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Posted on October 5, 2017 by Edsys

Better classroom management is really important to make learning and teaching more productive. Changing technology is playing a crucial role in the way we teach and learn. Teachers are utilizing a number of advanced applications to make learning more interactive. There are a number of innovative apps for classrooms designed to help students to actively participate while being taught and to understand the concepts better. They also help students to build their creativity, presentation and communication. Moreover, it allows parents get to virtually participate in in their children’s learning, which contributes to an increase in productivity.

There are plenty of apps that serve as better teaching and learning platforms.

Here, let us have a look at 101 best apps amongst them that would make your classroom a better place.

1. Skype: This is a popular and widely used app that needs no introduction. It is being used extensively in different fields. . Skype plays a vital role in learning too as it helps to virtually bring subject experts into the study rooms. Teachers can make use of this app to help students to make real-world con nections to their classroom lessons.

2. Kahoot: Teachers looking to spice up their students’ learning experience can use this app. Kahoot lets you create quizzes that are more interactive and thereby, keeps the students engaged. This game-based classroom response system is web-based and free. Teachers can customize it based on the actual requirement and use it on a very granular level too.

3. Plickers: During classroom lectures, teachers can use this app to assess their students. Plickers is a good choice for low-tech classrooms as it does not require student devices. Cards with multiple choices are issued to the students that they can use to answer whenever the teacher asks a question. Teacher can then scan the room using her device and the data gets automatically saved to plickers.com.

4. ABCya: This web-based app is designed for grade K-5. Students can use the app to learn language in a game-based environment. The intriguing design and crisp graphics makes learning fun for the children. ABCya covers math and language arts along with an introduction to basic computer skills.

5. SeeSaw: This amazing classroom app empowers students to independently document their learning. Using this app, they can share what they learn at school with their teachers, other students, or even to the world. SeeSaw features photos, videos, drawings, text notes and links or PDF options for students to have an audience for their work and to see their own growth.

6. Hopscotch: Hopscotch is a free app that lets to learn the basics of coding by creating games and therefore, it is a great option for students to learn computer science fundamentals. This is a platform for those aged between 9 and 13 years, to create self-projects from scratch. They can also make use of the video tutorials available.

7. Explain Everything: This app allows you to imagine, share and grow ideas in a boundless collaborative space. Explain Everything also has options that allow students to go through inspiring projects from others and even use them as templates. With dynamic, interactive tools, one can write, draw, and move objects to enhance the projects.

8. Educreations: Teachers can use this app to engage students with videos and thereby, make learning more interesting. This app also gives an option hands-on learning. Educreations is simple to work on and brings in a lot of fun while learning innovative ideas. Short instructional videos can be created and shared instantly with students for better understanding of the lessons.

9. Oxford Dictionaries: A dictionary is a must have tool for any classroom sessions. It can be of great help in many instances. Oxford Dictionary is a reliable choice for learning sessions when it comes to instantly finding out the meaning of anything online. It is up-to-date and covers languages from around the world.

10. Schoology: An engaging academic experience is what every student would prefer to have, unlike the typical boring lectures. With just an account, Schoology app helps to manage classrooms better by participating in interactive discussions, creating and submitting assignments, performing assessments, teaming up with your peers and a lot more.

11. Mindmeister: Millions of people use this online mind mapping app to capture, develop and share ideas visually. Classrooms can make use of the amazing features of Mindmeister app for brainstorming, note taking, project planning and several other creative tasks for a better learning experience. Its option to map out the relationships between ideas assists in quickly handling complex group projects.

12. ClassDojo: This is a classroom management tool and is more of a motivator that features multiple ways to connect students and their families. ClassDojo is a safe communication app for teachers and parents to productively involve in the students’ learning. This free app provides a positive classroom culture with proper communication with parents and encouraging students.

13. Edmodo: This app is designed with a goal to provide complete control over digital classrooms. Teachers can use its spontaneous features and unlimited storage to quickly create groups, manage progress, schedule quizzes, assign homework, and a lot more. Edmodo lets sharing and discovering new lessons and resources easier than ever before.

14. Socrative: Visualizing student understanding has always been a tough job for teachers. Socrative app has made it a reality with interesting options. It is an effective classroom engagement tool that helps to connect with students instantly. Students can be assessed with on-the-fly questions or prepared activities and receive immediate insight into their understanding level. .

15. Moodle: This is an open-source learning management platform that teachers would love to have for genuine feedbacks on their teaching. Some of the interesting features of this Moodle app include browsing the content of your courses irrespective of whether you are online or offline, receiving instant notifications of messages and other events and more.

16. The Foos: Younger students can learn how to code by simply playing a game. In an interactive and engaging game format, Foos app teaches sequencing, loops and conditionals. As the students think of ways to proceed with the game, they get to develop their problem-solving skills. They can even design and develop their own game in the Foos Studio.

17. OneNote: This digital note-taking app for classroom allows inviting and sharing notebooks with others via email or link. OneNote app is useful in classrooms to share assignments and feedback with students. The handwriting feature is the app highlight and students can also record audio, capture images, and annotate text.

18. Three Ring: This app lets students to create digital portfolios. Users can enjoy unlimited storage with Three Ring app and capture photos, videos, audio, and notes from class. The student work can be captured using a mobile device which can be managed and organized online. This gets automatically uploaded to the Three Ring Website which can later be shared with parents via email.

19. Google Classroom: This free web-based platform helps to save time and paper in classrooms. One can integrate the Google Apps for Education account with all other relevant Google Apps services. Google Classroom comes with diverse options and features to create classes, communicate, distribute assignments, and stay organized in an easier way. This easy to set up app enhances classroom communication.

20. MusiQuest: Developing creative side of students is equally important as academic learning. This engaging and interactive MusiQuest app is an easy way to teach music theory to kids. They can even compose their songs by choosing from a variety of instruments. The app is an example of using technology seamlessly to teach notations and comes with options to share their music.

21. Canva: This app is designed for middle to high school level classrooms. Canva app provides beautiful templates to help with slide presentations. One can make use of its library for millions of stock images, backgrounds, illustrations and fonts. This app lets you to create one-page images, banners or buttons, and even multi-page stories.

22. Office Sway: Teachers can utilize this app’s features to quickly and easily create and share interactive reports in classrooms. Using Office Sway, the audience can be engaged with videos, links and interactive charts while sharing presentations. Sway’s built-in design engine helps with formatting and to customize the design.

23. Slack: This messaging app is great to use in classrooms, especially among teachers to communicate with each other and with students. Teachers can use Slack to set reminders about classroom activities for students while students can use it to collaborate better during group projects.

24. Remind: This is one of the simplest apps for teachers to send out reminders to students and their parents about an exam, project or any important activity. This lets one share messages without the need of a phone number and features private chats and group chats. Teachers can easily communicate even with parents who are non-native speakers as Remind can translate messages into more than 70 languages.

25. Classtree: When it comes to field trips or other events, getting parent consent forms on time is a tough task. Classtree lets teachers to notify parents about any similar activity including all the details with minimal time and without the need of paper. Parents can go through it and give their consent through e-signature making the whole process easy.

26. Dropbox: The app has got lots of use in diverse areas and is getting popular for its role in better classroom management. Dropbox lets teachers to share assignments, presentations, video projects or any related content with students easily. Also, one need not worry about the storage space constraints in their devices as they can wipe it off every year or so after its use.

27. NearPod: This platform allows teachers to use their iPads to handle content on students’ iDevices. Using NearPod app, they can manage the flow of the lecture and share content with their students effortlessly. Students can also use it to take part in engaging assessment and teamwork activities.

28. Pointer: Classroom discussions are more effective when it is presented on secondary screens such as a projector, monitor or TV. Pointer app lets you do that with ease and one can interact with the slides by pointing and drawing. As user controls are hidden from the audience, the whole presentation looks classy. Importantly, it supports wireless connection via AirPlay.

29. Subtext: This amazing app comes with advanced features that transform any document or book into a part of digital classroom. Using subtext app, both teachers and students can easily exchange ideas while going through the document. This app lets to layer in enhancement materials, assignments and quizzes to make learning more effective and engaging.

30. Sling Note: Copying text and URL addresses are a tough job for studens when it comes to research projects. Sling Note app is a great way to makes the task simpler by allowing two screens side by side on an iPad device. Just by slinging a highlighted portion, they can copy between apps.

31. Trello: A project management tool is a must have for classrooms to save the time spent for coordinating group works. The free and easy to operate app, Trello helps to plan and organize the pending, current and finished activities within projects. By assigning labels, members, due dates, and attaching files, the app easily manages the individual roles and makes things more transparent.

32. Inspiration Maps: This powerful visual learning app makes organization and planning simple and more effective than ever before. With the ease of creating diagrams, graphic organizers and outlines, Inspiration Maps helps with a better transition from the students’ mind to paper.

33. Pocket: Sometimes what you see outside your learning sessions may be useful for your future lectures. This convenient app aids students to quickly save articles, videos, and other web content with ease. Pocket app makes it convenient for you to view the saved content offline. Students can have a better reading experience as the content is presented in an easy-to-view layout.

34. Studyblue: Studying with flashcards is a widely accepted method by many students and teachers as a technique for better lectures. The Studyblue app makes this idea more organized with a digital set of flashcards. While students make their own study tools, teachers use it to create study guides, and quizzes enhanced with optional audio and video for a better teaching experience.

35. TED: The organization’s official app comprises of several inspiring and intriguing TED Talks. This includes interesting lectures from subject matter experts which can be motivating for online debates or good classroom discussions. Educators developing new lesson plans or lectures can also find certain talks in TED really inspiring.

36. Blackboard Mobile Learn: This app for classroom gives an altogether comprehensive digital education experience. Blackboard Mobile Learn lets you to send push notifications related to course activities and to begin discussion boards among your peers. Other important features include mobile friendly exams and options to post blogs, grades, and announcements. With instant mobile access, your options for learning would be boundless.

37. Note Everything: This note taking Android app lets you create text-, voice- and paint-notes. With Note Everything, students can now organize the notes in folders which makes it easy to fetch later. There are options to create shortcuts on home, send notes, and use live folders and a lot more.

38. EasyBib: This is one of the best accurate citation generators that offer good scope in learning. This android reference app automatically creates citations for bibliography in just a few seconds. EasyBib instantly develops citations by scanning book barcodes with the student’s phone camera.

39. English Tenses Book: This app gives the simplest presentation of English Tenses. This app lets the students to learn the tenses of the language in a very easy and effective way that they tend to remember it life long. English Tenses Book provides an amazing user interface with diverse sections for practice and study.

40. Busuu: Learning a new language is now pretty easy than ever before. This app helps you to learn any new language really faster than you could expect as native speakers are the ones who correct and guide your speaking and writing exercises. Busuu app covers over 150 different units per language with features including speech recognition exercises and tips on grammar.

41. TeacherKit: This app takes classroom management to a more organized level helping to do things with fun. Teachers can use this app to add behaviour notes for students, log their attendance, record their grades, and to create student level reporting and a lot more. The Teacherkit app lets to finish other tasks in minimal time thus providing more productive time for teaching.

42. Super Duper Data Tracker: This app is a great way to monitor students’ progress by just tapping a finger. Details such as names and their academic and behavioural goals can be entered for each student with Super Duper Data Tracker. Using this monitoring and documenting app, teachers can then add facts and notes about progress during each session with the particular student.

43. Planboard: Educators can utilize this app to plan their lessons better. By building lesson templates, this ease of use app helps to plan out lessons in a calendar style. Also, videos and photos can be used to make the lessons more effective. With planboard, they can go back to the already taught lessons to update or revise which would be useful later.

44. ShowMe Interactive Whiteboard: Teachers use this educational app to create lessons which can later be shared online, privately or even to a community audience. ShowMe Interactive Whiteboard lets to record and create engaging voice over lessons to make things more clear. This learning and teaching app have options to add text, drawings, photos and images to the lessons to make it more presentable.

45. Kidblog: This easy to use app is designed for elementary and middle school students. Kidsblog is a great way for student-generated reading responses. As their blogs can be viewed only by their classmates and teachers, there is no concern about its privacy. It is easy to set up and kids can start blogging once they access it.

46. Fry Words: The app covers 1000 most commonly used words for reading, writing, teaching, and spelling. It is ideal for kids of 1 – 4 years of age. Fry words app lets them learn new words with fun. To make things simple and easy, words are grouped into unique sets of 10 words each.

47. Mathmateer: Learning maths has always been a nightmare for many students. Mathmateer app is a good app for kids to learn maths with fun. This is a game based app which helps students to customize their rockets after each successful math mission. The missions covered include number sense, time, computation, money, geometry and square roots.

48. ScootPad: This multipurpose app is a great option for kids to proactively work on mathematics and at the same time develops reading skills. Teachers can personalize their students’ learning path by meeting their particular needs. ScootPad also lets them to track the student progress and all this can be done real-time on a teacher dashboard.

49. Popplet Lite: This is a visual brainstorming app for students that help them to get ideas which can then be categorized and rearranged. Using popplet lite, they can do collaborative mind mapping, record their thoughts, plan out projects or reports, and develop mood boards and a lot more. This is a great classroom app for students to think and learn visually.

50. GoClass: This is a cloud-based teaching and learning application. Teachers can access the app features to transform their instruction time into a more productive hands-on, engaging learning experience. They can well connect students and teaching staff in more meaningful modes using mobile devices, PCs, and projection screens. GoClass lets them make and broadcast content directly to student devices.

51. Teacher Aid: This classroom app comes with lots of features to help teachers to have a more productive teaching experience. The teacher aid app that works well with Google classroom features seating chart and grade report, accessing random student and groups, and attendance and assignments.

52. Common Core: This is a free web-based solution for teachers for tracking common core standards while parents can utilize its options to follow along. Common Core uses a simple method to view each Common Core standard. One can find standards by subject, grade, and subject category with ease. The present version covers Math standards K-12 and Language Arts standards K-12.

53. Booktrack Classroom: This app featuring multiple uses across the reading and writing curriculum is free and extremely easy to use for grades K – 12. Booktrack Classroom is designed to offer learning by having fun by allowing students to read with a movie-style soundtrack. They can even create their own soundtrack for any content or publish their own Booktracks. This is said to dramatically improve test scores.

54. Groupboard: This app can be referred to as online whiteboard which is a great aid at times of complex group projects. Groupboard app lets them access their group’s whiteboard online to effectively plan their projects. The chat option helps for communication with peers remotely in real time. Tutors can utilize the app to create small groups in order to work remotely with their team of students.

55. Astrid: This is one of the best apps to keep students informed about their tasks to complete. This to-do list app for classroom maps out the academic and personal obligations helping them to effectively manage their individual workloads. Different items can be added using text or voice prompts and regular assignments can be set with option to repeat on calendar. The collaborative list function of Astrid is designed to efficiently manage group projects.

56. Kindle: This popular reading app needs no introduction which can be very useful in classrooms. Its massive library has a good collection of reading material of diverse subjects where students can find good reference materials for their subjects. They can highlight significant quotes and concepts while studying and can even share it with friends using Kindle.

57. Math Helper: Students can use this amazing app to solve mathematical tasks. Unlike certain apps, Math Helper teaches students to solve problems with detailed steps and explanations and not just the answer. This app is designed for advanced middle- and high-school courses. The areas covered include derivatives, limits, the task of statistics, geometric shapes, matrices, systems of equations and vectors and more.

58. My Class Schedule: This is an organizer app designed to make lives easy for middle and high-school students. My Class Schedule lets them to always be informed about the upcoming classes and to set reminders for exams and unfinished homework. The timetable feature shows the schedule for any day or week and advanced option automatically mute the device during class.

59. Handouts: This app lets teachers to go paperless in the classroom. This effective but simple handouts workflow solution for a school tablet program manages the flow of quizzes, assignments and other paper documents. Important options include creating and distributing digital files to students, marking and giving feedback within the same app and more.

60. ExitTicket: This student response system is designed to boost student achievement. ExitTicket effectively tracks the performance of students across all their lessons over the period. By assessing the progression metrics, teachers can give feedback in real time thus helping them improve on the go. Real-time intervention, powerful differentiation, and long term data are the highlighted features of the app.

61. Google Suite for Education: This is a must have tool for classrooms for better management of lessons and other activities. This education app provides an all-in-one platform with its range of features such as Gmail for email management, Google Hangouts for video calling, and Google Docs, Sheets, and Drive for managing class documents. Google Calendar can be used to intimate students, teachers and parents about the upcoming class events and holidays.

62. Smart Dot: This is a convenient solution to make successful presentations in classrooms. The Smart Dot app lets the user to control the presentation software such as Powerpoint or Keynote wirelessly. This iDevice-based laser pointer has a stylus pen option that allows the user to take notes easier than ever before.

63. Voice Recorder: When a student can’t make it to class, he/she can utilize this app to access permanent records of lectures. The important features of voice recorder app include sending a data as attached file via Gmail, search by TITLE and DATE, timer recording and a lot more. In fact, this application can be referred to as a handy voice recorder for any classrooms.

64. Slidely: This simple-to-use, free app for classroom helps students to make eye-catching video slideshows during classroom presentations. Using Slidely, the presentations can be enhanced by music and other effects. A visually stimulating slideshow can be generated with easy search option for relevant images. They can preview their shows easily and edit to perfection.

65. BigHugeLabs: This app is a great option to work with images while making presentations in classrooms. Students can explore a number of options with BigHugeLabs app such as creating movie posters, jigsaw puzzles, maps, calendars, pop art, magazine covers, name badges and more. A free Educator account lets the teachers to access their students’ content and give instant feedback.

66. Glogster: This application is a global education platform that assists students and educators for developing interactive online posters. They can effectively work with text, photos, videos, graphics, sounds and more. Glogster stimulates student participation to develop critical thinking, creative thoughts, and problem solving.

67. Loop: This app plays a great role in developing engaging project presentations. Loop lets students to use hand drawn pictures that are easily transformed into animated features for use in projects. The user can also share the created content via email, Tumblr and in the Loop gallery.

68. Anatomy 4D: High school and college students can use this app to have a better understanding of the anatomy. Anatomy 4D helps them to learn about the entire body anatomy or any specific parts of the body in detail. They can switch the view between male to female body for proper analysis. Sufficient reading materials are also provided for specific organs or systems.

69. iCell App: Studying about cells are no more a challenge. Let it be plants, animals, or bacteria, the cell structures and dynamics can be viewed for detailed analysis with iCell app. The information is provided in different levels for students of different grades. There are options to zoom in on specific cells and to compare them.

70. Moment Diary: This app is a great tool for any creative thinking student. They always come across different thoughts and ideas. Keeping a diary helps them to note those ideas down for future reference. Moment diary app lets them do it with more perfection as the writings are time stamped. The flexibility and privacy of this tool makes it special.

71. Sync Space: This technology plays a good role in enhancing collaborative creating. Sync Space is referred to as an interactive whiteboard. Creative minds can gather together to effectively work in the same space using this app. Moreover, project brainstorming and collaborative efforts are taken to next level in classrooms.

72. Paper: This app can be really helpful in organizing creative write ups of students in a better way. Paper lets to take photos of the disorganized creative writings, pictures and scraps and to save it in a single space. Notes can be taken with just a touch, and other cool features let to create sharp diagrams, charts, and drawings to make things more clear.

73. Oflow: This app is a mix of techniques that work together to boost the creative brain. Oflow sets a platform to collect and collate work in a single space with words of encouragement and prompts. Whenever you feel stuck, this sparks your imagination with creative prompts. With more than 150 proven creativity tips, students with creative thinking abilities can be moulded right from the beginning.

74. Writing Challenge App: This app helps to develop creative writing among students. With writing challenge guides their writing in the form of a fun and interactive game. This app lets them have a good creative writing experience with prompts to add new ideas, sentences, words, characters, places or actions. Students can improve their writing skills while being inspired and having fun.

75. Social Studies Friendzy: This app is designed to cater the needs of grades 1-8. The learning standards of social studies are taken to a new level with Social Studies Friendzy using a number of games. They can learn the different phases of social studies by playing on their own or with friends. Parents can keep track of their child’s scores and the time they spend playing.

76. World Atlas: Learning geography is no more a challenge to students. Memorizing different facts about countries and capital cities was a nightmare for many of them; but, World Atlas had made things a lot easier. It brings Olympics data, demographics, geographic info, flags, and travel and weather info all in one space. Its quiz mode and street maps helps students to memorize facts in an interesting way.

77. Physics Calculator: This classroom app is designed to improve the skills in physics for high school students. Physics Calculator is referred to as a quick solving tool for students finding it hard to deal with physics problems. The fill-in-the-blank equations make their learning easier and they can check their answers at once. The topics covered include kinematics, motion, temperature, thermodynamics, energy, power, gravity etc.

78. The Chemical Touch: Learning the facts of chemistry is a pretty easy job for many students but not for all. It is especially hard when it comes to periodic table. The Chemical Touch has the complete periodic table and students can go for in depth study of each element by just tapping on it such as its atomic mass and properties. Wikipedia page is linked for each element for in-depth study.

79. iStudiez Pro: This is a great tool for students to take their learning to a more productive level. They can use iStudies Pro to input their assignments, calculate grades, have a planner, send notifications, sync with other devices all in one place. It shows calendar events and students can sort their homework assignments with course, priority or date.

80. Studious: This is an intuitive homework planner for students that prompt the right time to start the work. The features of Studious help them to organize their homework and exams better with regard to time management. The app gives timely alerts for assignments in due and when exams are near. It keeps track of your courses and relevant dates for prompting alerts of when to start studying.

81. Memrise: Learning new languages can be a lot easier for students now with the advanced technology. Memrise is one of the great apps that help to learn new languages with diverse games, chatbots and more than 30,000 native speaker videos. The courses covered in the app are prepared by a dedicated team of linguists and language experts.

82. Mathboard: This app is designed for all school aged children to learn mathematics in a more interesting way by encouraging them to figure out math problems themselves. The mathboard helps with multiple answer styles and students can even work out problems on their own with a scratchboard area. Activities are set based upon the settings level that can be varied with student knowledge.

83. Chance Lab: This app is designed for elementary grades to help students to explore probability. Chance Lab lets students to challenge their intuition about random events. The app provides options to spin a spinner, flip a coin, or roll a die from 1 to 1000s of times. The results can be viewed in a table, pie chart, bar chart, or innovative line graph for better understanding.

84. Engrade: This is an online toolset designed for teachers to better deal with classroom management. They can use the different features of Engrade to plan, lecture, improve and assess their classes. There are options to keep track of the gradebook, attendance, class calendar, seating charts, discussions, turn-ins, and more. It is referred to as a complete solution for school-level administration.

85. LearnBoost: Managing a classroom is now a lot more convenient with effective and easy to use tools. Teachers can use LearnBoost to create multimedia lesson plans by integrating text, images and video. The app also features the basic options of a good classroom management tool such as keeping attendance, maintaining a gradebook, generating progress reports and more.

86. Showbie: This is a productivity app for students and teachers designed to effectively manage paperless assignment workflow. The documents that are created in Word, PDF or other apps can be uploaded easily to Showbie and there are options to draw or write on it and add photos. This can be used flexibly by educators to help students to stay organized and have a better understanding of what is taught.

87. Book Creator: This is a creative, open-ended cross-curriculum tool for making journals, interactive stories and instruction manuals. Students and teachers can use the options of Book Creator to develop and upload books in Book Creator or in PDF format. Students can utilize its possibilities to record videos of lectures to refer any time later.

88. Notability: This app lets students to combine handwriting, photos and typing within a note to make projects more presentable. With Notability, they can use diverse note-taking and sketching tools for effectively capturing all details. They can even add and annotate PDFs for better creation and organization of work. Handwritten notes, plans, sketches, and idea balloons can be created which they can later scale, rotate, recolor for organizing or save for later use.

89. vCalc: This is a multipurpose tool that comes with hundreds of calculators and thousands of equations that could be a good choice for handling different classroom puzzles. You can utilize the calculators and equations from experts or you can build your own calculators that serve your specific need. The vCalc lets you do unit conversions quickly, create custom equations or create and share datasets.

90. Grammar Jammers: Developing grammar skills in students is now easier with interesting gaming apps that help to learn with fun. Grammar Jammers is ideal for any classrooms and comes in primary, elementary and middle editions. Students can learn and practice the different levels of grammar with games, unique animations and quiz questions.

91. Too Noisy Pro: This app is designed to help educators to have a better classroom teaching experience with a good control of general noise levels within the room. Too Noisy Pro lets them do it with the help of a visual stimulus. The sensitivity of the app can be controlled using the sensitivity slider within the tool which can be varied based on the lessons to be taught. When the noise goes beyond an acceptable level, the app gives alerts.

92. CLASS PRO: This amazing classroom app helps teachers to track student work and to have better communication with them. Class Pro lets teachers to manage a custom grading scale. The app features let them to easily access student scores. They use it to track daily attendance, and post assignments or important events to a class calendar. The message option allows safe communication with students and parents.

93. Spider Scribe Jr.: This is an amazing mind mapping and brainstorming tool to boost the skills and creativity of students. Spider Scribe Jr. lets students to easily organize their ideas by linking notes, images and geographic locations within a minimal time in free-form maps. The maps can be collaborated and shared online.

94. SchoolCircle: With proper teacher-parent communication, the time consuming administrative tasks can be dealt with in a better way. SchoolCircle streamlines the communication in a convenient online hub. The parents are reminded about the matters with daily and weekly email reminders. This free app eases of the other hassles in classroom management thus assuring more time for teaching.

95. Parent Portal: This software from Edsys is a great way to keep parents updated about the activities and progress of their child in school. The communication center feature of parent portal makes parent-teacher communication more effective even without meeting in person. Tracking the academic progress, payment of school bus fees all are other important options of the app.

96. GroupMe: This is a great app designed for comprehensive parent-teacher communication. GroupMe is a group texting tool that helps to send messages to groups. Parent to parent communication is also a possibility if parents of students studying in the same class needs to share related info. This app works over SMS too.

97. ParentSquare: An entire school community can use this amazing app for better communication and engagement. Parents can use the app’s features to interact with teachers regarding their child’s activities in class. The possibility for consistent, on-time communication makes ParentSquare different from other apps. There is an integrated school calendar where teachers can add events and make parents involve in certain decisions through interactive polls.

98. ClassTag: This is a flexible and user-friendly tool for better parent-teacher sync when it comes to improving students’ progress in academics. The how-to info helps teachers to get more oriented and creative. Many of the features make ClassTag an ideal app for elementary school classrooms. This parent-teacher conference tool is more like a scheduling tool when it comes to events such as parent-teacher conferences.

99. ClassPager: This application is an ideal way to send simple text reminders and polls to students’ cell phones. This application lets teachers to use their web-enabled devices to communicate with students’ phones via text. The ClassPager features enable teachers to quickly gather and analyze student feedback in case of teaching assessment or a project idea.

100. ApowerMirror: This application allows teachers to show their mobile content on a bigger screen for better interaction with the students. They can show photos and videos related to the lesson to make the classes more interesting than just going through the theory. Explaining certain ideas in classrooms is now simple with ApowerMirror’s option to use computer mouse for drawing on the displayed screen.

101. ABCya Animate: The use of technology in classrooms is helpful in developing creativity and imagination in students. ABCya Animate is a good app for kids to create animations on the web. With a colourful and intuitive interface, the app is very user friendly and interesting for kids. They can work with 100 frames and images and use grouping and arranging options to realize their creativity.

These amazing apps for classrooms are just a few among the many innovative options available for you now. Most of these apps are free and are compatible with all devices. With advancing in technology, there are more of such mind blowing apps to come.

Posted on September 25, 2017 by Edsys

From times immemorial, a teacher has a special place in the lives and hearts of knowledge-seekers. Revered for being a noble profession which can transform the lives of students, ancient Hindu Vedic scriptures and global literature put the teacher on a pedestal as a Godly person.

A teacher called as a “Guru” in Indian parlance always played an important role in helping his ardent students change for the better. Influencing the thoughts and actions of his students, a teacher through his creative thinking can be tagged as a lasting contributor to the progress of mankind. It goes without saying that students in whose hands the future of a society lies in, constantly demands guidance of a knowledgeable and wise person. And this person is none other than your teacher who will help you tread the path of righteousness by applying knowledge.

Also Read : 30 Stephan Hawking Quotes to Live by

From Gurukul, the ancient Indian teaching tradition which demanded the stay of a student in the hermitage of his Guru for many years, to modern universities which throw light on various subjects, the importance of a teacher is illustrated in the form of famous sayings. Singing in praise of the virtues a teacher has, here is an attempt to speak about the selfless service rendered by the teacher community through a short list of “teacher appreciation” quotes. Here are some amazing thoughts on teachers.

1. “The mediocre teacher tells. The good teacher explains. The superior teacher demonstrates. The great teacher inspires.” – William Arthur Ward

2. “I cannot teach anybody anything, I can only make them think.” – Socrates

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3. “A master can tell you what he expects of you. A teacher, though, awakens your own expectations.” – Patricia Neal

4. “I am indebted to my father for living, but to my teacher for living well.”- Alexander the Great

5. “I put the relation of a fine teacher to a student just below the relation of a mother to a son.”- Thomas Wolfe

6. “My teacher gave me the best gift of all: Believing in me!” – Heidi McDonald

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7. “The great teacher is not the man who supplies the most facts, but the one in whose presence we become different people.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

8. “Those that know, do. Those that understand, teach.”- Aristotle

9. “To the world you may be just a teacher, but to your students you are a hero.” – Author Unknown

10. “Your heart is slightly bigger than the average human heart, but that’s because you’re a teacher.” – Aaron Bacall

11. The best teachers teach from the heart, not from the book. – Author Unknown

12. A good teacher is like a candle – it consumes itself to light the way for others. – Mustafa Kemal Atatürk (A Turkish quote translated into English)

13. The dream begins with a teacher who believes in you, who tugs and pushes and leads you to the next plateau, sometimes poking you with a sharp stick called “truth.” – Dan Rather

14. The hardest arithmetic to master is that which enables us to count our blessings. – Eric Hoffer

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15. Teaching is the profession that teaches all the other professions. – Author Unknown

16. A teacher takes a hand, opens a mind, and touches a heart. – Author Unknown

17. A truly special teacher is very wise, and sees tomorrow in every child’s eyes. – Author Unknown

18. A teacher affects eternity; he can never tell where his influence stops. – Henry Brooks Adams

19. He who opens a school door, closes a prison. – Victor Hugo

20. The task of the excellent teacher is to stimulate “apparently ordinary” people to unusual effort. The tough problem is not in identifying winners: it is in making winners out of ordinary people. – K. Patricia Cross

Also Read: 6 Tips to Enhance Lesson Delivery with Voice Projection and Vocabulary

21. The teacher who is indeed wise does not bid you to enter the house of his wisdom but rather leads you to the threshold of your mind. – Khalil Gibran

22. Teaching is the greatest act of optimism.- Colleen Wilcox

23. Teachers appreciate being appreciated, for teacher appreciation is their highest award. – William Prince

24. I have come to believe that a great teacher is a great artist and that there are as few as there are any other great artists. It might even be the greatest of the arts since the medium is the human mind and spirit.- John Steinbeck

25. The art of teaching is the art of assisting discovery. – Mark Van Doren

26. Often, when I am reading a good book, I stop and thank my teacher.- Jack Handey

27. I think the teaching profession contributes more to the future of our society than any other single profession. – John Wooden

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28. Teach the children so that it will not be necessary to teach the adults.” – Abraham Lincoln

29. “What the teacher is, is more important than what he teaches.” – Soren Kierkegaard

30. “Teachers are expected to reach unattainable goals with inadequate tools. The miracle is that at times they accomplish this impossible task.” – Haim Ginott

Also Read: 7 Great Indian Teachers Who Gave Education a New Meaning

31. “To teach is to learn twice.” – Joseph Joubert

32. “Good teaching is more a giving of right questions than a giving of right answers.” – Josef Albers

33. “The true teacher defends his pupils against his own personal influences.” – Amos Alcott

34. “Good teachers are those who know how little they know. Bad teachers are those who think they know more than they don’t know.” – R. Verdi

Entrusted with a huge responsibility of enriching the lives of mortals, teachers undoubtedly become the instruments of positive change. Immortalizing the philosophy behind education, a teacher continues to live in the heart of every student through his morals and principles, even after losing his physical form of existence.

Also Read: 5 Best Productivity Softwares For Teachers

Posted on September 5, 2017 by Edsys

You will agree with the belief that education is not only about acquiring knowledge, it is also about applying the knowledge for the betterment of the society.

Tagged as “future” of every society, it is the responsibility of each school student to bring about major changes in the lives of the society as a whole through their dedicated efforts.

In line with the uncertainties that the future beholds, the onus will be on students to do their best to mitigate the damaging effects of a natural disaster.

Gaining strength from their acquired bookish and practical knowledge, students play a major role in not only devising well-informed plans to face an eventuality but also in handholding victims of a disaster through their timely intervention.

This is where their presence comes to the fore as part of an effective “Disaster Management”.

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What is Disaster Management?

Disaster Management, also called as Crisis Management is a methodical process to safeguard the lives and property of people from unforeseen natural and man-made crises.

All in an attempt to reduce the loss caused by a calamity, the student community teamed with groups of teachers has made its strong presence felt in assisting communities to better deal with exigencies.

Many instances of students saving the lives of their fellow mates and strangers have become an inspiration for everyone to do the best they can to reduce the suffering caused by a disastrous episode.

Ways in Which Students Can Support During a Crisis

If you are a student inclined towards lending a helping hand to others, the following sections will help you contribute to this noble ideal of social service.

A Disaster in School

Imagine a scenario when a group of students witnesses another student lose consciousness after he being accidentally electrocuted through a faulty switch. When faced with such a situation, it calls for a great deal of presence of mind from the onlookers to find a way to save the victim.

Also Read: 10 Inspirational Ted Talks About Education For Students

Here are the preventive steps students can take to help to save an accident victim.

1. A well-chalked out plan that will become into force during an internal or external disaster

2. Active involvement with public service agencies like ambulance, police and fire departments

3. Training imparted to school staff to better manage the crisis without panicking

4. Circulation of pamphlets about disaster management in every classroom

5. Identifying the extent of damage caused by the crisis as a data point for the head of the institution to initiate corrective measures

6. Constantly being watchful about the safety of schoolmates

Acting on Information – The Best Way to Manage an External Crisis

Education is all about assimilating information. And this information comes from books and experiences. Far away from experiencing this benefit are the illiterates who live in remote villages. Such people are the ones who are susceptible to nature’s fury which can come in the form of an inundating flood or a shaky earthquake.

Following are the ways in which you can become a source of important information to them who are in the dire need of your support to overcome the troubled situation.

1. You can spread the word about disasters along with certain measures that can be taken to handle them better

2. You can productively utilize your holiday time by organizing mock camps, throwing light on the “do’s” and “don’ts” of a natural calamity or accident

3. Setting up and becoming a part of “rescue teams” can come as another worthwhile move to save people during an emergency

4. You as a volunteer should ensure that the victims do not panic during the emergency. This will to a great extent put things into perspective alongside reducing the after-effects of the crisis

5. First-aid training imparted to students is a good damage-control mechanism that a well-informed group of students can implement

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Donations to Victims

As a timely response to a Disaster Management, you as a student volunteer can take up the responsibility of saving lives. Being a volunteer to such a group will help you offer your support to the troubled souls who rely on external help.

While your first move is to identify and locate the survivors, your next move is to call for help by informing the civic service providers.

Last but not least is to provide resources in the form of medicines, food, water, shelter and clothes to the injured. In order to achieve this goal, you can actively engage in donation camps.

Trying to do your bit to lessen the inconvenience of a disaster, you can not only collect funds but can also bring about awareness among communities to part with their old clothes, blankets, and books to the victims.

On humanitarian grounds, you can also request others to supply consumables like milk and biscuits to the disaster victims.

Conclusion

In addition to the above-mentioned ways in which you as a student can become a messiah of love and peace during an exigency, the quality time that you spend with the victims will surely work wonders.

Such humane gestures from you will help victims come out of their troubled state faster than expected, soothing their physical and emotional disturbances.

Healing people better than medicines, it is through this act of community service that you will become a role model in the lives of the survivors of a major disaster or minor accident. Helping them wriggle back to the state of normalcy, there will come a day when you will become a hero in the lives of victims you helped through your selfless service and presence of mind.

Also Read: What is a Smart School? What are its Benefits?

Posted on August 30, 2017 by Edsys

Games and studies should never be mixed

The famous notion that we all have been fed with in our growing years was busted in the recent years, with the introduction of games, video or any other, into classrooms. Introduction of gaming into education has been found to make the learning process easier. Also, incorporating elements of gamification learning into instructional tools seems to have more of benefits than disadvantages.

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What other benefits does gamification offer? Let’s see:

Positive attitude towards learning

There are many subjects that students are usually not fond of. Mathematics tops the list for its repetitive formulae and problems. Some students who have a liking for the subject will easily get through while the others will have to struggle their way throughout their student years. However, gamification in learning makes things better for the students. Games help to improve students’ interest towards the subjects they find boring and soon, they’ll see themselves being motivated and positively inclined towards the subjects.

Improved Attention Span

Remember how hard it used to be for us to concentrate through 30-45 minutes of long boring lectures? Well, gamification learning puts an end to the boredom while enhancing students’ attention span. It also helps the students to stay confident and be independent. When teachers show courage to let their students learn things on their own, it helps to build a strong student-teacher relationship.

Reduced Disruptive Behaviour

Not all kids are the same. There may be a bunch of smart students in the classroom; but then, there may be another bunch who may be struggling with learning disorders or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Usually, such students are mistaken for deliberately creating havoc in the classroom and therefore, are ignored or punished. Studies reveal that including games into learning helps lessen disruptive behaviours in students and provides a better learning environment for ADHD children. There are games designed particularly for such students that help them to control their breathing and heart rate and thereby, help them behave better in classrooms.

Improved Student Thought Process

Including games in studies helps the students to have a better understanding of what they learn. Apart from that, game-centric learning also helps to sharpen their skills. When teachers introduce game based lessons in classrooms, it contributes to the growth and development of students in a mature and healthy way. Students learn to make decisions, apply logic and utilize their survival skills, and to come up with innovative ideas. All these will contribute to the development of students as individuals besides academics.

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Better Communication Skills

The visual and audio elements of games stay longer in the students’ minds than the content of textbooks. Therefore, introduction of games in learning right from preschool years enhances the students’ ability to communicate and socialize. It also gives the students an opportunity to learn new languages.

Posted on August 22, 2017 by Edsys

Handling a manual time management in schools can be a hassle at times. Recording and arranging timetable manually for each class and adjusting them according to the availability of teacher is tedious and annoying.

Managing timetables, allotting classes to teachers, routing and planning of school buses, preparing pay scale, calculating each employee’s leave, and much more.

Assessing the advantages of Timetable Management Software will allow you to assess your skills and schedule your time in a productive way. It is a user-friendly application which can be easily accessed and adapted to any educational system. Thereby it reduces the workload on teachers and increases the efficiency of an institution. Now academic institutes can resolute towards quantity and quality of education as they can save their precious time and resources with this software.

Posted on August 17, 2017 by Edsys

Burning the midnight oil, exam time is that period in the life of a student which creates a lot of stress, struggling with printed subject material. Not anymore! With technology impacting every sphere of human life, electronic gadgets have become a part and parcel of students’ life in their pursuit of knowledge. Helping you prepare for exams, it seems that your future is actually in your hands in the form of education-friendly devices. These tools can not only help you crack competitive exams but also help you successfully complete your course effortlessly.

Bringing in a modern, student-friendly alternative for better scores in exams, it is through the use of smart school software that you can easily master various subjects. Convenience is the keyword. Not demanding you to set aside particular hours to study hours in class, you can now revise for your exams even while on the go. This way, you will be making the most of the mobile learning technology to not only simplify your learning process but also to be better prepared for every exam that you aim to crack.
Doing away with the conventional bookish revisions which at times came with boredom and strain,

Here are the innovative ways in which your smartphone can become your best tutor and friend for life.

1. Informative Videos

The World Wide Web is full of educational videos that can be streamed via popular sites like YouTube and Vimeo – a professional video platform which offers ad-free videos for the student fraternity. Seen as interfaces between educators and students, it is through these sites that you can dig into the details of a particular subject. Allowing you to assimilate the nuances behind a concept that is well explained through graphs and charts, these videos create an indelible imprint on your mind.

A picture is worth a thousand words! In line with this maxim, mobile phones through instructional videos help you drift away from the conventional classroom style of learning. Not requiring your physical presence in a classroom to gain knowledge, you can simply log on to these video sites and learn the various concepts that are streamed; anytime and at any place.

2. Audio Playbacks

Another convenient feature of using mobiles for an exam preparation is the benefit of listening to the topic of discussion. Plenty of audio options are now available in the form of podcasts, online lectures and eBooks. Listening to an educational audio clip can be exciting and informative at the same time. Allowing you to juggle with various activities, you can effortlessly lend an ear to the session while your hands can be busy with different chores. It is this facility of multitasking that will make audio playbacks an innovative means to prepare for an exam.

3. Mobile Applications for Exam Preparation

An important part of your exam preparation is to assess your recapitulating skills after a particular topic is completed. Allowing you to summarize the contents of a topic, you can make use of certain mobile applications that offer mock tests. Loaded with practice papers, it is through these tests that you can make progress in your studies when you come face to face with the results. Your results indicate not only your strong points but also the topics which demand more of your attention. Categorized according to the level of difficulty, these sample papers offered by certain exam preparation apps can be helpful in clearing school entrance and certification exams.

Pocket Prep is one such mobile application that help you clear exams with customized examinations and conceptual explanations of topics. You can also track your progress through charts and scores.

4. Preparing Notes Through Mobile Applications

If you are a student who believes in the benefits of jotting down points and notes, then you can make the most of note-taking applications that can be installed on your smartphones. Offering you utmost help, you can simply do away with the ordeal of writing down notes using paper and pen. A simple tap on your phone is all that needed to unveil the wealth of knowledge, wherever and whenever you feel like preparing for your exam.

5. eBooks – The Student-Friendly Study Guides

Your mobile is undoubtedly your treasure trove of knowledge. Just a click away, you can access voluminous information that can be gathered through eBooks. Fitting into your pocket, smartphones through eReaders, eReader applications and eBooks help you prepare for an exam. Allowing you to delve deep into ambiguous concepts through the internet, it is through these electronic books that you can save a great deal of time and effort to collect resourceful information. In view of all these benefits, it will not be an exaggeration to quote that your smartphone can become an affordable instrument of learning for life.

6. Multiple Applications to Clear Competitive Exams

Competitive exams thrust a great deal of importance on assessing your general knowledge. Testing your IQ, it is through the use of online educational sites via your mobile that you can prepare for competitive exams with general knowledge and math as subjects.

Math Tricks App has all the tricks and simplified versions of solving mathematical problems posed in competitive exams. Simply download this app from Google Play Store and you can effortlessly have the entire question bank of multiple choice questions that can be solved. Speed tests, bookmarks and result checks are the additional tools that will help you measure your progress.

GK for SSC IBPS and IAS Exams is another application that is available for Android users which has questions on current affairs along with online study material that will be useful to clear GATE, UPSC, LIC and other state level government examinations.

Aptitude tests are one of the ways in which aspirants are screened through competitive exams. Aptitude Test and Preparation helps you ace in exams through 7 options which are categorized under Solved Problems, Formulae, Practice Section, Online Tests, Daily Tests along with Tricks and Tips. The conclusion of a test is demonstrated in the form of a pie diagram with your performance details.

7. Mobile Presentations and Seminars

Many a times, your curriculum will demand the completion of project seminars and presentations as your internal assessment. This is when the Android platform of your smartphone becomes a perfect bet. Tagged as a modern-day instrument for students, Android mobiles can be used to store all the information of a presentation which also allows you to make changes before you submit your project to your evaluator. Allowing you to effortlessly demonstrate your hard work, your smartphone when connected to a projector will work wonders in getting you a top score in your internal assessment.

With so many options now open for students, mobile technology not only simplifies the effort to assimilate information from various online sources but also allows you to crack an exam in the very first attempt.

Posted on August 9, 2017 by Edsys

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is the buzzword that was doing the rounds in education since the 1980s. Paving way for a modernized approach to impart knowledge to passionate learners, AI with all its inherent capabilities can pave way for better student engagement opportunities. While education is primarily meant to develop the mind of a student to assimilate information from the pool of knowledge, AI on the other hand comes as an instrument to picture the working of a human mind. Drifting away from the conventional text-book and closed-classroom learning patterns, AI through its digitized approach brings in a dynamism to the concept of gaining knowledge through schooling.

The Significance of AI Learning

Notwithstanding the fact that technology through software, hardware and internet have made their presence felt in the sphere of education, the biggest change is still waiting to emerge. Completing reforming the look and feel of a future classroom, AI can become a permanent game changer, making the ancient skills of learning obsolete.

Schools are known to follow the pattern of imparting the same knowledge to everyone in all circumstances, unmindful of the fact that students assimilate information according to their mental capacity. Picking up nuances from every corner of their visual and mental space, it comes as a challenge to teachers to come up with tailor-made options for different sets of students. This is where the entry of AI can help both students and teachers live their dream of quality education. It is through Machine Learning algorithms and data-driven programs that will help teachers identify their deficiencies in churning out befitting study material to students.

And if you are one of them who is inquisitive to delve deep into all those benefits that AI will promise for the future of the student fraternity, here is the list of various examples that havereformed the face of learning. While some of AI’s derivatives are being implemented, there are others which are still in their nascent stage, waiting to evolve and change the fabric of learning.

AI Classroom and the Road Ahead

1. Third Space Learning

In line with the demands for new age education, Third Space Learning is a striking example of an online math tutoring interface that has integrated AI techniques into its tutoring practice. Its pioneering AI project is making the most of the insights collated from different student-teacher groups. Offering a well-organized curriculum in accordance with the modern learning patterns, this platform is already making waves in the field of AI driven education.

2. Content Technologies Inc.

Content is indeed the king when it comes to digital marketing activities. Smart content also plays an important role in the creation of digital educational tools like textbook and student guides along with a host of digital interfaces that present crisp and compelling content. Given this backdrop, Content Technologies Inc., is the new age AI initiative created to offer specialized information in the field of automation. Delivering instructional designs, it is through AI that study guides are chalked out with summaries of chapters, practice tests with multiple choice questions and those that should be answered as “True” or “False”.

Netex Learning is another example of AI education tool that aims to deliver smart content to users. Offering a digitized platform backed with practice tests, it is not only for students but also working professionals who can make the most of the audio and video-driven instructions that are a part of this initiative. And if you are an employee eager to hone your skills while being at your workplace, this platform allows you to gain expertise in some additional skills through virtual courses. The icing on the cake comes in the form of automated feedback that will help you monitor your learning curve, at regular intervals.

3. Mastery Learning

Yet another striking example of a one-on-one tutoring system tied to the principles of AI is Mastery Learning. Offering a helping hand to instructors to come up with new teaching mechanisms, this is one platform that has been in vogue for more than 40 years. Aiming to provide modern instructions, this platform is handholding educators to bring in the best form of AI educational innovations all the way to their classrooms.

4. Brainly

Tagged as a social network, Brainly incorporates a question-answer format, throwing invaluable information of varied subjects. Your nerve wracking queries about Physics or Mathematics questions, or your inquisitiveness to peep into the past through a question about History will just need you to pose your doubt. Simply type in your query in the dialogue box and the network users will come up with their responses, clarifying your doubt. Answering questions about all subjects, this AI driven platform provides a ranking for the best brains that clarify your subject-specific queries.

Conclusion

With so many developments already making waves in the sphere of education, the future is bright for artificial intelligence interfaces to become “learning companions for life”. Technology which will always come handy in collating information from students about the gaps in their learning will pave way for AI to assist them periodically in their quest for a bright future.

Posted on August 3, 2017 by Edsys

A Flipped Classroom!

You might wonder what it is all about.

As a student, you can vouch for the number of instances when your classmates or teachers caught you gazing into the space while the lecture was in progress. Stemming from the usual pattern of tutoring which mainly focused on class lectures and completing projects as part of homework, exam time left you to study the printed and written material all on your own. Amidst all this, you merely became an audience to the lectures without actually participating in the learning process.

Setting the standards for an active learning, now is the age of a flipped classroom that has revolutionized the concept of learning.

The name says it all!

Identified as a fast-growing trend in the sphere of education, a flipped classroom is an educational model that brings with it a number of advantages. It is a modern tutoring model that brings in a great deal of “student engagement” and participation coupled with interactions between students. Promising a great deal of student-lecturer interaction, it is through the practice of a pre-class activity that is a highlight of this teaching format.

The Concept of Pre-Session Activities

Apart from the basic paradigm shift in the way knowledge should be imparted, a flipped classroom makes the most of state-of-the-art technology. Operating with a primary goal to increase the learning capabilities of a student, this form of education is one of its kind. Moving away from the conventional classroom model, a flipped classroom session gives a lot of importance to the way in which students spend their time in the class. And this is facilitated through a series of short online lectures which are posted by instructors. These online video posts ultimately serve as study material for students to learn from, as part of their homework.

This pre-session activity is the major determinant for the uniqueness of a flipped classroom. The next day in class is spent discussing the contents of the video. Student interactions are the norm of this pattern of learning when they begin to help each other in their quest for knowledge through different practice exercises, supported by discussions and project work. Simply put, this is a novel format of education when the homework is flipped with classwork. Hence the name. Students get to listen to the lectures at home and work on their study material through collaborative project works and assignments, while in class.

Having understood the basic premise of a flipped classroom format, let us now move on to the advantages and disadvantages of such creative classrooms ideas.

Benefits

1. Study at your own pace

Control over your learning process is the top most advantage of a flipped classroom session. Going by the primary understanding that it takes all types of students to make up a class, there can be slow learners who will be struggling to keep pace with those that can understand a concept at the first go. The short video lectures allow you to learn at your own pace. Choosing to pause, rewind and replay a lecture is a welcome move to active learning. Allowing you the time to jot down your inferences about the subject matter, you can also make a list of your queries that can be answered by your instructor during your classroom session.

2. Focuses on student engagement

Signing up for a flipped classroom session can become a wise move when you can effortlessly master your skills through mutual interactions between your classmates. And for any support, the instructor is always ready to offer assistance. This way, you will gain confidence in the subject when the one-to-one interactions can help you face your mistakes in thinking or applying a concept that was earlier discussed.

3. Online content – A boon to worried parents

It is not only you as a student who can make the most of the online content. Your parents who will also have the round-the-clock access to your study material can pitch in for your help. The online content works wonders during testing times when you are unable to attend a class due to sickness. This makes it the most efficient and student-friendly mode of learning.

Drawbacks

1. Economic status will have the last laugh

Not everyone is lucky to avail the benefits of the internet. Students coming from low-income families and those who reside in villages are far away from technological innovations. Hence, this form of tutoring cannot work for rural setups dampening their hope of realizing big dreams of active learning.

2. Increases the workload of faculty

Collating pertinent information from the internet and condensing it in the form of an online lecture can be a daunting task for teachers. Demanding a lot of their time and efforts, there can be instances when the teachers have to be taught about the nuances of uploading online videos as part of the pre-activity sessions.

3. Resistance from students

As quoted earlier, a class is made up of different types of students with varied abilities of grasping subject matter. In that context, a student who is an introvert chooses to stay mum and would resist the in-class interactions. Another disadvantage in the same line is that this form of learning does not guarantee that the student has completed his pre-activity session at home.

4. Lack of a universal platform can create problems

Commonly, most of the instructors use free online tools to record and upload their videos. This can cause integration problems when students who use different systems will find it difficult to access such videos.

Sample Activities That Will Help You Watch, Think, Go Deeper and Finally Master the Subject

1. Problem Solving Activities

These are activities that help students address their in-class problems. Encouraging discussions with peers, the lecturer does is provide valuable feedback about concepts that were misunderstood.

2. A large class has the opportunity to engage in what is called as a “Think-Pair-Share” activity.

The “Think” part of the activity is all about brain-storming. Students begin to work on their own to enlist their understandings and arguments in writing. The “Pair” phase, as the name specifies helps one student team with his/her partner. Finally, the “Share” part brings into the picture the instructor who will collate all the information from different teams of the class. Followed by a series of prolonged discussions between the various teams, students ultimately get a hang of various approaches to understand the concept as a consensus coming from the entire class.

3. Word Webs / Concept Maps

This can be an individual or a group activity making use of what are called as Concept Maps. Essentially meant to strengthen the understanding about “out of class” topics, this activity also helps you establish a relation between different topics. Mapping theories and concepts, the use of visual aids help you to arrange them as per various themes. This exercise helps you bridge any gaps in understanding as part of active learning.

Calling for a great deal of effort and dedication on part of both the teachers and students, it is through a flipped classroom that students can retain their knowledge. A picture is worth a thousand words! In line with this maxim, students who have access to the audio-visual tools of learning will enjoy every minute of their learning process. They can also make the best use of student-teacher interaction completing their study as part of their homework and discussing the concepts in class so as to extract the best out of their faculty; while in class.

Posted on July 25, 2017 by Edsys

As a parent, you too have a role to play in your child’s schooling, rather than just letting the teacher take care of everything. You have to know what is happening in your child’s school and how he or she is faring in the class. To know that, you must attend parent-teacher meetings.

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Parent-teacher meetings give you the opportunity to discuss about your child’s performance in school and to share your fears or worries regarding your child with their teachers.But, working parents find it impossible to make time to attend these meetings that most probably fall during working days in schools. As a solution, many companies have come up with mobile and web apps to ensure smooth parent-teacher communication whenever possible.

Here is a list of 13 apps that can help parents communicate with their child’s teachers:

Parent Portal

The Parent Portal software by Edsys keeps parents updated about how their child performs in school. The communication center feature of the software enables easy parent-teacher communication whenever they wish for, without having to go to their schools to meet teachers. Apart from that, you can also track the academic progress of your child, track their school bus location and even pay their school fees online using Parent Portal. You can also get notified about the latest happenings in your child’s school using this app.

2. BuzzMob

This App enables parent-teacher communication by connecting them on a private network which requires to be authorized. It is similar to the social networking platforms where updates can be posted. Students can also use this BuzzMob app to post things and work together for projects, assignments etc.

3. The teacher App & Grade Book

The teacher App & Grade Book is a relatively new tool which is freely available to the users. Parents and teachers can use the tool to interact with each other using the parent messaging feature. Also available with it is an interactive calendar, event notifications and course-wise grade reports of students. Parents can keep track of student’s attendance records and upcoming events in their child’s school using this app.

4. Collaborize Classroom

It is an education-focused app where teachers can discuss about their students’ academic progress, relevant topics and latest happenings in the school with parents and students. This acts as an online discussion platform where teachers can create discussion threads, upload videos, articles, images etc. Collaborize Classroom is a secure app where the content is visible only to authorized users.

5. Remind 101

Do you want to remind your students’ parents about the class party tomorrow? Calling each one of them or sending them e-mails individually is an impossible task. The Remind101 app is a solution. With the help of the app, you can create an account where all parents of your students can join, with a single text message. Teachers can interact with parents using the app.

6. TeacherKit

Using this TeacherKit app, teachers can create individual user profiles for every student where they can mark the students’ attendance, add details of the students’ grades and behavior in class. Teachers can use the app to e-mail parents directly. All the profiles are kept separately and can be edited or deleted if need.

7. Running Start

This app is meant for physical education. The digital resource available with the app enables physical education teachers to explain students about movement and running. Parents can also join the physical education classes using the Running Start app. They can learn about different running techniques and for other physical activities which can help them guide their children to perform better.

8. ClassDojo

This app helps teachers to improve the classroom behavior promptly and easily. Teachers can share the details on each child’s behavior with parents as well as other school authorities. Using this ClassDojo app, teachers can provide positive behavior feedback and thus manage classes well.

9. Edmodo

Edmodo app makes the daily life of teachers simple as they can interact with students anytime from anywhere. By using this app, you can have safe classroom discussions, publishing assignments, tracking student’s progress, file sharing and uploading. And they can share these details to parents and thereby improving parent-teacher communication.

10. Schoolcircle

Schoolcircle helps teachers to easily handle administrative task, that is, usually time-consuming. Parents will be able to get daily and weekly reminders for everything that is related with their child. Some of the notable features associated with the app are its powerful sharing(able to share events and photos via the app and parents can see it), obvious volunteering, good partnership between parents and teachers(they work as a team and make school management easier).

11. Class Messenger

With this Class Messenger app, two-way messaging is possible between parents and teachers. They can discuss about child’s capability, their progress, struggles, and so forth. Also, parents are able to get test results, reminders, photos of various events, competitions and its videos.

12. VolunteerSpot

You will be able to organize group meetings, parent-teacher meetings, and group mails with VolunteerSpot. The VolunteerSpot app can be used for arranging field trips, events, competitions, and other career related programmes.

13. Pupil Asset Pupil

Asset help parents to review the attendance details, behavior, school reports (both current year and previous year reports) and student’s progress in core subjects. At the touch of a button, parents will get an overall idea about their child’s performance in the school.

14. Teno

One of India’s leading mobile app to foster a fruitful alliance between parents and teachers, Teno has a tied-up with elite educators and principals to help them effortlessly create a better management system. In addition to being an effective tool for conveyance, it aids in School fee payment, E-learning, digital attendance, timetable, record student grades etc.

15. Classting

A communication tool for all the members of the school community – Teachers, Students, classmates, parents. A cheerful and fun filled social media platform for students to interact with each other and share class posts, photos and notifications.

16. Parent Class 123

The prevalent functions of this app lets parents receive feedback from teacher, view visuals of class stories, videos and stay updated with important announcements.

Parents can be kept in the know of the students conduct at school as the app lets teachers keep tab of student behavior and attendance.

The parent can reciprocate the action by sharing the child’s etiquettes and behavior in the confinements of home. It is a cross platform app which functions on both android and ios.

This develops a rapport between parents and booth parties come to a better understanding of what is crucial for the child’s development.

17. Bloomz

This award winning app makes it easy for teachers to stay in touch with children’s parents. Apart from communication, teachers can securely upload pictures, classroom updates and also keep them in the loop about upcoming events. The other features include sending alerts for important matters, scheduling a parent teacher meet within seconds and managing events and calendar with the aid of built-in reminder. The app works on both android and ios platforms.

18. Classtag parent teacher app

An out of the way tradition to let parents be a part of their child’s success can be initiated though this app. The app was build with a vision of bringing in family support to the student life in the most un- conventional manner. The app lets teachers and parents organize activities in conjunction with each other by adding insights from both parties. It grows personal relations and gives rise to volunteering openings considering the interests of the parent.

19. Teachers 2 parents

The parents can connect with all schools and clubs who use Teacher2Parents. The app is the best platform to view the announcements of notices and events to be held in the school.

It is a reliable and convenient way of conveying important or urgent information to parents.

Parents can book an appointment with the teachers in advance. The app has an efficient email function to broadcast information to all the members of the school ecosystem.

The app lets us access all school updates under a single roof. It is controlled by the school and all the numbers of the users are registered on to the text messaging service under their administration.

20. School Connect

The app is the work of Tata ClassEdge who tied up with schools to improve the communications between parents and teachers.

The mobile app helps parents stay updated with school activities, the child’s academic performance and also helps to easily access the academic information and provides an effortless medium to stay connected with the school.

21. Google classroom

Google classrooms promotes communication, tweaks assignments, and increases engagement thus making teaching a lot more purposeful.

This is a virtual classroom which defies the confinements of a school building making it possible to set up anywhere as per the comfort of the teachers and the children with even the guardians involvement.

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The parents receive an account of student’s progress, missing work, upcoming assignments and class activities. This prevents matters of poor performance to be brought to notice earlier for parents to take necessary actions.

These apps allow you to interact with your child’s teachers. But, communicating with your child’s teachers isn’t just about parent-teacher meetings. It will let your child know the role you, as his or parent plays in their education. Also, as a parent, it is your responsibility to know about the physical, social and mental development of your child and help them in the process. Always maintain a positive relationship with your child’s teachers and keep discussing your child’s progress with them using the available apps. This can help your child apply their potential to the fullest to get outstanding results.

Posted on July 12, 2017 by Edsys

Digital classrooms have been creating a revolution in the educational sector. Embedded with modern day technologies, such interactive classrooms offer a friendly environment to the students where they may clear all their concepts while having endless fun.

Benefits of digital classrooms are a lot more than one can ever think of. They are ideal for educating the little angels about the most basic rules of learning and also help them in retaining their knowledge. They have not only changed the perspective of students towards studying but have also helped the teachers in preparing dynamic multi-media lessons which can be interesting for students. Learning is more of a fun and less of a burden with the introduction of such digital classrooms in education.

Educators can interact with all the viewers and thus keep every individual engaged and focused. Moreover, they may also organise student collaboration in smart classrooms which may help the students in building up healthy communication with each other.

Author: Edsys

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