Faculty Resource Center Online Teaching Tools

Online Teaching Tools

This page was initially developed for a workshop which presented various online teaching tools in action that you can use in your online and in-person classroom to increase student engagement. The workshop used a Pecha Kucha presentation style, a rapid-fire presentation where each tool was discussed for no longer than five to six minutes.

Following the workshop, we continued to update this resource page.

View the recording here, and see the boxes below for further information on the tools we talked about.

Cost: Free--included with your Office 365 account through the University

URL: http://login.microsoftonline.com

How-to video: https://www.screencast.com/t/wo2molgKyl (3:43)

Uses and notes:

Log in to your account and create a document, such as a Word, Excel, or PowerPoint document. Then click on "Share" and copy the link to post or email out, and students can then access the document and edit.
This is a great way to gather student comments during class, especially during a time of mask wearing and social distancing, when you (and they) might not be able to hear exactly what others are saying. It also facilitates group work.
You can also set up folders to share with students or research collaborators--you can set the permission to share for the entire folder, and then add to it as needed. This is a great way to share and organize files for a larger project.

Cost: Free

URL: http://info.flipgrid.com

How to use videos:

For Educators: https://blog.flipgrid.com/gettingstarted (2:08)
For Students: https://blog.flipgrid.com/gettingstarted (1:37)

Samples: https://flipgrid.com/dbc02e10 (login as a guest, with the password tryit2021 ). Note that you cannot try this during the workshop, because your camera will already be engaged with Zoom.

Higher Education: Higher Education: Remote Learning with Flipgrid – Flipgrid Help Center

Enhance Student Engagement & Showcase Student Voice with Flipgrid--presentation by Dr. Jennifer Eastman in Spring 2018--plus presentation handout (requires Moodle login)

Uses and Notes:

Fun and engaging video platform
Used from K-12 all the way through post-doc
Instructors create a discussion topic and students record and share video responses
Built-in software to create short videos--students need a device with a camera
Disadvantage: it does not work well in some older browsers, and it still relies on Adobe Flash

Cost: Free for everyone

URL: https://web.hypothes.is/

Review quick start guide: https://web.hypothes.is/quick-start-guide/

Uses:

Another reading tool to make reading "active, visible, and social"
Increases student engagement
Can be added as an app in Moodle
Useful for teaching as well as research (taking notes, collaborating)

Comparisons of Hypothes.is and Perusall:

Comparison of Hypothes.is and Perusall

Cost: Start for free. Paid plans provide advanced collaboration, assessment, and distance learning features:

$5 per month gets you games for up to 100 players and advanced reports
$10 per month includes up to 200 players, more question types, and distance learning features
Premium is $15/month and includes all question types, interactive lessons, importing of slides from presentations, and adding lesson plans

URL: http://kahoot.com

Play a Kahoot: https://create.kahoot.it/details/space-exploration/f954d734-7b26-4519-ba99-4134b3416be1

Learn, Study and Review with Kahoot--presented by Dr. Jennifer Eastman in Spring 2019-- plus slides (requires Moodle login)

Uses and Notes:

Game-based learning for learning games or quizzes. Competition based learning that is fun and engaging, provides a quick formative assessment of learning on a group level, can be used synchronously or asynchronously, and at any level or for any subject
Live or student-paced (asynchronous)
Students are usually already familiar with it.

Cost: Free for up to three mind maps or $4.99/month for unlimited mind maps, file & image attachments, PDF export, printing

URL: https://www.mindmeister.com

How to Use video at https://support.mindmeister.com/hc/en-us/articles/203829478-Getting-Started-With-MindMeister (3:02)

Also see How to Mind Map visual on the home page

Uses:

Concept mapping for ideal development to help organize ideas, generate new ideas, and see connections
Brainstorming
Share ideas and collaborate

Cost: Free for up to 40 students per session and 100 MB of storage.

URL: https://nearpod.com

How-to video: See home page "How it works" (1:53)

Uses and notes:

Easy to use and quick to learn—started out in K-12, but now also used in higher education.
Interfaces with Zoom
Students like it
Helps to get students to participate
Can be used to create interactive lessons, videos, and formative assessments—virtual reality, polls, collaborate boards, and game-based quizzes
Real-time and post-session reports
Great for formative assessments, virtual reality
Different teaching modes: student-paced asynchronous, live participation, and front of class

Cost: Free for three Padlets and 10 MB of storage; $8/month for the Pro version, which provides unlimited Padlets and 250 MB of storage along with priority support

URL: http://www.padlet.com

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U3P5QySmLeU (1:43)

Padlet to try out: https://padlet.com/amtenglund/um5niw7a1on3hx4g

Uses and Notes:

Great for gathering ideas from a group, sharing them, and modifying them later. Users can add links, videos, files, etc.
Often used at professional conferences as well to gather thoughts and ideas from an audience
Can be used synchronously or asynchronously

Presented by Anne-Claire Fisher

Cost: Free for students, instructors, and educational institutions

URL: http://www.perusall.com

Video for more info: https://perusall.com/about (8:17)--watch from 3:10-5:40 for the how-to

Uses:

Helps to solve the problem of students not completing the assigned reading. In addition, you can see, by the annotations and comments, if students have engaged in the reading prior to class. It is possible to set it up to grade the annotations as well, and there is a "Student Confusion Report," so that you can quickly see where students had difficulty with the material.
Students enjoy the interface and reading in a social environment
Already connected to Moodle as an “external tool
Use with your own uploaded materials, with Open Educational Resources you add from the web, and with books that you adopts from their catalog of 200,000+ titles (students must purchase the book through Perusall).
To highlight, students select the text they wish to highlight and click--student highlights are in yellow, and instructor highlights are in blue
Comments can also be added to videos

Cost: Free--included with your Zoom account

Written instructions on pre-assigning participants to breakout rooms: https://support.zoom.us/hc/en-us/articles/360032752671-Pre-assigning-participants-to-breakout-rooms

Written instructions on managing breakout rooms: https://support.zoom.us/hc/en-us/articles/206476313-Managing-Breakout-Rooms#:~:text=Managing%20breakout%20rooms%20in%20progress%201%20Join%3A%20Join,returns%20all%20participants%20back%20to%20the%20main%20meeting.

How-to video: https://www.screencast.com/t/QXhWwshf (10:14)

Uses and notes:

Great way to increase engagement and include all students, when some are online and some are in person
Easy way to put students into different groups within the same class session, especially when asking students to physically move within the classroom is not possible
Instructor can visit any breakout room at any time, and students can ask for help from within the breakout room

Cost: Free--included with your Zoom account

Written instructions: https://support.zoom.us/hc/en-us/articles/213756303-Polling-for-Meetings

Video on setting up your account for polls, breakout rooms, whiteboards, etc.: https://www.screencast.com/t/X9BSx1Xd (1:16)

Video on how to set up a poll ahead of time for a meeting: https://www.screencast.com/t/26nVUkP7MwgR (2:13)

Video on how to run a poll during a meeting: https://www.screencast.com/t/MqX0LWrhZ (2:49)

Uses and notes:

Create single or multiple choice questions—you can download a report during and after the meeting, and you can share results with your audience too. Unless you use the Zoom registration feature, you will not be able to trace responses to all individuals who responded.
Host user must be licensed account and need to use a desktop client. Only the original meeting host can edit or add polls during a meeting. You can have a maximum of 25 polls per meeting.
Make sure polling is enabled in your account

Cost: Free--included with your Zoom account

Written instructions on sharing a whiteboard: https://support.zoom.us/hc/en-us/search?utf8=%E2%9C%93&query=sharing+a+whiteboard

Written instructions on using annotation tools on a shared screen or whiteboard: https://support.zoom.us/hc/en-us/articles/115005706806-Using-annotation-tools-on-a-shared-screen-or-whiteboard

How to video: https://www.screencast.com/t/qujER8O8 (2:39)

Uses and notes:

Helpful to share whiteboard content with all class participants
Can draw original content, annotate, etc.
Ability to save whiteboard content
Note that annotation tools also work on a shared screen, if you have enabled this.

Cost: Free through university subscription

URL: Use library home page (http://www.sbu.edu/library) or go directly to http://www.noodletools.com

Noodletools Overview video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FO99xOv1PKs (1:04:29)

Uses and Notes:

Easy to use tool for students (and faculty!) to create accurate citations and parenthetical references in APA, MLA, and Chicago/Turabian styles
Encourages students to input the information into the proper fields, instead of automatically importing it (which is the cause of many errors in other citation management tools)
Has context-sensitive help
Is updated to the latest style manual for the styles that it supports
Helps students to organize their citations by project
Can also be used to create notecards, as well as to prepare outlines
Sharing of reference lists is possible for group projects
Assistance with using the product is available through the Library Reference Desk

St. Bonaventure University

Online Teaching Tools