What i don't like about it:
- online teaching and learning can be cold and impersonal.
- the lack of face-to-face (F2F) communication with other students.
- students might feel nervous when they take exams because they are used to studying online.
- Teachers have no control of what students may type or post.

·         Easily to create an account and build a new board you can return to add more lately.

·         It has two types of membership you can choose, basic which is free and Pro which you will pay for it and very one has its features. 

·         Can upload files, videos, drawings and pictures.

·         Can customize your padlet as you want. 

·         A good way of connection between teacher and students. 

·         It is not applicable for KG students

·         There is no spirit in this way of connection between the teacher and early years students

·         It is free to install.

·         Easy to create your website.

·         You can share your comments and information.

·         You have to create your website to start using it.

·         It is not easy for beginners to understand and use.

It a virtual bulletin or discussion board where not only teachers and students but also any team can share ideas videos and upload links to collaborate 

Buttons and features

The first thing I tried to do after singing up is creating a new padlet. After creating a new padlet I tried to choose between different layouts. Then I clicked on the pencil button in the right corner where I can add a post. The box of the new post is having different features below like adding a picture, a link, search google, add location also you can link it to one of other padlets you have already created. In the top right corner there is an feature called modify where you can add a title to your padlet.

Advanced features

Click on “remake” on the top right. It allows you to copy and paste the same padlet you already created but without comments. It can be useful if you have multiple classes and you need to assign the same discussion. Also there is another feature on the top right “share”. It allows you to invite another teacher into your discussion board. You can also edit privacy settings to make your padlet public for everyone or make it private and only people with the link can access it. Also you can allow students to create posts or just comment on your post 

Pricing plans

There are two upgrading plans. Monthly plan for 8 dollars and Annual plan for 96 dollars. This is for creating unlimited padlets and uploading files 25x the free plan 

I think it’s a very nice virtual tool. Giving you a blank page and allows you to design it however you want to. Give access to whoever you want. I loved how it can encourage collaboration by allowing students to share and discuss their ideas. Plus I think it is a useful digital tool for differentiation. However it’s only limited for discussion that teacher’s cannot fully depend on it for teaching.

What i don't like about it:
- online teaching and learning can be cold and impersonal.
- the lack of face-to-face (F2F) communication with other students.
- students might feel nervous when they take exams because they are used to studying online.
- Teachers have no control of what students may type or post.

·         It is free to install.

·         It is easy to use- Friendly

·         It is a good way of communication between Teacher and student.

·         It is hard for young students to use / KG.

·         There is no Video communication between student and teacher.

Wordpress can be used to create Blogs, Websites, Domains and ecommerce. You can choose from different themes while creating your website. For an example a portfolios, magazine, business, wedding or blog. You can also get your work connected with Facebook, twitter and other social networks 

Pricing plans 

Personal: best for personal use. 4 dollars per month paid yearly.

Premium: best for freelancers. 8 dollars per month paid yearly.

Business: best for small businesses. 25 dollars per month paid yearly.

eCommerce: best for online stores. 45 dollars per month paid yearly.

I have read a lot about wordpress and found out that it’s a very powerful tool and is very useful for education. A lot of schools and universities are using it worldwide. It helps the teacher to check the students’ blogs and comments and encourage the students to write, read and listen via blogging. I find it a bit hard to use but I am very curious to learn more about wordpress and how I can use it for educational purposes.

On the one hand, Padlet is quite user-friendly. If you are familiar with Facebook or Twitter, it will be accessible for you. It also supports many kinds of file types, which caters for users' different needs and expectations. Instead of using specific websites that support a limited amount of file formats, Padlet offers a platform that supports a broad range of users. Furthermore, it offers a private and a controlled environment. The padlet creator can control who accesses these padlets through a number of options. Moreover, Padlet supports differentiated instruction. If students are allowed to participate on a padlet using videos, voice recordings, written texts, photos, or drawings, then this a differentiated form of product that will encourage students to interact the way they prefer. 

On the other hand, it costs money, and the basic plan offers 3 padlets only. The old padlets can be deleted and replaced with new padlets, but this may not be suitable if one is teaching more than one class. In addition, Padlet may be inaccessible by younger elementary students, especially those below the age of 8 or 9. 

What is not good about it:
Pricing:

What is not good about it:
Pricing : you have to pay to 8 $ to access unlimited boards.

·         You can search for all files or documents at the search bar with the option to filter by ownership e.g. owned by me, not owned by me.

·         There are numerous ready made templates to pick from for resumes, letters, projects, brochures, education formats, reports and essays.

·         Find existing files in your device by using the file picker icon on the end of the right side of the home page after the template.

·         You can create attach files, links, images, audio video to a document. Open and edit previous documents as well.

·         The document creator has the properties or features of Microsoft word which made it easy for me and I am sure any other word user to navigate even as a beginner. I could say it’s the online version but better because of the ability to interact with others real-time (by sharing the document through a link, adding emails of participants or groups) and also make the document available offline.

·         Documents saves on google drive as its being created so there’s no fear of losing a document because one forgot to save and can also be moved to an old or new file on the device.

·         The calendar feature is also awesome. It comes preloaded with national and global events and one can add, schedule an event with location, add google video meet conferencing, and notifications

·         It is easy to remove or delete documents

·         It can adequately be used for active interaction of students and feedback through the comment section and learning through the built in research tools like explore and dictionary found  under “tool”.

I like all of the above possible usage of the google Doc and I am certain there are more. I am yet to find a downside or something I do not like about it. 

Miro has two classes of user packages. The free and the paid package. There are 4 paid packages which are; Team which costs either $8 monthly billed annually or $10 paid monthly fee, the Business at $16 per month billed annually, the Enterprise which the office has to be contacted for pricing as which depends on user needs and the forth is the Consultant which is $12 monthly billed annually or $15 paid monthly. Each package has its unique difference based on the minimum number of team members or users required, editable boards, board sharing capability, multiteam setup, external auditors and such.

At the start up or login page, one can sign in either with a Google, Facebook, Slack or Office 365 account. One can also sign in or access the site with a single sign on (SSO) credentials from an enterprise. 

I signed in with my gmail account and was asked to set up a team consisting of different number of members ranging from just 1 (me) to other group numbers ending at 5k+ (unlimited number of team members). Basically you sign in, invite team members and pick or create a template (paid version) to start working. Members can be invited through link, shared in work messenger or sent through emails and contrary to what one may think because of the default google and slack account advertised to invite members, one does not need to have a google or slack account to be invited or have access as a team member because I was able to invite myself from a non-google or slack account and was able to access the board.

On the homepage there are a lot of predesigned templates to chose from depending on the kind of project you want to work on e.g. mind map for ideas and brainstorming, brainwriting for meetings and workshop customer persona for research and design. 

I tried working on two, the mind map and later the brainwriting and realized;

·         Signing up and in is basic and easy.

·         The free version has a minimum of 1 to unlimited number of team members.

·         The app has the basic text, drawing,emoticons, document creation tools and a lot of others used to input data on the template picked.

·         Boards are created like in padlet so, would be familiar to one already using padlet.

·         Projects or boards created links can be shared via emails.

·         Boards created can be deleted but with confirmation from your registered email which I an added security.

·         The app can be installed on handheld devices which makes on the go access easy. 

·         Can be used for real-time collaboration with inputs from other team members.

·         Interface is not user friendly.

·         Most of the input tools icons were without labels.

·         The in-app tools were not easy to understand or manipulate as a first-time user.

·         Can’t create a personal template without an upgrade while predesigned free templates looked too complicated to me.

·         On free plan everyone invited is able to have access to all your boards not just the one they were invited to view.
Conclusion:
It is not beginner user friendly. 

It is a word processor offered by Google within its Google Drive Service.

·         Includes Google sheets, Google slides, spreadsheet and presentation program.

·         Easy to use it from web or mobile, collaboration can happen any time and any place.

·          You can create files, to open and edit your previous files and documents online.

·         You can delete any of your previous documents.

·         You can save your files and documents on Google Drive.

·         You can share your files with other accounts.   

There is a free version and it offers a free trial and the pricing list starts from $10.00 per month. 

·         You can use it from different types of devices.

·         Easy to sign up.

·         There is a variety of Templates that you can choose from them.

·         You can engage face-to-face meetings at the office whiteboard.

·         You can add unlimited number of your team members on the board.

·         You can export as PDF or Presentation mode.

It is not easy to understand the different features and not easy to use it from the first time 

·         Bookmarks/ Hyperlinks - Create links for cross-referencing.

·         Collaboration - Work with others concurrently. Changes made go live instantly.

·         It is free

·         There is import and export flexibility. Google Docs imports or exports whatever file type you want. So it won’t limit you to using just Word or PDF. 

·         You need to have good internet access everywhere to access your documents which could sometimes be a big limitation.

·         It has a lack of quality.

1-Mobile-It is a powerful digital whiteboard that allows you to manage your ideas in your office or on the go.
2-It has very easy tools to use.
3-It is easy for group projects and designs. 

1-The speed of uploading and downloading

2- It causes personal isolation, lacks or causes some people into not speaking up in group thinking.

This is the first time I use Real-time Board, and I must say I am impressed. I will list the pros and cons below.  

The pros include the following: 

It is quite accessible and easy to navigate through the website. It took me a few minutes to get the hang of how it works as it is similar to other programs that I encountered in the past. 

Real Time Board serves as a great means of collaborating with others. You can share your screen with others to highlight certain points as well as can monitor each person's screen if you are working simultaneously. In addition, there is a feature that allows you to video chat with the ones whom you shared your board with. You can also tag others and write comments for them to see. Furthermore, there is an activity button that shows who edited/changed what. All these features can prove useful when working on collaborative projects. 

A single board gives you unlimited space to use, which can be organized in frames. The first thought that came to mind upon encountering that feature was to work with my students on an extensive project that would take months, for example, to finish. If the project is divided into phases, which it should, they will all be in one board. This feature can show me the progress that has been made in the project every step of the way. 

Depending on your kind of work, you can add other add-ons that you deem useful. These add-ons include voting plugins, YouTube, Vimeo, Google Drive, Prezi, Microsoft Office, etc.

The cons include the following: 

The free version does include many of the aforementioned features; however, you can only have 3 boards only at a time, just like Padlet. Thus, if you are teaching more than one subject or class, this issue will be troublesome. Also, many of the add-ons cost money. 

The students, especially the younger ones, will need an orientation session to teach them how to navigate the website. I personally doubt that they can learn how to use it independently, but I might be mistaken. 

What i don't like:
-Cannot be used without having google account.

It allows teachers to control pace and personalize learning branched pathways. It is a free application but for advanced features it costs $108 yearly 

What I like :

·         Free application to download 

·         Include the ability to crop video, more question types, student-created content, printable worksheets, grade exporting, and advanced student data.

·         Include the ability to copy other teacher’s content

·         Easy to adapt and use

·         Students can upload their videos easily 

·         Include the ability to edit other teacher’s content.

·          takes a significant amount of teacher time

·         Free application.

·         You can upload and download files with the Google Slides app for Android 

·         Can create, edit, collaborate, and present wherever you are.

·         Easy to use from any device.

·         Gives you the ability to choose from 26 themes 

·         Can download the google slides to save as PowerPoint file

·         Cannot go back up a slide

·         Can discharge into any devices you are carrying, destroying your laptop or phone.

1. Go to www.playposit.com
2. Sign Up and register for an account through your preferred use account portal (there       are also several options for single sign-on if you choose to (Edmodo, clever, office 365 and google). 
3.  Fill out the profile information asked e.g. are you a student or instructor, your primary viewers, primary content are etc.
4.  Choose which plan you want (basic or pro).

There are 2 packages the Basic and the Pro. The pro is $12 per month to be paid annually making it $144 per year, the other two packages under the pro are for Institution and Enterprise. To get prices for either, one has to contact customer service for more details. The differences between all the packages is like with other tools, the higher the package, the less limitations and more benefits in terms of maximum user, direct video upload and access to broader features. 

I signed up as instructor because I reckon it will have same tools as students and more, then I choose   the free account which is limited to 100 learner attempts per month of which the attempts reset on the first of each month (Once you reach this limit, students will not be able to submit more responses until the first of the next month)  no direct video upload (only YouTube links and Vimto).
Once in the PlayPosit homepage, user can create content by clicking on “new bulb” where embedded video link, URL, formulas, pictures, audio files, can be uploaded. 
Classes can also be created when you click the folders icon to the left side of the screen. 

PlayPosit is not very easy to maneuver, its best to watch a “how to use video” before one starts using. It took me a lot of clicking to find things out. I created a bulb containing an audio file and a picture with embedded feedbacks and checkpoint questions both in multiple choice and free response format.

I like a lot of things about PlayPosit some of which are; 

·         It has an assessment feedback embedded into it to check for and evaluate understanding. One can carry out an assessment for as and of learning by using the before, during, midway and at the end of presentation question/comment tools.

·         The assessment questions can be edited to suit the lesson presented

·         A discussion forum can be inserted on the side bar that runs throughout so learners can comment at any time during the lesson video or audio.  

·         Trimming and cropping of media is allowed.  

·         Real time interactions are supported.

1.  Go to www.playposit.com

2.  Sign Up and register for an account through your preferred use account portal (there       are also several options for single sign-on if you choose to (Edmodo, clever, office 365 and google). 

3.  Fill out the profile information asked e.g. are you a student or instructor, your primary viewers, primary content are etc. 

4.  Choose which plan you want (basic or pro).

There are 2 packages the Basic and the Pro. The pro is $12 per month to be paid annually making it $144 per year, the other two packages under the pro are for Institution and Enterprise. To get prices for either, one has to contact customer service for more details. The differences between all the packages is like with other tools, the higher the package, the less limitations and more benefits in terms of maximum user, direct video upload and access to broader features. 

I signed up as instructor because I reckon it will have same tools as students and more, then I choose   the free account which is limited to 100 learner attempts per month of which the attempts reset on the first of each month (Once you reach this limit, students will not be able to submit more responses until the first of the next month)  no direct video upload (only YouTube links and Vimto).

Once in the PlayPosit homepage, user can create content by clicking on “new bulb” where embedded video link, URL, formulas, pictures, audio files, can be uploaded. 

Classes can also be created when you click the folders icon to the left side of the screen. 

PlayPosit is not very easy to maneuver, its best to watch a “how to use video” before one starts using. It took me a lot of clicking to find things out. I created a bulb containing an audio file and a picture with embedded feedback and checkpoint questions both in multiple choice and free response format.

I like a lot of things about PlayPosit some of which are; 

·         It has an assessment feedback embedded into it to check for and evaluate understanding. One can carry out an assessment for as and of learning by using the before, during, midway and at the end of presentation question/comment tools.

·         The assessment questions can be edited to suit the lesson presented

·         A discussion forum can be inserted on the side bar that runs throughout so learners can comment at any time during the lesson video or audio.  

·         Trimming and cropping of media is allowed.  

Real time interactions are supported. 

Google slides is a free presentation and collaboration program embedded within google drive services. It can be accessed on internet enabled devices e.g. on android by downloading and installing the app from Playstore, Apple devices by downloading the app from Appstore and a computer by going to slides.google.com, drive.google.com or if you are already on a google screen, click on the multi brick like icon beside the picture box on the top right hand corner of the screen and scroll down the apps to get to slides then click on it. I used this last method because I am already signed into google on my computer. Whichever method you use will take you to the homepage where you can click on “New” or “Blank” to start a new presentation or you can choose one of the existing templates. On the home page I found other presentations I had saved on my device so I had the option to open those too. 

I opened a new document worked around with the tools, opened some files and edited some and here is what I learnt:.

·         Google Slides has a lot of similarities to PowerPoint. In fact, I think one who has working knowledge of PowerPoint can easily navigate and work with Google Slides. 

·         There are multiple types of presentation templates and themes one can choose from, combine or create to use for one’s slides or presentation.

·         You can import saved slides which can be further modified if created by you. 

·         It can be used to create presentations via text, insert lines, shapes graphs.

·         Page size/ratio, can be adjusted

·         Links, images, audio, video can also be inserted from certain apps.

·         You can animate your images for presentation.

·         The document created can be modified from the tool bar at the top which like other word documents has fonts, size, style, alignment, color and all. 

·         One very helpful tip I learnt was, in order to have uniform slides and to avoid modifying each slide as you add, go to view, click on master and modify it as you want your documents to be this will affect every other slide in the presentation.

·         Real time collaboration with others.

·         Files can be shared with the preferred access option to view, edit or comment. 

·         When accessing another person’s slide, you can view only you need ask permission of a slide owner to be an editor (though you can copy and use).

·         With prior knowledge of PowerPoint or word documents, its pretty easy to navigate and apply.

Did not find a peculiar disadvantage so far. 

When you create content it is called ‘Bulb’.

Requirements

- Internet connection

- Laptop/pc/tablet/phone

 

Positive:

-Free to download

- Easy to create videos/ to use

-You can trim and crop any of your media

- You can use your own Zaption videos again- This is where you can trim your own video after finishing it, you can add questions, images ad texts.

- Useful analytics

 

Negative:

- Making a video, especially in the beginning, can take some time

- Premium features require payment

1- Perfect for distance/online learning 

Playposit can be quite efficient when we are distance-teaching. Usually when I play videos in my class, I pause to ask concept checking questions. That has not been possible, of course, since the lockdown began. Playposit gives you the opportunity to ask the students questions while they are watching a video at home. 

2- Easy to upload or embed videos and add interactions

It didn't take me a lot of time to add interactions to a video I chose from YouTube. These interactions can be in different forms, which include multiple choice, fill in the blanks, free response, poll, etc. In addition, you will find ready-made interaction templates for you to use. 

3- Provides the teacher with individual feedback

When I ask concept checking questions in class, all students are addressed and only one or two students answer. It is only when I conduct formative assessments that I know who did or did not grasp the new concept. Using Playposit, you can ensure that ALL students will participate, and, by tracking their answers, you can check if they understand the taught concepts or not. 

4- Excellent for young learners 

For younger students, instead of typing questions, you can use voice notes, photos, videos for both the questions and the answers, making it a whole lot easier pre-k students or students who have trouble reading in general. 

1- Premium features require payment 

Using a free account, you can have up to 100 responses/attempts per month. If, for example, you have a class that comprises 20 students (and each student is only allowed one attempt in each video), this means you can only create up to 5 interactive videos per month. Once you upgrade, you have unlimited number of attempts. Moreover, Playposit announced that the feature of live broadcast will be coming soon for premium users, which can be very beneficial for online/distance learning. There are a number of plans depending on the number of users. The pro plan used only by one teachers costs 12$ a month.

 

It is accessible by anyone who knows how to use Microsoft PowerPoint. They share most of the features, fonts, formats, and toolbar buttons.   

Teachers and students can work on a project simultaneously from home. All they need is a good internet connection to access the Google Slides. Team members can also comment on each other's work and resolve comments when checked. 

Most of us at least experienced the heartbreak of losing a document because we forgot to click the save button. With Google Docs, this is not a problem at all provided that you have a good internet connection. 

It is not possible to embed YouTube videos on Google Drive. Therefore, as a solution, you can embed YouTube videos into Google Slides and save them to your Google Drive. 

I found many templates online for interactive games, such as Jeopardy and Tic-Tac-Toe. I made my own version of Jeopardy using a ready-made template. A link is provided below. 

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1ctwzxHVVhSJUVurakXd53qiMJbJ5BMYzFQAjkfrQN9w/edit?usp=sharing 

With the Q&A feature, a question will pop up when a certain slide is reached to answer a question and then proceed to the following slides. This can be a great tool for formative assessments and to ensure that that your students are following along. 

The voice typing feature is a fun yet neglected feature. If students are bored of writing or in the mood to try a new way of expressing their thoughts, they can use this feature.

Google Slides grants you access to a huge number of add-ons, most of which are free. With these add-ons, we can maximize our benefit from Google Slides, creating versatile presentations. 

I think Google Slides would be efficiently used by 4th graders and up. However, it would be challenging for lower elementary students.  

A good internet connection is a must to use Google Slides. Due to a bad connection, changes might not be saved. If there is no internet at all, you will not access the document you created.

If you want to upload a personal video to Google Slides, you have to upload it to your Google drive and import it from there. Other than that, you can easily embed videos from Vimeo or YouTube using URL.  

·         The Silver which is entirely free with basic features, less lessons options and  storage space compared to that of the paid packages.

·         The Gold which offers more lessons options and more storage space is $120/year. 

·         The Platinum which adds an unlimited access to pre-made lessons and gives more session, lesson and storage space size is $349/year. 

·         There is the School and District package which the customer service has to be contacted for pricing customizing and further negotiations. 

·         The Higher Education package which one also has to contact the customer service for pricing customizing and further negotiations. 

To sign in as a student or join a class you have to enter a code 

To sign in as an administrator would you have to fill an online form detailing who and where you are, how you heard about the app. Proposed use of the app, also leave your email contact to learn more about getting the nearpod site license for your school or district? Or you can just go ahead and request a quote for your intended type of use

Teachers however, can sign up instantly for free or sign up with their Google or Office 365 account and agree to nearpod’s terms and conditions. 

I was taken to a collaborative board where I was prompted to and I created a board, posted a question, invited some students through the code and we collaborated for some minutes.  I could read from every student; they were able to respond through text and images and posts liked. While the class was on, I navigated around the board and found out that the teacher can do the following (which I do like);

·         Add more activity slides while session is ongoing, add resources from the web, add true or false or open-ended questions, add tool enabled drawings,

·         The teacher can change to student view,

·         Hide students name when sharing the answers with the class,

·         Share board could be shared through email, social media handles and link, 

·         See a list of number and names (if included) of participants,

At the end of the lesson I explored the function of the report menu on the tools bar and I got a nearpod post-session report in PDF format attached (sent to the mail which I signed up through) of the session which included lesson title, slide author, teacher, date, time, number of students, participation of students and marks for the quizzes.

nearpod was not as easy for me to navigate or understand like Kahoot which I previously explored today but I like a lot of its features. In addition to the ones I mentioned I also like that

·          

·         The free Silver package though basic can be used considerably to maximize learning and can be used to integrate technology in the children’s learning experience

·          Can be used for homework and classroom work.

·         Can be used as a source for feedback

·         Can easily be uses for assessment

·         It is collaborative

·         Videos can be embedded from YouTube, or uploaded videos from cloud storage account, Google Apps account, or from the computer/mobile device used.

·          Audio files, songs podcast sounds can be added to lessons to make content exciting especially for younger students.n

Kahoot has the Kahoot Basic service plan for all categories which is free and also has the paid subscription plans for schools, businesses and nonprofit organizations which are Pro, Premium and Premium+

The two plans broadly presented are:

1.      Kahoot! at work for training, presentations, events and collaboration which has the Basic, standard priced at $10 per host/month billed annually, pro at $20 per host/month billed annually, premium priced at   $40 per host/month billed annually then there is the Kahoot! 360 Pro, priced at $60 per host/month billed annually.

2.      Kahoot at school. This category has the basic plan which is free, the Pro plan priced at $3 per teacher/month billed annually, the Premium plan priced at $6 per teacher/month billed annually, the Premium+ plan priced at $9 (a promo for  $6 is running currently to end at 30^th June)per teacher/month billed annually.

Most of the paid subscription packages have a 7days free trial, cancel at anytime option. The differences in these packages lie within the limits of the terms and conditions of use of some of the services  e.g. restriction of commercial use, participants number, instant feedback option, access to image library, personalized and live games, slides between questions, adding pools, adding puzzles, mixing different question type in one game, editing premium ready to play game, importing slides from presentations, adding personalized logo, site license, tracking class learning with report and online priority support. 

To access the Kahoot tool, go to www.kahoot.com or if you already have a game pin  www.kahoot.it (this takes you directly to the game home page where you have to input a game pin to continue)

At sign up, there are four options, Teacher, Student, Personal, Professional. Each takes you to a sign up page where you put in personal details to continue.

For the purpose of this assignment I choose Teachers option which further lead me to 5 other sub categories. School, Higher Education, School Administration, Business and Others. Whichever you choose will take you to a sign-up page with the basic signup procedures like enter email and password. One can also sign in with an existing Google or Microsoft account. 

Once signed in, a 2-minute video popped up which explained how to create a student paced  Kahoot, set questions, set timers, share link, see results and play (I recommend you watch it if like me you do not know anything about the tool). 

At the home page, you find a lot of bulletins and news about events, tool use and updates which is helpful to understand Kahoot better. You also find the following options on the top left menu bar 

·         Home: (which brings you back to the home page from wherever page you are on the application. 

·         Discover: where you find ready to play games on any topic that has been created.

·         Kahoots: where you create, find your already created games, drafts, marked favorites and games shared with you. 

·         Reports: is where you see hosted games, live student paced challenge you assigned, reports, number of participants, individual result, general score percentage, name of host teacher, time used. Information gathered from this section can be used for assessment.

There is also the create, share, personal/profile settings and information menu at the right hand side of the top menu bar.

I have gone through the Kahoot platform and believe this tool is very exciting and I doubt there is a student that would not enjoy it. This can be used as a solution to engage withdrawn students. I like the fact that it can be played at home when the student is relaxed and in school as an exciting activity on the interactive board with all the students participating. Menus and tools are well labeled for easy navigation and use. 

There is silver account which is free and for more features they offer the gold account that you have to pay for it  

·         You can use it from any device.

·         You can log in with Google account.

·         Easy to understand and use.

·         Can also access over 7K k-12 standards-aligned lessons. 

·         Award-winning student engagement platform.

·         Teacher can create presentations that contain quizzes, videos, images.

·         You have to pay for more features.

·         Easy to use

·         Free for teachers and students

·         Gives you 7 days trial 

·         You can play alone or in groups

·         Can work from any device without creating an account

·         Focuses on social learning and makes it fun

·         Students love it, and they are always engaged when I use it.

·         You can create quizzes, discussions and surveys

Pros
1- Increases interaction

Students actively participate during the lesson (in a classroom or remotely) and get the chance to respond in various ways. Nearpod can also gamify any assessment, making it more fun for the students. 

Teachers can use various assessments, which include multiple or open-ended questions, polls, matching pairs, etc., to get valuable feedback on student learning.

Teachers can integrate videos, 3D shapes, simulations, and VR tours in their presentations. Teachers can also ask students to respond in many different ways, granting the teachers the chance to differentiate both content and process.  

It is up to the teacher whether they want the students to interact simultaneously with the lesson or to access it any time (with the option of having a deadline). 

You can customize an age-appropriate lesson using all the features mentioned above. I can imagine myself using it with any grade in any subject. 

I have always been fond of stealth assessments despite the fact that I have never used them. Using gamified assessments is a way of assessing the students' knowledge without adding pressure on them. 

Unfortunately, some of the really good features are only available for premium users. The paid features include student-paced sessions, thousands of ready-made lesson plans, and student reports.  

The website can be slow and laggy, and so if the internet, for any reason, is slow, it can take a lot of time for a session to load. 

As I mentioned before, I have always been fond of stealth assessments despite the fact that I have never used them.  My school has asked me to create a summer packet for my students, and I am thinking of either using Kahoot or Nearpod as an alternative. 

Teachers can use various assessments, which include multiple or open-ended questions, polls, true or false, and puzzles to get valuable feedback on student learning. Students can also revisit the quizzes to revise. 

3- Increases interaction 

Students actively participate during the lesson (in a classroom or remotely) and get the chance to respond in various ways. Nearpod can also gamify any assessment, making it more fun for the students. 

It is up to the teacher whether they want the students to interact simultaneously with the lesson or to access it any time (with the option of having a deadline). 

Similar to any website, some of the good features are only available for premium and premium+ users. The paid features include open-ended questions, student reports, importing slides from an existing PowerPoint presentation, polls, puzzles, and editing quizzes that have been made.  

The website can be a bit slow (less slow than Nearpod, though). 

likes:
it's as easy platform
engages students through activities

Dislikes:
u have to pay alot to get the full features.
you can't go back to what u've already submitted.

·         The platform provides an easy and safe way to create discussions around online videos.

·         Students could work alone or in groups to annotate lecture content to study and/or to highlight key topics.

·         Tools to organize comments could help teachers manage the threads, which can sometimes become pretty long..

·         You can easily differentiate review for your students.

·         You can incorporate collaboration and teamwork into your classes.

·         Students have another way to prepare for tests.

·         Easy way to practice what you are learning.

·         Make studying fast and fun.

·         Can be customized and used for different grades and any type of classes.

·         Students can log in easily and choose the appropriate study set for any topic they need to review.

·         Students can get distracted by ads unless you upgrade to the paid version of Quizlet to remove the ads.

·         Students could learn incorrect information Because Quizlet allows any user to create and share a study set, there is no guarantee the information is accurate.

·         Students may use Quizlet to cheat It’s as easy as a student Googling a homework question, finding a Quizlet set, and copying the answers straight from the website.

Cons: 

The signup options for Quizlet is basic where it requires your personal information e.g. name (advices you not to use your real name), birthday, email address and parents’ email if still a minor. If a teacher, check the teacher box and you are all signed up. One can otherwise sign up through a Google or Facebook account.

There are 3 packages one could upgrade to after signing in which are:

1.      Quizlet Plus: This has a 7 days free trial period and is billed at $23.88 for a one-year subscription when free trial ends with an option to Cancel anytime.

This package offers 

·         Offline access

·         Use of mobile app to study anytime, anywhere

·         Ad-free studying

·         Unlimited points and custom shapes

·         Scan in documents

·         Add rich text formatting

·         Customized images and audio

 

2.      Quizlet Go: Billed at $11.88 for a one-year subscription when free trial ends after 7days with a Cancel anytime option.

This package offers

·         Offline access

·         Use of mobile app

·         Ad-free study experience 

 

Under premium test prep resource, there are test practical with flash cards and study guides that can be accessed starting at $1. There are over 500 premium study guides for courses like nursing, languages, finance, fitness, MCat and a lot more. 

Quizlet also offers different Prep Packs for certification and such like exams e.g. HESI A2 Prep Pack, CompTIA Prep Packs and NASM Prep Pack. I saw some prep pack that cost as high as $69.99(Practice Tests NASM CPT Exam Prep…20 sets) and some as low as $3.99 (New York | Drivers Test Study Guide3 sets)  

 

At the homepage there is a search bar where you can put in any topic you need to study on and any work containing key words of what was typed will show up. I typed in some topics and concepts we have studied in class and there were materials for each one of them. 

Topics search can be narrowed down by price (free or paid), type (sets, study guide, classes) or creator (yours or others).

Quizlet is a good easily accessible and knowledge rich study platform which students can gain from a lot. Their free resources are data rich as well. Quizlet has an easy user interface and I also like the educational test games found under match and gravity. 

It is a combination of video and dialogue, it is a platform where videos are streamed and people discuss, comment, generally dialogue about the video. Access to Vialouges is free but I had to create an Edlab account to gain access. 

On signing up, you can go right ahead to create your Vialouges or view existing collections posted by others.  To the right side of the video, there are comments and discussions previously held about the video and beneath the video the user can post a comment/join in the discussion. On clicking more information box (to the top right of the screen, you have access to the title, provider, uploader of the video and all the Vialouges of the video. There is also the create, notification bell and settings box at the top right-hand side of the page.

Clicking create gives you the option to upload an original video, search for videos saved on your device, or link a video you want to post. It further affords you the option of giving it a title, putting down a description about the video, privacy permissions and allowing comments or not. When you are done, click on create to allow for dialogue.

To the middle right section of the screen, there is a feedback option where you can post an idea for others to subscribe to or discuss. You can also send a feed back or help message privately to Vialouges.  

Things I would recommend Vialouges for:

1.      The interactive dialoguing community

2.      You can control who has access to your Vialouges by adjusting the privacy settings.

3.      Teachers can get students more engaged by posting an otherwise boring historic literature or history lesson as a movie clip to be discussed in class later 

4.      The feedback sections 

5.      Easy interface

6.      Free 

I always provide the parents and kids with the links to my lessons on Quizlet so they can study or review the lesson whenever they want or can, especially before summative assessments. 

There are plenty of activities that are automatically created once you create a lesson on Quizlet. Some of these activities are traditional while are in the form of games, which gives the students the chance to study the way they prefer. 

There are 7 modes that are created automatically once you create a lesson on Quizzes, and they are: flashcards, learn, write, spell, test, match, and gravity. In some of these modes, the word and its definition can be pronounced for the students if they choose to listen. As mentioned above, Quizlet gives the students the chance to study the way they prefer. 

Like all websites, there are great features that are only accessible by premium users. However, of all the premium features, I only liked the student reports feature. The other features are might be useful for other teachers, but they are of no use to me. 

Quizlet is not suitable for all types of lessons. It can only be used when you are teaching words and their definitions. It does not go beyond the lexical level. As an English teacher, it only was useful when I was teaching vocabulary and genres of literature. 

Below is a link to one of my old lessons on Quizlet in case you want to check a sample.

https://quizlet.com/494216638/wonders-eld-grade-4-unit-32-flash-cards/ 

Students get the chance to watch videos at home at their own pace and participate in a discussion prompted by a question that is posted by the teacher. 

If you assign students a certain video to watch and comment on, you will be able to monitor their activity and know whether they finished the assigned task or not. This would be perfect for a flipped classroom. Before coming to class, you will have a strong idea of who actually watched the video, which will be beneficial for your lesson plan. 

Teachers can monitor the discussion and check if students fully understand the topic or not. In addition, the discussion can give the teachers a specific idea if there are certain gaps that need to be bridged. 

Students will have access to the video and the discussion and can revisit the page any time, be it for revision or recap before a new lesson. 

Students will have to analyze the video, evaluate the content, and create their own response. 

Time-stamped comments can be very useful. For example, if a student has a question, he/she can ask it at any time, and we will know which point exactly in the video caused the question to arise, given that he/she knows how to use this feature, of course. 

The website is absolutely free!

 I don't think that students below the age of 9 will be able to use the website efficiently.  

I created a discussion on Vialogues if you are interested in participating. 
https://www.vialogues.com/vialogues/play/58299/  

Teachers can create their own sets or use an existing set to support their lessons 

You can download the app so students will have access at home as well the class on their phone. And all your study data will sync with the website and vice versa. Plus you’ll be able to use the app anytime anywhere.

It has 9 different learning modes to address students’ different learning style

Learn: students will have list of questions that gets harder as they keep practicing. It can also ask the students about their upcoming test so it can create a custom study plan for them  

Flashcards: students can play and shuffle different flashcards and listen to audios

Write: must write the definition and if they got it wrong they will be reminded with the definition or the term again 

Spell: students will listen to the term read aloud and they will try to write the spelling and if they got it wrong they will be able to hear and see the correct answer 

Test: they can choose different types of questions written, multiple choices, true or false 

 It has 2 different games: 

1^st match: where they can match and students can compete with their mates 

Gravity: where terms are falling from the sky and students will have to type in the definition before they land 

Live (for teachers) will divide the students into teams in the class and cooperate to find the correct answer 

Pricing plan:

See how your students are studying on Quizlet and which terms need more review

Play with custom teams, turn on audio and switch sets without changing groups

Create an unlimited number of classes to connect your students with your content

Help your students focus by getting rid of ads in classes you create

Add your own images and recorded audio to customize material for your students

Emphasize key points and patterns with bold, italic, underline and highlights

Add an unlimited number of points to your diagrams and unlock custom shapes

Scan in documents to create sets fast and access Quizlet offline with the mobile app

 

You can upload the video via dropbox or insert the link from youtube or Vimeo.

Students and teachers are allowed to comment on a specific timings of the video. 

Polls can be useful for teachers as they help them can see which parts of a video created the greatest reaction or caused the most confusion.

Videos can have multiple moderators to edit/delete comments or add polls  

 

cons:

I googled some of the reviews and found that some teachers had concerns about long comment threads. Because they can’t be condensed so you have to keep scrolling to be able to view the first comment 

 

Pricing plan:

I guess it’s free because I couldn’t find any pricing plans 

Finkelberg, A. (2020, April 22). Vialogues Review for Teachers. Retrieved from https://www.commonsense.org/education/website/vialogues

It’s a great way to get students engaged in their learning. You can create a Vialogue or upload a video you have made. You can also have control to who can access it. You can pay online with your credit card.

I haven’t use it but 

 

-The students enjoy being able to playback the video to backtrack suggestion or questions they need to go back to.

-Teacher can post directly to students’ thinking toward crucial points of interest.

-It’s a free Tool.

It has many learning modes like; Tests, making flashcards which can have videos and audio and many more.

-          The teacher can track students studying. They can watch videos and do their work at their own pace.

-          It’s a free app – It makes it money from advertisements and paid subscriptions for additional features.

-          For teachers that like making flash cards and using online quizzes it is a good tool.

-          You can add your own images and recoding’s to customize your material for your sudents

 Cons about application:

-When editing work- or big flash cards you have to scroll down a lot to get the whole picture.

teachers can create their own kahoot or search for a ready to go kahoot

Teachers have the access to over 40 million ready-made games 

It has a student paced challenge mode that is free for distance learning that student can access on their mobiles or computers