Tools

Here are but a few of the many technology tools that are available not just for students but educators as well. 

Gimkit

(grades K-12)

Where students can play to earn "money,"  while answering questions relevant to what they are learning.  Students can also make their own Gimkit to reflect their knowledge.

ISTE*S- Empowered Learner, Global Collaborator

  • Students use Gimkit to participate in a quiz to answer questions that will allow the educator to evaluate their learning, instead of using a traditional paper quiz. 
  • Students participate in a Gimkit quiz where they try to be the first to reach the target cash goal by answering the questions correctly, quickly, and by making use of the power-ups.
  • Students work in groups to collaboratively create a KitCollab quiz to test their peers.
  • Students create a Gimkit quiz for their peers and then analyze the instant data to identify the areas that need extra attention.

Kahoot! (grades K-12)

As an assessment based tool, Kahoot supports pre-class/unit assessments, formative assessments, and student reflection, through fun quizzing, quick polls and surveys. 

ISTE*S- Empowered learner

  • Students participate in a Kahoot quiz to answer questions at the end of a unit instead of using a traditional paper quiz.
  • Kahoot acts as a direct tool substitute of a formative assessment, with functional improvements such as the feature of adding video and images during a quiz to tap into the student’s knowledge, and reach different learning styles.
  • Students access pre-designed Kahoot quizzes created by others to build their knowledge.
  • Kahoot allows the participation of an unlimited amount of students or players in a survey in real time.

Google Forms 

(grades 5-12, college students, educators,  businesses)

A free online tool from Google which allows users to create forms, surveys, and quizzes as well as to collaboratively edit and share the forms with other people. Educators can use Google forms to assess their students at the beginning of the class  and gauge pre-existing knowledge.

ISTE*S- Empowered Learner; Global Collaborator; Computational Thinker 

  • Students can fill out the forms online (instead of using paper and pen).
  • Teachers can curate the students’ responses on the spreadsheet automatically. Moreover, absent students also can complete the Google form out of school. Teachers can design self-grading quizzes the offer students instant feedback.     
  • Teachers and students can collaboratively analyze, contrast, and compare results immediately after individuals fill out the form.
  • Teachers can reach unlimited learners all around the world and can share the results with them. Likewise, students can collect data from individuals all around the world for their research projects. Both teachers and students can reach thousands of people in their country and across the world. 

ClassDojo

(grades K-8)

A community-centered learning website and application that provides a platform for teachers, students, and parents to collaborate and build a community together

ISTE*S- Empowered Learner; Knowledge Constructor; Global Collaborator

  • Teachers are able to reinforce or highlight desired behaviors and activities within their classroom by giving their students virtual “dojo points” (versus physical “tickets” or other commonly used classroom management reinforcers)
  • Teachers and parents who do not speak the same language have an increased chance of direct communication without needing to wait for an interpreter. ClassDojo has text translation for more than 35 languages built into their messaging feature. 
  •  ClassDojo offers virtual portfolios, where students can directly upload work (done in school or at home) for their teachers and parents to see and comment on. These can be drawings, texts, photos, or videos!
  • The ‘Class Story’ tab allows for teachers to post to all parents at once to get group feedback and/or receive comments from the parent community.

NearPod

(K-12, Educators)

 a formative assessment and learning tool that allows educators to teach their students in a variety of modes, such as live participation, student-paced, and front-of-class teaching. With Nearpod, teachers have the opportunity to create their own lessons for their students or they can select from the more than 15,500 pre-created standards-aligned lessons. Educators can track students' learning through formative assessments and dynamic media, with the ability to adjust lessons on the fly, and offer support to students based on real-time performance data. Nearpod is a great interactive presentation tool that allows students to engage in several types of activities (e.g., drag-and-drop, multiple choice) during a synchronous or asynchronous presentation.

ISTE*S-Empowered Learner

  • Instead of presenting a traditional PowerPoint at the front of the class, teachers import presentations into Nearpod and present them using the Live Lesson feature.
  • Teachers include polls and discussion questions interspersed throughout presentations that students can reply to in real-time and view the results to further the discussion and see the thoughts of their peers. Students can see the slides on their own devices and follow along at their own pace
  • Instead of traditional exit tickets and understanding checks, teachers can implement a Nearpod game such as “Time to Climb” so that students can compete in a fun and interactive way to demonstrate their understanding of the day’s lesson. This will help students to be more engaged and also improve interactions among peers, instead of each student sitting in silence taking a multiple-choice quiz.
  • Instead of teaching the same presentation to the entire class, teachers can use Nearpod to create individual, interactive lessons for small groups of students that can be navigated at the students’ own pace, both in school and at home. Teachers can check in by viewing answers to embedded questions and polls, and a blend of slides, videos, links to readings, and virtual forums can be used.