The COVID-19 pandemic has turned the world upside down in all possible regards. While remote work and learning were the things before 2020, they have become a reality full-time since then. While all these innovations brought some issues, they brought lots of good things as well. For instance- We have learned to manage our time better, we’ve started having better rest, and we discovered lots of wonderful resources and tools to learn even more. So, before even starting or returning to their practice, every educator must know and be ready to rely on those tools.
Teaching to Be Successful During the Pandemic
Success becomes available only after a person learns how to use all the resources available at their disposal with maximum efficiency. As we manage to adapt and use the tools at the top of their capability, we think outside of the box and, thus, can outrun others. When it comes to remote work and education, the main goal should be a bit different. Competition in the learning process is a good thing but it should be extremely tamed to produce the right result.
When it comes to competition in education, it’s important to tune it right. Because it is important for you and your students to focus on the common end goals and form a proper learning community. So, if you have international students, make sure they know about TheWordPoint and use it whenever they face any language barrier troubles. If your students feel stuck with writing, offer them useful tips and provide them with a nice arsenal of samples. All in all, the main point here is to give everyone equal opportunities and a strong motivation to learn.
7 Online Tools to Help Support a Learning Community in Your Course
Here are some of the best tools to do exactly that.
1) TED-Ed
Undoubtedly, one of the best learning sources currently available online, TED-Ed lives to its brand and shares ideas worth spreading. With thousands of lectures available at this resource, it offers students to view the world from a different angle and think outside the box. The lecturers at TED-Ed cover a vast variety of topics, using lots of different techniques to deliver their ideas to listeners. Certainly, this is a must-have tool to form a broad worldview for students.
2) Socrative
If you know your students hate quizzes, consider your problems solved with this one. An engaging and personalized quiz creator, Socrative allows you to automate the process of quiz generating and assessment almost completely. You can toss the questions regarding a certain topic and customize your feedback to add a personal touch. The rest will be handled by the program itself that will provide students with quizzes and assess them upon completion.
3) Khan Academy
Another extremely useful learning resource, Khan Academy is available for free to provide interesting thought-provoking material to your students on nearly any topic imaginable. The lectures are available in different formats including videos, articles, textbooks, and exercises.
4) Moodle
Whenever you need to organize your learning community, Moodle is your best helper. Sort out the materials and distribute them to classes and groups for the greatest diversity of resources. By using this tool, you can also create quizzes and assess all kinds of assignments with lots of automated processes. While this kind of organizer does not provide overly special features, it is very practical and convenient for you and your students.
5) Grammarly
This AI-powered instant spellchecker offers more than it seems and is invaluable for students who have to deal with writing tasks regularly. Being extremely popular online, it does not need a formal introduction. What’s best, it can also help you greatly while assessing the written tasks as you certainly won’t miss even the tiniest error with it.
6) ArcGIS Story Maps
To stimulate creativity in your learning community, use this interactive and multimodal tool. ArcGIS Story Maps offer to create an outline for the written tasks using a variety of formats like images, videos, or writing. This tool can help your students a lot in organizing their ideas and materializing them efficiently. On the other hand, it will also help you understand whether your students understand the ideas delivered or not.
7) Boom Writer
This multifunctional tool is the ultimate creative software designed to help students with written assignments. Create samples, generate writing tips, quizzes, and more. This tool contains everything you need to stimulate creativity in your students.
It’s All About Engagement
Equality is a great thing to provide to your students in the learning process. Yet, equality alone will not motivate them to take the knowledge you give them directly. The students that have all the required resources available at their disposal will be able to optimize their learning processes and complete them properly in class when necessary. They will very likely become engaged in the learning process and contribute to the learning community with something greater than grades. They will do their best to maximize their efforts, thus, making their whole community a better and richer place.
