Apps To Help With Distance Learning

With the world the way it is, most school districts will be switching from totally open to suddenly teaching via distance.  It will come with little warning due to the increased numbers of infected people.  We have one school in the district that is red and will be for a couple of weeks.  There are other districts who have to shut down for a week here and there. 

Many districts rely on Zoom or Google Hangouts to conduct class but it is good to know which apps work well with this type of class ahead of time.  These apps allow the teacher to recored lessons and collect work from students who are not physically in class. Fortunately, there are apps one can use in class to make it better.  Most students have a cell phone that allows them to download apps to use.

For math, I highly recommend Desmos for so many reasons.  It is wonderful for graphing equations without having to rewrite them into the y = something format first.  It also has activities for all sorts of maths and tutorials on different aspects of math.  In addition, most cell phones allow people to snap a picture of their screen so students can create graphs, snap a picture, and send it off. 

Another app I like to use are the hand writing recognition calculators.  These are ones students can use a finger or style to write a problem and the app turns the handwriting into a print format and does the math.  When I found one for my iPad, I showed it to a couple of scientists, both with Phd's and they had so much fun playing with it.  They wanted to try it out much like someone taking a lambergini out for a test drive.  They both downloaded it to their phones.

Flipgrid is a great app because it allows students to film themselves as they answer questions, present information.  It is free and it allows teachers to get a free account and then set up classes just like you do with google classroom.  Teachers can also assign "work" requiring students to create videos on a topic to turn in.  This app is great for helping student learn to communicate their mathematical thinking.  

Then there is google forms to use in google classroom.  I use forms to create short quizzes for my students.  I usually create multiple choice quizzes so students have the opportunity to practice for standardized tests.  I love the fact the quiz feature allows me to set it up so students are unable to open up new tabs in the browser to look for answers.  Google forms can also be used to create surveys, and pre-assessments.  It also integrates beautifully into google classroom.

I also love and recommend google classroom because I can post everything from warm-ups to exit tickets, teacher created videos, links, files in google drive, and so many other things to create a one stop place for class.  It allows me to create work at home if school suddenly goes red and a way to communicate with students in a way other than Zoom or Google Meets.

One way to help monitor student understanding is to have students contribute to creating a book on various topics using google slides, pages, or book creator.  It is easy to divide students into groups and have each group work on a book.  Google slides and book creator allows students to collaborate from a distance or in class.  It provides options to the teacher.

Finally, some of the online games such as Kahoot have created options to help with distance learning.  In addition, to the playing live as before, they also offer a work at your own pace options which is a nice option because it means all students have an opportunity to do their best.

I realize there are more out there that can be used to help improve distance learning.  Unfortunately, it is still something many of us are facing and we face the possible move from in class to distance and back.  All of these apps work with the move back and forth.  Let me know what you think, I'd love to hear.  Have a great day.