What You Need to Know to Improve Student Retention & Engagement Through Distance Learning – Thursday, May 28, 2020
Instructors/Presenters: Beverly Gilbert, Director of Professional Development, SIATech; Erik Hensley, Managing Director, Penn Foster; Becky Johnston, Director, MTC Institute
| TOOL | SUMMARY | COST | TUTORIALS |
| Learning Management Systems / Student Portfolios | |||
| Google Classroom | Google Classroom is a free web service, developed by Google for schools, that aims to simplify creating, distributing, and grading assignments in a paperless way. The primary purpose of Google Classroom is to streamline the process of sharing files between teachers and students. | FREE | |
| Schoology | Schoology is a virtual learning environment for K-12 school and higher education institutions that allows users to create, manage, and share academic content. | FREE until June 30, 2020 | |
| Blackboard | Learning management system. | ||
| Canvas | Learning management system. | FREE essential version available | |
| FreshGrade | A learning network that seamlessly integrates a digital portfolio, flexible gradebook, and real time communication platform. | FREE | |
| Classroom Presentation / Online Curriculum | |||
| Screencastify | Easy screen-recording tool that can be used to create short videos for students. | FREE | |
| Khan Academy | Provides self-paced instruction for students and tools for teachers to track progress. | FREE | |
| SkillBlox | Lessons aligned to the College, and Career Readiness Standards assessed on the TABE 11/12 | FREE | |
| Freckle | Provides Differentiated Learning across all levels and interacts with Google classroom. | ||
| study.com | Mobile friendly access to over 79,000 video lessons & teaching resources. | Currently 50% off | |
| Teaching Channel | Online library of teaching and professional development videos and resources | ||
| IXL | Practice materials and assessments for all grades and subjects. Ability for teachers to assign standards-aligned work and track progress | ||
| Virtual whiteboards | Online whiteboards. | FREE | |
| Communication Platforms | |||
| Google Meet | A video conferencing app that allows live instruction and recordings and can be integrated with Google Classroom. | FREE until June 30, 2020 | |
| Adobe Connect | Allows you to host or attend online meetings, webinars and virtual classes anytime, anywhere, all with your mobile device. | Free 90-day trial, $50/month | |
| WebEx | Teleconferencing application with screenshare capabilities for live meetings and classes. | FREE | |
| Remind | Two-way communication application for connecting with students, updates, collaboration and instruction. | ||
| Flipgrid | This helps make learning fun, students use their phone as an educational tool and it integrates into the Google Classroom. Two way communication. | FREE | |
| Kaienza | Browser add-on enables audio and text feedback in Google Docs. | FREE | |
| English Literacy Resources | |||
| Quill | Online program that provides writing and grammar exercises for all levels, including ELLs. | FREE premium version until end of school year | |
| Commonlit.org | A free literacy website designed for third through twelfth grades. Students can read texts, answer questions and analyze materials. There is even capability to translate the reading passages into multiple languages, and a screen reader so the texts can be read aloud on any device. | FREE | |
| Newsela | Non-fiction reading materials and auto-scored assessments written at five different difficulty levels for differentiation of instruction | Free version available | |
| Breaking News English | Uses the same concept as Newsela and CommonList and adds Audio at a variety of speeds for each leveled text. | Free but has numerous ads | |
| Math Resources | |||
| Math Antics | Math instructional videos | FREE, $20/year subscription provides teachers with exercises and worksheets | |
| Effortless Math | Free math worksheets for TABE and GED skills practice. | FREE | |
| aaaknow | AAAKnow features a comprehensive set of thousands of interactive arithmetic lessons. | FREE | |
| Virtual Nerd | Over 1,500 video lessons covering Middle Grades Math through Algebra 2. | FREE | |
| Digital Literacy | |||
| typing.com | Typing tutor run directly from a user’s web browser. | FREE | |
| Miscellaneous | |||
| Google Translate Extension | Google Chrome extension that translates websites into selected language | FREE | |
| Planboard | Electronic Lesson Planner online and mobile | FREE | |
| PBS Learning Media | Thousands of free resources, with specialty collections designed for use during school closures. | FREE | |
| Commonsense | Videos, Resources, Reviews for EdTech | FREE | |
| Light and Salt Learning | YouTube Channel with learning site dedicated to GED Playlists. | FREE (with ads) | |
| wikiversity.org | Learning resources, learning projects, and research for use in all levels, types, and styles of education from pre-school to university, including professional training and informal learning. | FREE | |
| Studystack.com | Flash card tool that enables teacher to quickly enter data once and have a dozen different activities created for their students to memorize facts. | FREE (ad-supported) | |
| Badges / Microcredentials / Gamification | |||
| Digital Promise | Nonprofit organization focused on improving learning opportunities through access to technology. Offers competency-based micro-credentials. | ||
| Kahoot! | Kahoot! is a game-based learning platform that brings engagement and fun to 1+ billion players every year at school, at work, and at home. | Premium access free during COVID-19, self-paced challenges always FREE. | |
| Quizlet Teacher | Provides interactive study materials, learning activities, and games. | FREE until June 30, 2020, free version with fewer functions also available | |
Professional Development for Distance Learning
