Best Tools for Teachers

Teacher with laptop computer
(Image credit: Blue Planet Studio)

If you’re new to teaching or looking to learn more about digital tools for teachers such as Google Classroom, Microsoft Teams, or Flip--and all the related apps and resources--here’s where to get started. We have the basics for each one, including how to get started, plus tips and advice to get the most out of your experience. 

Tech & Learning's guide to Google Education Tools and Apps features everything you need to know about tools such as Google Sheets, Slides, Earth, Jamboard, and more.

For the latest reviews on essential hardware for teachers, from laptop computers to webcams to gaming systems, be sure to check out Best Hardware for Teachers

Artificial Intelligence

Chatbots

Chatbots in K-12: What You Need to Know
Digital AI assistants are being used in K-12 as an equitable intervention to promote student engagement and retention.

ChatGPT

What is ChatGPT and How Can You Teach With It? Tips & Tricks
If you don't yet know about ChatGPT, now is the time to discover its awesome potential for transforming writing and creativity. After all, your students may already have accounts!

How to Prevent ChatGPT Cheating
Five ways for educators to subtly shift instruction to defang the ChatGPT monster. 

5 Ways To Teach With ChatGPT
Erik Ofgang explains how to use ChatGPT in your instruction, while preventing student misuse. 

4 Ways to Use ChatGPT to Prepare for Class
Quick and easy ways for teachers to save time with ChatGPT.

ChatGPT Plus vs. Google’s Bard
We compared the performance of Bard and ChatGPT Plus based on responses to  some simple prompts.

Google Bard

What is Google Bard? The ChatGPT Competitor Explained for Educators
Google Bard is a soon-to-come AI tool sure to have implications for education and learning.  

GPT4

What is GPT-4? What Educators Need to Know About ChatGPT’s Next Chapter
The most advanced iteration of OpenAI's large language model is GPT-4, which currently serves as the backbone of ChatGPT Plus and various educational applications.

GPTZero

What is GPTZero? The ChatGPT Detection Tool Explained By Its Creator
On the heels of the unveiling of ChatGPT comes a new tool designed to help educators and others detect the language generated by the AI-powered language robot. 

Juji

What is Juji and How Can It Be Used to Teach? Tips & Tricks
Aimed primarily at higher education, the customizable Juji chatbot interacts with students using artificial intelligence, freeing up teacher and administrator time.

Khanmigo

 What Is Khanmigo? The GPT-4 Learning Tool Explained by Sal Khan
Khan Academy has recently announced the release of a new learning guide called Khanmigo, which utilizes the advanced capabilities of GPT-4 to assist a limited group of teachers and learners.

Otter.AI

What is Otter.AI? Tips & Tricks
Otter.ai is a versatile transcription tool and virtual assistant that harnesses the power of AI can be integrated with video conferencing platforms such as Zoom, Google Meet, and Microsoft Teams.

What is SlidesGPT and How Does it Work for Teachers? Tips & Tricks
Explore the best features of this new and exciting AI tool.

Assignments & Assessments

ClassMarker 

What is ClassMarker and How Can It Be Used for Teaching? Tips and Tricks
Learn how to use the online quiz creation and grading platform ClassMarker with your in-person or online classes.

Edulastic

What is Edulastic and How Can it Be Used to Teach? Tips & Tricks
Edulastic provides an easy online way to monitor student progress through assessments. 

Flexudy

What is Flexudy and How Can It Be Used to Teach? Tips & Tricks
Flexudy is an AI-powered quiz and assessment creation tool. 

Formative

What is Formative and How Can it Be Used to Teach? Tips & Tricks
This popular  and easy-to-use app and web-based assessment program is integrated with Google Classroom and Clever. 

Gradescope

What is Gradescope and How Can It Be Used to Teach? Tips & Tricks
Gradescope is a platform that teachers and students use for submitting and grading assignments.

ProProfs

What is ProProfs and How Does It Work? Best Tips and Tricks
ProProfs is an online quiz tool that provides intelligent feedback and analytics for teachers.

Quizlet

What is Quizlet and How Can I Teach with It?
Quizlet is a fantastic tool for teachers to create quizzes for in-person and remote learning that makes building and assessing quick and easy. 

Quizlet: Best Tips and Tricks for Teaching
The best Quizlet tips and tricks for teaching can turn the smart online learning tool into a powerful ally for both in the classroom and remotely.

Socrative

What is Socrative and How Does It Work? Best Tips and Tricks
Socrative is a digital tool that emphasizes quiz-based questions and immediate feedback for teachers. 

Coding

Blackbird 

What is Blackbird and How Can it Be Used to Teach? Tips & Tricks
Designed for education, Blackbird is a platform for learning to code with JavaScript.  

Code Academy 

What Is Code Academy And How Does It Work? Tips & Tricks
Code Academy is a web-based platform for learning to code that offers free and premium accounts. 

Codementum 

What is Codementum and How Can It Be Used for Teaching? Tips and Tricks
Codementum is a gamified platform that teaches students to code. 

Everyone Can Code Early Learners

What is Apple Everyone Can Code Early Learners and How Does it Work?
Apple's own coding platform aims to teach student how to code and design apps using the company's Swift programming language. It's easy to get started coding with this app for younger learners.

MIT App Inventor

What Is MIT App Inventor And How Does It Work? Tips & Tricks
A collaboration between MIT and Google, MIT App Inventor  is a free tool that teaches programming to kids as young as six years.  

Scratch

What is Scratch and How Does It Work?
Scratch lets students use coding in a visually engaging way thanks to block based programming.

Scratch Lesson Plan
Use this Scratch lesson plan to get started with the free coding program in your classroom.

Tynker

What is Tynker and How Does It Work? Best Tips and Tricks
Tynker helps young learners how to code, from basic blocks-based introduction to more complex HTML code and beyond. 

Unity Learn

What Is Unity Learn And How Does It Work? Tips & Tricks
Unity Learn is a code learning platform focused on  gaming, AR/VR, and 3D environment modelling. 

Communications

Brainly  

What is Brainly and How Can It Be Used to Teach? Tips & Tricks
Brainly provides students with peer feedback on tricky homework question. 

Calendly

What is Calendly and How Can It Be Used by Teachers? Tips & Tricks
Calendly helps users save time while scheduling and tracking their meetings and appointments.

Chronicle Cloud

What is Chronicle Cloud and How Does it Work? Best Tips and Tricks
Developed for teachers, by teachers, Chronicle Cloud is a platform that allows teachers to make digital notes for use by themselves and their students. 

ClassDojo

What is ClassDojo?
ClassDojo is a digital platform that connects teachers, students, and families in and out of the physical classroom by using a feed of photos and videos as well as messaging.

Best ClassDojo Tips and Tricks for Teachers
Whether you're toying with the idea of introducing ClassDojo in your class, you're a regular user, or you've just reached a point at which you need something new, these tips and tricks will help.

Clubhouse

What is Clubhouse and How Does it Work?
Clubhouse is a social media app (only available on iOS devices currently) that is an audio-only platform in which users can publish their talks or have others listen in.

Discord

What is Discord and How Does It Work? Best Tips and Tricks
Discord is an invitation-only online chat and messaging platform designed to be used by groups such as K-12 classrooms. 

Equity Maps

What is Equity Maps and How Does It Work? Best Tips and Tricks
Look who’s talking? Equity Maps is a real-time participation tracker that can let teachers see just who's doing the talking in class.

Fanschool 

What is Fanschool and How Can It Be Used for Teaching? Tips and Tricks
Formerly Kidblog, Fanschool provides a safe social-media-style platform through which students can create and share assignments, thoughts and ideas. 

Fanschool Lesson Plan
A sample lesson plan focused on expressive communication and creative writing for high school students.

Floop

What is Floop and How Does it Work? Best Tips and Tricks
Floop is a free teaching tool intended to help teachers provide the best possible feedback to their students. 

Grammarly 

What is Grammarly and How Can It Be Used to Teach? Tips & Tricks
Grammarly is an artificially intelligent "assistant" that helps writers by checking spelling, grammar and punctuation. 

Hypothes.is

What is Hypothes.is and How Can it Be Used to Teach? Tips & Tricks
Hypothes.is is a free tool allowing students and teachers to share educational resources by annotating the internet. 

Kialo

What is Kialo? Best Tips and Tricks
Kialo is an online-based discussion platform that allows teachers to create debates for the classroom.

Microsoft One Note

What is Microsoft OneNote and How Can It be Used for Teaching?
Microsoft OneNote is a free note-taking tool that also works for organizing digitally jotted down thoughts.

Mote

What is Mote and How Can It Be Used to Teach? Tips & Tricks
Mote is a Chrome extension and website link that allows users to communicate within tools such as Google Docs via voice recordings.  

Padlet

What is Padlet and How Does It Work? Tips & Tricks
Padlet is a digital communications platform that allows teachers to create and share a wide variety of multimedia posts. 

Parlay

What is Parlay and How Does It Work?
Parlay is a digital-based discussion platform that's inclusive and transcends physical barriers.

Remind

At its most basic, Remind is a communication platform

What is Remind and How Does it Work for Teachers?
Remind is a communication tool that connects teachers, students, and parents instantly, no matter where they are. 

Best Remind Tips and Tricks for Teachers
Remind tips and tricks to help turn the communications platform into a powerful tool that will enhance the learning experience of students in and out of class.

Slido

What is Slido for Education? Best Tips and Tricks
Slido is an online polling platform that allows teachers to take polls in the classroom or remotely. 

Slido Lesson Plan
This Slido math lesson for middle schoolers teaches them to solve word problems.

SurveyMonkey

What is SurveyMonkey for Education? Best Tips and Tricks
SurveyMonkey is a digital platform that specializes in carrying out and delivering the results of surveys. It can be a very useful in getting a clear perspective of a class or large groups.

Talking Points

What Is TalkingPoints And How Does It Work For Education?
TalkingPoints is a tool designed to help teachers and families connect across any language barriers, allowing teachers to communicate with families in their own language.

Best TalkingPoints Tips And Tricks For Teachers
How to best use the non-profit translation communication platform for the best results.

Vocaroo

What is Vocaroo? Tips & Tricks
Vocaroo is a free and simple online voice recording tool that allows teachers and students to quickly share short audio clips. 

Zoho Notebook

What is Zoho Notebook and How Can The Best Tips and Tricks Help Teachers and Students?
Zoho Notebook is a digital note-taking tool that works across devices and operating systems, offering an online suite of tools, including a word processor and an image and audio creator and organizer. 

Creative

Adobe Creative Cloud Express 

What is Adobe Creative Cloud Express and How Can It Be Used to Teach? Tips & Tricks 
Remember Adobe Spark? It's back in a new and improved form, Creative Cloud Express, ideal for online image creation and editing.  

Anchor 

What is Anchor and How Does It Work? Best Tips and Tricks
The podcast creation app Anchor makes podcasting simple and easy, ideal for audio and project-based learning assignments. 

Animoto

What is Animoto and How Does It Work?
Animoto is free and easy-to-use video maker that allows for the creation and sharing of videos online. Since it is cloud-based and browser-accessible, it works with nearly any device, making it ideal for education settings.

Best Animoto Tips and Tricks for Teachers
Here are the best Animoto tips and tricks for teachers so you can get the most out of using videos inside and outside of your classroom.

AudioBoom

What is AudioBoom? Best Tips and Tricks
AudioBoom allows users to create podcast recordings while also serving as a hub for organizing other podcasts

BandLab for Education

What is BandLab for Education? Best Tips and Tricks
BandLab for Education allows teachers and students to collaborate on music-based learning for free. 

Canva

What is Canva and How Does it Work for Education?
Canva is a free-to-use online graphical tool that combines design, photo editing, and layout to help teachers and students create beautifully finished projects.

Best Canva Tips and Tricks for Teaching
These Canva tips and tricks can turn this minimalist graphics tool into a key teaching ally to help engage students and promote more effective learning.

Canva Lesson Plan
Step-by-step plan for using Canva in your middle school classroom. 

ChatterPix Kids

What is ChatterPix Kids and How Does it Work?
ChatterPix Kids is an app that allows teachers and students to animate pictures so that they talk. 

ChatterPix Kids: Best Tips And Tricks For Teaching
The best ChatterPix Kids tips and tricks for teaching are essential to help get the most out of the creative app.

Google Arts & Culture

What is Google Arts & Culture and How Can It Be Used for Teaching? Tips and Tricks
Google Arts and Culture is a global collection of art, culture and history in digital form, easily accessible for students and teachers.

GoSoapBox

What is GoSoapBox and How Does It Work? Best Tips and Tricks
This website-based tool enables students to participate in class discussions and express their views in a collaborative and organized manner.

Kibo

What is Kibo and How Can it Be Used to Teach? Tips & Tricks
Kibo is a hands-on blocks-based coding and robotics tool for kids aged 4 to 7 that requires no digital devices. 

Knight Lab Projects 

What is Knight Lab Projects and How Can it Be Used to Teach? Tips & Tricks
Knight Lab Projects is a free set of digital tools for collating and arranging text, images, data and more into compelling stories. 

MindMeister for Education

What is MindMeister for Education? Best Tips and Tricks
MindMeister helps students organize their ideas and thoughts visually. 

NaNoWriMo

What is NaNoWriMo and How Can It Be Used to Teach Writing?
Learn how to involve your class in writing fiction via National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo), which creates a framework for writing first and judging later.    

Piktochart

What is Piktochart and How Does It Work? Best Tips and Tricks
Piktochart is a powerful yet easy-to-use online tool that allows anyone to create infographics and more, from reports and slides to posters and flyers. 

SciencetoyMaker

What is SciencetoyMaker and How Can it Be Used to Teach? Tips & Tricks
Find out all about this low-key yet inspirational guide for building STEM toys. 

Shape Collage

What is Shape Collage and How Can It Be Used to Teach? Tips & Tricks
Shape Collage is a free collage creation tool. Users drag and drop images into selected shapes, then fine-tune the placement. 

Storybird for Education

What is Storybird for Education? Best Tips and Tricks
The Storybird platform enables students to write and publish professional-style storybooks.

Storybird Lesson Plan
Step-by-step guide for creating your own Storybird lesson plan for elementary students.

Storyboard That

What is Storyboard That and How Does It Work? Best Tips and Tricks
Storyboard That is an online-based platform lets teachers, administrators, and students create a storyboard in order to tell a story in a visually engaging way.  

What is ThingLink and How Does it Work?
ThingLink is a website and app-based platform that allows teachers to turn any image, video, or 360-degree VR shot into a learning experience.

Best ThingLink Tips and Tricks for Teaching
The best ThingLink tips and tricks can help you take an image or video and make it interactive, and filled with learning information.

TikTok

How Can TikTok Be Used in the Classroom?
The music video-making social media app is free to use, easily accessible for students, and can be a powerfully creative tool in the teaching toolbox.

A TikTok Lesson Plan
This sample lesson, aimed at high school students, focuses on physical education and health and is adaptable for both in-person and online learning. 

WeVideo

What is WeVideo and How Does it Work for Education?
WeVideo is a cloud-based video platform to capture, edit, and view video footage. 

WeVideo Tips and Tricks for Teachers
The best WeVideo tips and tricks can help teachers and students get a more effective learning experience with the use of videos and video editing.

Youth Voices 

What is Youth Voices and How Can It Be Used for Teaching? Tips and Tricks
Youth Voices is a platform that publishes the work of young writers for other young readers—and beyond.

Curation tools

ClassHook 

What is ClassHook and How Does It Work? Best Tips and Tricks
ClassHook is an innovative tool that allows teachers to select and integrate relevant snippets of movie and TV shows into their classroom lessons.

Epic! for Education

What is Epic! for Education? Best Tips and Tricks
Epic! is a digital library offering more than 40,000  books and videos.  

Listenwise 

What is Listenwise and How Does It Work? Best Tips and Tricks
Listenwise lets students listen and read while learning at the same time

OER Commons

What is OER Commons and How Can it Be Used to Teach? Tips & Tricks
OER Commons offers thousands of free lessons, images, videos and more, all  designed for education. 

Open Culture

What is Open Culture and How Can It Be Used to Teach? Tips & Tricks
Open culture is a portal into a wealth of free  web-based educational resources, including courses, movies, ebooks and more.

PebbleGo

What is PebbleGo and How Can It Be Used for Teaching? Tips and Tricks
PebbleGo provides curriculum-based research materials for young students. 

ReadWorks

What is ReadWorks and How Does It Work? Best Tips and Tricks
ReadWorks offers a comprehensive platform that incorporates an extensive array of reading resources, assessment features, and convenient sharing options.

Seesaw for Schools

What is Seesaw for Schools and How Does It Work for Teachers and Students?
Seesaw for Schools is a digital, app-based engagement platform that allows students, teachers, and parents or guardians to complete and share classroom work. 

Seesaw for Schools Best Tips and Tricks
Seesaw for Schools can enhance the student's learning experience and make a teacher's task more straightforward if you know how to get the most out of it.

Storia School Edition

What is Storia School Edition and How Can It Be Used for Teaching? Tips and Tricks
Storia School Edition is Scholastic's  Common Core Aligned, grade-appropriate ereader platform. 

TeachingBooks

What is TeachingBooks and How Can it Be Used to Teach? Tips & Tricks
TeachingBooks is an online database of books and authors that lets teachers and students find and explore all types of fiction and non-fiction works.   

Wakelet

What is Wakelet and How Does it Work?
Wakelet is a digital curation platform that lets teachers and students organize a mix of content for easy access. 

Wakelet: Best Tips and Tricks for Teaching
These Wakelet tips and tricks can help teachers use curation in the classroom to offer media-rich resources for students to refer to and learn from.

A Wakelet Lesson Plan for Middle and High School
A sample lesson plan designed to help educators implement Wakelet into their instruction.

Digital Learning

AnswerGarden

What is AnswerGarden and How Does It Work? Best Tips and Tricks
AnswerGarden harnesses the power of word clouds to provide quick feedback from an entire class, a group, or individual student. 

Bit.ai

What is Bit.ai and How Does it Work? Best Tips and Tricks For Educators
Bit.ai allows students and educators to collaborate across shared multimedia documents. 

Bitmoji

What is a Bitmoji Classroom and How Can I Build One?
The use of Bitmoji, a commonly used app and image-based digital social interaction tool, makes sense for adapting classrooms to feel more natural to students.

Book Creator

What is Book Creator and How Can Educators Use It?
Book Creator is a free tool that allows educators and their students to create multimedia ebooks based off of class assignments and topics.

Book Creator: Teacher Tips and Tricks
Given Book Creator’s robust functionality, there are more ways to utilize ebook creation in the classroom than educators might initially realize. 

Boom Cards

What is Boom Cards and How Does It Work? Best Tips and Tricks
Boom Cards is a digital card-based online platform that lets students practice basic skills via any accessible device. 

Boom Cards Lesson Plan
This step-by-step Boom Cards lesson plan is a great way for special education teachers to engage their students in social studies. 

Classflow

What is ClassFlow and How Can it Be Used to Teach? Tips & Tricks
Find, create and share multi-media digital lessons with your classroom easily with this free (and ad-free!) tool. 

Closegap

What is Closegap and How Can It Be Used to Teach? Tips & Tricks  
The free app Closegap is designed to help kids manage their mental health. 

Cognii

What is Cognii and How Can It Be Used to Teach? Tips & Tricks
Cognii is an artificially intelligent teaching assistant that provides  guidance to students, helping them fulfill assignments more completely.

Digital Citizenship

Digital citizenship is the responsible use of technology, including learning tools, personal devices, and social media 

How to Teach Digital Citizenship
Students need to have a thorough understanding of their digital footprint, how to effectively communicate, the tools they can use, strategies for when they feel unsafe online, and what is considered appropriate and inappropriate behavior. 

Supporting Digital Citizenship During Remote Learning
Educators from New York City’s Department of Education share their best practices and advice for supporting digital citizenship.

Which Digital Citizenship Skills Do Students Need Most?
The data suggests that teachers and schools should consider adopting a more holistic approach to digital citizenship.

Fact-Checking Sites for Students
Online resources for students to properly research reports, papers, and more.

EdApp 

What is EdApp and How Does It Work? Best Tips and Tricks
EdApp is a mobile learning management system (LMS) that delivers microlessons directly to students, allowing them to use various devices to access learning.  

Flipped Learning

Top Flipped Classroom Tech Tools
Teachers describe how they use the best edtech tools for flipped learning.

GooseChase

GooseChase: What It Is and How Educators Can Use It?
GooseChase EDU is a popular digital tool that helps students learn through teacher-designed scavenger hunts. 

GooseChase: Tips and Tricks
Get the most out of GooseChase with these tips and tricks.

Harmony

What is Harmony and How Does It Work? Best Tips and Tricks
Harmony helps students devlop social and emotional skills. 

Headspace

What is Headspace and How Does it Work? Best Tips and Tricks For Educators
Headspace is a web and app-based meditation and mindfulness service that educators can use for free. 

IXL

What is IXL and How Does It Work?
The IXL platform is a personalized learning space that covers the K-12 curriculum, including math, English language arts, science, social studies, and Spanish.

IXL: Best Tips and Tricks for Teaching
The best IXL tips and tricks for teaching are an ideal way to help students progress through their K-12 curriculum learning, enjoying it as they go.

Kami

What is Kami and How Can It Be Used to Teach? Tips & Tricks
Kami provides a cloud-based, one-stop shop for digital tools and collaborative learning.

Microsoft Immersive Reader

What Is Microsoft Immersive Reader and How Does it Work? Best Tips and Tricks for Educators
Microsoft Immersive Reader is a free interactive reading tool that reads texts aloud while highlighting the word being read- a great way to help emerging readers gain literacy. 

PhET

What is PhET and How Can It Be Used for Teaching? Tips and Tricks
PhET is a free online database of HTML5 browser-based STEM interactives for grades 3-12 and beyond. 

Plagiarism Checker X

What is Plagiarism Checker X and How Can It Be Used to Teach? Tips & Tricks
Are your students submitting original work? Plagiarism Checker X will help you determine the answer.  

Project Pals

What is Project Pals and How Does It Work? Best Tips and Tricks
Project Pals is a web-based tool that allows multiple students to collaborate and contribute to a team project-based learning effort.  

ReadWriteThink

What is ReadWriteThink and How Can It Be Used for Teaching? Tips and Tricks
ReadWriteThink is free-to-use platform that promotes literacy learning, offering lessons, activities, and printable materials.

SimpleMind

What is SimpleMind and How Can It Be Used to Teach? Tips & Tricks
SimpleMind is an easy-to-use mind mapping tool that helps students organize thoughts and ideas. 

SMART Learning Suite

What is SMART Learning Suite? Best Tips and Tricks
SMART Learning Suite is a web-based software that allows teachers to share lessons with the class via multiple screens. 

SpiderScribe

What is SpiderScribe and How Does It Work? Best Tips and Tricks
From brainstorming to project planning, the SpiderScribe mind-mapping tool is easy to use by teachers and students alike—even younger students—with little guidance required. 

Ubermix

What is Ubermix?
Ubermix is a free open-source operation system built by innovative educator and chief technology officer of Las Virgenes USD Jim Klein. 

Virtual Lab Software

Best Virtual Lab Software
Find out which virtual lab software provides the best STEM learning experience for your students. 

The Week Junior

What is The Week Junior and How Can It Be Used to Teach? Tips & Tricks
This weekly news magazine aimed at kids from 8 to 14 years old covers current events, politics, science, tech, nature, and culture.  

Wizer

What is Wizer and How Does it Work?
Wizer is a digital worksheet-building tool that that can include questions, images, videos, and recording directions, plus teachers can set specific tasks.

Wizer: Best Tips and Tricks for Teaching
The best Wizer tips and tricks will allow teachers to create and find pre-made worksheets that get the best out of students. 

Wonderopolis

What is Wonderopolis and How Does It Work? Best Tips and Tricks
Wonderopolis is an interactive website that enables users to submit questions, which can be answered in-depth by the editorial team and published as articles. 

Zearn

What is Zearn and How Can it Be Used to Teach? Tips & Tricks
Zearn is a math learning platform for individuals and groups. 

Game based learning

Baamboozle

What is Baamboozle and How Can It Be Used for Teaching? Tips and Tricks
B
aamboozle is an easy-to-use game-based learning platform offering not only pre- made games, but also the ability to make your own. 

Blooket

What Is Blooket And How Does It Work? Tips & Tricks
Blooket integrates engaging characters and rewarding gameplay into its quizzes.  

Brainzy

What is Brainzy and How Can It Be Used for Teaching? Tips and Tricks
Brainzy is a game-based online education platform that uses interactive games to engage kids in mastering math, English, and science topics. 

Breakout EDU

What is Breakout EDU and How Can It Be Used for Teaching? Tips and Tricks
Breakout EDU uses both physical and digital puzzle games to teach a wide range of subjects and promote collaborative learning. 

Classcraft

What is Classcraft and How Can It Be Used to Teach? Tips & Tricks
Classcraft engages kids in social-emotional and behavioral learning via a fun game-based, collaborative interface.

Duolingo

What Is Duolingo And How Does It Work? Tips & Tricks
Duolingo is a gamified tool for teaching and learning languages.

Does Duolingo Work?
Can you really learn a language playing games with Duolingo? Erik Ofgang investigates. 

What is Duolingo Max? The GPT-4 Powered Learning Tool Explained by The App’s Product Manager
By leveraging the AI capabilities of GPT-4, Duolingo Max enables users to engage with a virtual language instructor through Roleplay and receive comprehensive feedback on their answers.

Duolingo Math

What is Duolingo Math and How Can It Be Used to Teach? Tips & Tricks
Duolingo's gamified math lessons include built-in formative assessments, making it easy to track student progress. 

Education Galaxy

What is Education Galaxy and How Does It Work? Best Tips and Tricks
Education Galaxy is an online learning platform that uses a combination of games and exercises to help students learn while having fun. 

Factile

What is Factile and How Can It Be Used for Teaching? Tips and Tricks
Factile is a fun quiz platform that will engage kids in learning via a Jeopardy! style interface.  

Gimkit

What is Gimkit and How Can It Be Used for Teaching? Tips and Tricks
Gimkit is an easy-to-use gamified quiz platform for K-12 students. 

GoNoodle

What is GoNoodle and How Does it Work? Best Tips and Tricks For Educators GoNoodle is a free tool that aims to get kids moving with short interactive videos and other activities. 

JeopardyLabs

What is JeopardyLabs and How Can It Be Used for Teaching? Tips and Tricks
JeopardyLabs is a free online gamed-based learning platform that uses the beloved Jeopardy! format to teach math, science and many other topics. 

Jeopardy Labs Lesson Plan
A complete, step-by-step lesson plan for integrating this fun learning platform into your social studies classroom.

Nova Labs PBS

What is Nova Labs PBS and How Does It Work? Best Tips and Tricks
Nova Labs PBS is a free interactive online learning tool that gamifies STEM learning. 

Quandary 

What is Quandary and How Can It Be Used to Teach? Tips & Tricks
An online and app-based ethics game, Quandry helps young people wrestle with tough ethical choices. 

Quizizz

What is Quizizz and How Can It Be Used for Teaching? Tips and Tricks
Quizizz makes learning fun via a gameshow-like question-and-answer system. 

Roblox

What is Roblox and How Can It Be Used to Teach? Tips & Tricks
Roblox is a block-based digital game with more than 150 million users worlwide. 

Creating A Roblox Classroom
How to integrate Roblox into your classroom for STEM and coding instruction, student engagement and more.

Prodigy for Education

What is Prodigy for Education? Best Tips and Tricks
Prodigy is a role-playing adventure game in which students control an avatar wizard who roams a mystical land answering math-based questions (AKA doing battle). 

Oodlu

What is Oodlu and How Does It Work? Best Tips and Tricks
Oodlu is an online gaming platform and education tool that  teachers can use to help students learn as they play

Kahoot!

What is Kahoot! and How Does it Work for Teachers?
Game-based learning has never been so easy for teachers and students to enjoy, thanks to Kahoot!

Best Kahoot! Tips and Tricks for Teachers
Kahoot! can help educators engage with students and enhance the teaching experience in class and beyond.

A Kahoot! Lesson Plan for Elementary Grades
A sample lesson plan designed to help educators implement Kahoot! into their instruction.

Minecraft

What is Minecraft: Education Edition?
Minecraft: Education Edition is a learning-focused version of the popular block-based game, with special options for teachers to offer control while still giving students that open-world freedom for which Minecraft is known.

Minecraft: Education Edition: Tips and Tricks
Minecraft: Education Edition can be a powerful teaching tool when used with the right tips and tricks

Why Minecraft?
Minecraft is about freedom, a trait sorely lacking in education. Kids can build what they want, how they want, block by block, and are only limited by their imagination.

How To Turn A Minecraft Map Into A Google Map
Building a world in Minecraft and then turning it into a Google Map, complete with points of interest, is only limited by your creativity.

How Colleges are Using Minecraft to Create Events and Activities
Higher ed institutions have discovered the value of Minecraft to bridge gaps brought on by remote learning.

Using Minecraft to Launch An Esports Program
Learn how to use the hugely popular Minecraft game to start your school esports program. 

A Minecraft Server for Grieving Kids
Three non-profit organizations have partnered to create an online community for grieving kids. 

Twitch

What is Twitch and How Can It Be Used for Teaching? Tips and Tricks
Twitch is an online gaming community that live-streams top gamers while they play. Luke Edwards breaks down the features of Twitch and explains how it can be used in education. 

Online Learning

CommonLit

What is CommonLit and How Does It Work? Best Tips and Tricks
CommonLit offers online literacy teaching and learning resources, with leveled texts for students grades 3-12. 

Coursera

What is Coursera and How Can it Be Used to Teach? Tips & Tricks
In partnership with top colleges and universities, Coursera offers a wide range of free, high-quality online courses for students and teachers. 

DreamyKid

What is DreamyKid and How Does It Work? Best Tips and Tricks
DreamyKid is a mediation platform designed for kids. 

Edublogs

What is Edublogs and How Can it Be Used to Teach? Tips & Tricks
Edublogs allows teachers to create interactive websites  for their classes. 

Hiveclass

What is Hiveclass and How Can it Be Used to Teach? Tips & Tricks
Hiveclass teaches kids to improve their athletic skills as well as offering incentives to get moving.  

iCivics

What is iCivics and How Does It Work? Best Tips and Tricks
iCivics is a free-to-use lesson-planning tool that allows teachers to better educate students on civic knowledge.

iCivics Lesson Plan
Learn how to incorporate the free iCivics resources into your instruction. 

Khan Academy

What is Khan Academy?
Khan Academy is a free online teaching resource that offers courses to students to further deepen their knowledge to enhance learning for all. While it was created to bring learning to those who either couldn't afford or didn't have access to education, it's now grown into a powerful resource used by many schools as a teaching aid.

Written Out Loud

What is Written Out Loud?
Written Out Loud's storytelling platform  allows students to learn writing and empathy through collaboration with other kids. 

Yo Teach!

What is Yo Teach! and How Does It Work? Best Tips and Tricks
Yo Teach! is a collaborative, free-to-use online workspace designed for education.

Presentation

Apple Keynote

How To Use Keynote For Education
Apple Keynote is a presentation slideshow creator that can be used in education to help teachers and students create the most powerful and engaging presentations.

Best Keynote Tips and Tricks for Teachers
Keynote offers a host of cinematic transitions and effects that can help to make any subject engaging and entertaining for students. 

Buncee

What is Buncee and How Does It Work?
Buncee is a slideshow system designed specifically for educators, students, and administrators that offers end results that are easy to share and is ideal for both in-classroom use and remote learning.

Buncee Tips and Tricks for Teachers
From videos and images to animations and emojis, there is a lot of media to pick from when building a Buncee, but with a few good ideas from those who have used the platform before, you can make Buncee brilliance. 

Explain Everything

What is Explain Everything and How Does It Work? Best Tips and Tricks
Love your classroom whiteboard? Try an even more flexible tool, the Explain Everything digital whiteboard - it's like a super-robust PowerPoint designed for educators.  

Flippity

What is Flippity and How Does It Work?
Flippity is a tool that allows users to take Google Sheets and turn it into activities and helpful resources, such as  from flash cards or quizzes. 

Best Flippity Tips and Tricks for Teachers
Make flash cards, build quizzes, create activities, and better engage students with these Flippity tips and tricks.

Genially

What is Genially and How Can It Be Used to Teach? Tips & Tricks
Genially's interactive features make this slideshow platform much more than just a presentation tool.  

Mentimeter

What is Mentimeter and How Can It Be Used for Teaching? Tips and Tricks
Mentimeter is a web-based presentation tool that allows teachers to interact with students in real time, whether in the classroom or remotely. 

Microsoft PowerPoint

What is Microsoft PowerPoint for Education?
Microsoft PowerPoint is a slides-based presentation tool that teachers and students can use to create digital slideshows.

Best Microsoft PowerPoint Tips and Tricks for Teachers
These Microsoft PowerPoint tips and tricks can turn the office-focused tool into a powerful platform for student interaction and learning.

Mural

What is Mural and How Can it Be Used to Teach? Tips & Tricks
Mural operates as an interactive slideshow platform that encourages and supports collaboration among students and teachers.
 

Nearpod

What is Nearpod and How Does it Work?
Nearpod is an online tool that allows teachers to use slide-based teaching both in the classroom and remotely thanks to a hybrid layout.

Nearpod: Best Tips and Tricks for Teaching
To get the best out of Nearpod check out these best tips and tricks that help you to not only get new ideas but also to make the process easier and faster.

Pear Deck

What is Pear Deck and How Does it Work?
Pear Deck is a digital tool that allows teachers more in-depth and graphic control when using Google Slides.

Pear Deck Tips and Tricks for Teachers
The best Pear Deck tips and tricks for teaching can help teachers better engage students while potentially also saving instruction time.

Powtoon

What is Powtoon and How Can It Be Used for Teaching? Tips and Tricks
Powtoon lets teachers and students turn ordinary slide presentations into engaging videos for learning.  

Powtoon Lesson Plan
Learn how to use Powtoon, the versatile online multimedia platform that centers around animation.

Prezi

What is Prezi and How Can it Be Used to Teach? Tips & Tricks
Prezi is a versatile multimedia platform that allows teachers to easily incorporate video and slideshow presentations into their classroom lessons. 

VoiceThread

What is VoiceThread for Education?
VoiceThread is a presentation tool that allows for storytelling with lots of mixed media sources, and for interaction between teacher and students.

VoiceThread: Best Tips and Tricks For Teaching
While VoiceThread does a great job of incorporating rich media both for presenting and for feedback, there are great ways in which teachers are using this platform to boost engagement.

Video Learning

BrainPOP

What is BrainPOP and How Can It Be Used for Teaching? Tips and Tricks
BrainPoP uses hosted animated videos to make complex topics accessible and engaging for students of any age.  

Descript

What is Descript and How Can it Be Used to Teach? Tips & Tricks
Descripts' unique platform  that allows students and teachers to edit video and audio  while and AI-powered service automatically provides a transcript. 

Discovery Education

What is Discovery Education? Tips & Tricks
More than just a video-based platform, Discovery /Education offers multimedia lesson plans, quizzes and standards-aligned learning resources.

Edpuzzle

What is Edpuzzle and How Does it Work?
Edpuzzle is an online video editing and formative assessment tool that lets teachers cut, crop, and organize videos.

Edpuzzle Lesson Plan for Middle School
This Edpuzzle lesson plan focusses on the solar system, but can be adapted for other topics as well.

Educreations 

What is Educreations and How Can It Be Used for Teaching? Tips and Tricks
Educreations is an iPad app that lets teachers create video lessons with voiceover easily and quickly. 

Flip (formerly Flipgrid)

At its most basic, Flip is a video communication platform

What is Flip and How Does it Work for Teachers and Students?
Flip (formerly Flipgrid) is a discussion tool designed to work specifically for teachers and students in a digital classroom by using video to create an open platform of discussion and learning.

Best Flip Tips and Tricks for Teachers and Students
The Flip tips and tricks you need to know, from creating the best videos to engaging more with your Grid.

Flip Lesson Plan for Elementary and Middle School
This lesson plan is designed to help teachers implement Flip (formerly Flipgrid) into their instuction.

Panopto

What is Panopto and How Can It Be Used for Teaching? Tips and Tricks
Panopto is a digital video platform designed for education that allows users to record and share videos and live feeds.  It's great for in-person, remote and flipped classrooms. 

Microsoft Teams

Microsoft Teams is a popular communications platform that works with the entire suite of Microsoft education tools

Microsoft Teams: What Is It and How Does It Work for Education?
Microsoft Teams is an online collaboration platform that allows for video chat, document sharing, collaborative editing, and more – making it ideal for teachers and students.

How to Setup Microsoft Teams Meetings for Teachers and Students
Microsoft Teams allows educators to hold meetings online and create a class environment with students, no matter where everyone is. 

Microsoft Teams: Tips and Tricks for Teachers
From holding an online class to collaborating on a document as a class, Microsoft Teams integrates layers to make sure the experience is as seamless as possible. These tips and tricks will help educators get the most out of the platform.

Nova Education

What is Nova Education and How Does It Work? Best Tips and Tricks
Nova Education provides a vast collection of science and STEM videos that are easily accessible online and are designed to make learning fun and engaging.

Screencastify

What is Screencastify and How Does It Work?
Screencastify is an easy screen recording tool that also allows teachers to create, edit, and share instructional videos. 

Screencast-O-Matic

What is Screencast-O-Matic and How Does it Work?
Screencast-O-Matic is a free screen capture system that allows teachers the opportunity to easily share their device screen with students, both in class and during remote learning.

Screencast-O-Matic: Best Tips And Tricks For Teaching
The best Screencast-O-Matic tips and tricks for teaching can help make digital learning more immersive and engaging, both in the classroom and for remote learning.

TED-Ed

What is TED-Ed and How Can it Be Used for Education?
TED-Ed is the school education-focused arm of the TED video creation platform, filled with educational videos that can be used by teachers to create engaging lessons. 

Best TED-Ed Tips and Tricks for Teaching
The best TED-Ed tips and tricks for teaching can help you take the video-based education platform to its maximum potential, both inside the classroom and for remote learning.

Educator Edtech Review: Walkabouts
Walkabouts is an online learning platform that uses short interactive videos that incorporate physical movement to reinforce ELA/literacy and math skills.

Zoom for Education

Zoom for Education: 5 Tips for Getting the Most Out of It
Erik Ofgang reveals the best tips for making the most out of Zoom.  

Zoom Whiteboard 

What is Zoom Whiteboard?
Collaborate in real time during your Zoom meeting with Zoom Whiteboard. 


As it always is with education technology, evolution and change come quickly. Check back here regularly as we update these resources with the latest tools and best practices. Learning in the classroom can't happen if the teachers themselves stop learning!