthcare providers, government organisations and non-profits, helping them make the most of the web. Case studies available .
View also: Understanding The Difference Between eLearning and mLearning Infographic
Embed This Education Infographic on your Site or Blog! Copy and Paste the following code!

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
mLearning vs eLearning Infographic - e-Learning Infographics

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Many people assume that mLearning and eLearning are the same, however the differences between using mobile devices and computers are numerous, and designing effective courses for these two modes of learning can differ in many aspects. The mLearning vs eLearning Infographic shows that although mLearning is usually considered as the extension of eLearning, it requires a different pedagogical approach for several reasons.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Verissimo Toste, an Oxford teacher trainer, joins us today to explore the benefits of using tablets in the language learning classroom.`
Whenever someone mentions using technology in the classroom, my first reaction is "Why?" And that was my recent reaction to using tablets. Why should students use tablets in the EFL classroom? How does it help them learn better? For me, the key is not the technology, it is learning.

Many teachers already use technology in the classroom. Many also use technology to take learning beyond the classroom. In this environment, I was curious about the role of the tablet in the EFL classroom. So, being a teacher trainer with Oxford University Press, I got some e-books, downloaded them onto my tablet and sat down to answer my own question: How do tablets help students learn better?

A few days and many hours later I had an answer; using a tablet can make learning more personal. The teacher can better appeal to the individual learner, to individual interests, individual learning styles, and individual difficulties.

So, knowing why, the next obvious question is "How?" There are many different activities. Here are two to introduce the use of tablets to your students:
Classroom activity:
Students can add their own personal notes to different parts of the coursebook or the lesson. For vocabulary or grammar, each student can write their own sentence relating the language to their lives. 25 students in the classroom will have 25 different sentences. This will make the language relevant to each one, expanding on the work done in class. For a reading or listening text, students can write comments or ask questions, individually interacting with the text.

After reading a text, ask your students to use the note and write 5 - 10 important words from the text. One week later, ask them to look at the words in the note. Do they remember how the words relate to the topic? If they do, it confirms their reading ability (and memory). If not, they can go back to the text. They may choose to change some of the words, keeping the total to no more than 10.

Equally, students can write 5 - 10 questions about the text, or 5-10 True/False statements. One week later they can use these as a comprehension exercise as they re-read the text. For me, what is important here is that using a tablet, each student is focusing on their own words, their own sentences, their own questions. They are interacting with the language at their own level, based on their individual needs.

Students can also record comments. Instead of writing 5-10 words or sentences related to a text, students can record the words or sentences related to a picture. Later, they look at the picture and listen to their words/sentences. Since the picture is connected to the topic of a lesson, students learn when they choose the words or sentences, when they record them, and when they listen to them later.

Students can use the pen tools to circle, underline, or highlight. In this way, they can focus on specific aspects of a text or language exercise. Again, 25 different students would focus on different words and sentences, personalising their work. For me, the pen tools help students bring out language patterns. Let me give you an example:
Classroom activity:
Students circle the subject and relate it to the verb, "George and I are". By highlighting "going to", students reinforce the "to", which is something my students easily forget. They can then use another colour to highlight the verb, "throw". Some students will use the pen to draw an arrow from the subject to the verb.

Ask students to do this with the grammatical structures they are learning. This will get them used to using the pen tools. Then, ask them to write sentences about themselves and their life using the structure they are learning. Having highlighted the form of the structure, students will probably make fewer mistakes.
Conclusion
Then, ask them to highlight the different parts in their sentences. This will lead students to notice any mistakes they have made and to be able to correct them.

These are only two activities to get you and your students started. There are many more you can explore as you and your students get used to using tablets in the classroom.

As your students use their tablets, they are personalizing their learning, adding to their lessons. Each student begins from the same starting point, but develops individually, adding their own content, and thus meeting their individual needs and learning preferences.

The key is to focus on learning, to help your students learn better with their

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Using tablets in the EFL classroom: Why & How - Oxford University Press

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Verissimo Toste, an Oxford teacher trainer, joins us today to explore the benefits of using tablets in the language learning classroom.` Whenever someone mentions using technology in the classroom, my first reaction is "Why?" And that was my recent reaction ... Continue reading →

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Mobile Technologies in Language Learning

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Title Slide of Mobile Technologies in Language Learning

# data[].attributes.body
ICT4ELT
Technology in English Language Teaching

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Technology in English language teaching. 14,847 likes · 209 talking about this. This page is edited and updated by Nik Peachey. It was designed to support teachers exploring the use of educational...