2016 has been a great year for learning technology and after some coffee and cake we have come up with our favourites. All of the tools are free to use across a range of operating systems and devices.
Now we bang on all the time about having ‘the right tool for the job’, so even though this post is a top 5, take what we say as a guide and let your teaching learning and assessment expertise help you choose the right tool.
5. Adobe Spark
Adobe are known for creating tools such as Photoshop, Illustrator and Premiere that create stunning visuals. Adobe spark does exactly that, is simple to use and easy to share. Within spark you can create a Spark Page, Spark Video or Spark Post. Pages follow a parallax style and include text, video, images and more. Video allows you to make short video slideshows using images, narration and music. Post is our least favourite of the Spark trio, but allows the user to make good looking mini poster style graphics.
We like – create stunning pages and videos quickly in your web browser or via the app
We don’t like – Adobe spark apps are only available for the Apple IOS
4. Quizizz
Quizizz is a quick and easy tool to create quizzes that students can take part in during classes or at home. Using either their own devices or college devices, students are given the same questions but just in a different order. Depending on whether they get questions right or wrong, they get feedback in the form of different memes (A humorous image with a caption).
We like– unlike Kahoot! each student gets the question on their device
We don’t like – thinking of memes can become quite time consuming
3. Sway
Sway has transformed the way in which we present information online. Students can build brilliant CVs, portfolios and presentations. Sway also works well with OneDrive and the rest of Office 365 suite.
We like – you can do so much with Sway and present the content in a variety of ways across all devices
We don’t like – the IOS app is a bit restrictive
2. Spiral
Spiral is a collaborative learning tool that allows students to interact with questions and prompts, without the pressure of being marked in front of their peers. The responses can either be in the form of a short answer or a drawing, which is then submitted for the teacher to view, and share with the class if they decide to do so. These questions can also be shown alongside a presentation that can be built in the website or imported from PowerPoint.
We like – the ability so check understanding beyond a multiple choice question
We don’t like – the teacher/whiteboard view is a bit odd when you launch the quiz
1. Wizer
With Wizer you can create interactive worksheet style tasks for your students By adding text, videos and images the worksheets can be used for a range of purposes. As well as this, there are a variety of questions types that can me marked automatically (e.g. multiple choice) or given specific feedback (e.g. text entry).
We really like how Loughborough College students are able to login using their Microsoft account, the ease in which worksheets can be created and the mix of question types available. There are more features yet to be released so watch this space!
Have you found some tech we’re not talking about? We’re always on the hunt for new stuff that has a great use in teaching, learning and assessment, you can drop us a line elearning@loucoll.ac.uk or tweet us @eLearn_Loucoll.