Aldel Education Trust’s

ST. JOHN COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING AND MANAGEMENT

(Formerly St. John College of Engineering and Technology)
NAAC Accredited with Grade ‘A’ (2017 – 2022)

EXPLORATION OF INNOVATIVE ICT TOOLS FOR ENHANCING DIGITAL

TEACHING-LEARNING PROCESS

EXPLORATION OF INNOVATIVE ICT TOOLS FOR ENHANCING

DIGITALIZED TEACHING

In the age of innovation and productivity, most Nations are focusing on ways to improve knowledge generation
and sharing; and creation and flow of new technologies. In this scenario, it has been duly recognized that
implementation and adoption of ICT in a nation at all levels, would certainly contribute and enhance its
productivity, efficiency and growth. ICT is inevitable for all sectors and all segments across regions. The COVID
crisis has accelerated the usage of technology in education.

ICT offers the potential to share information across traditional barriers, to give a voice to traditionally unheard
peoples, to provide valuable information that enhances economic, health and educational activities. The role of
ICT cannot be undermined keeping in view its pertinent uses. ICT is useful in education; for digital literacy and
developing all kinds of resources; in infrastructure development; in logistics management; in healthcare; for
livelihood generation and empowerment of masses; for e-governance; in administration and finance; specialized
business and industrial uses; agricultural uses; in research and development and for economic growth and
poverty alleviation. ICT has a direct role to play in the education sector. It can bring many benefits to schools,
educational institutions as well as to the community.

ICT is the convergence of computer, communication and content technologies. It has attracted the attention of
academia, business, government and communities to use it for innovative profitable propositions. In order to
compete in a global competitive environment, a highly skilled and educated workforce with aptitude and skill sets
in application of ICT is inevitable for every nation. ICTs are a potentially powerful tool for extending educational
opportunities, both formal and non-formal, to previously underserved scattered and rural populations, groups
traditionally excluded from education due to cultural or social reasons such as ethnic minorities, girls and women,
persons with disabilities, children with special needs and the elderly, as well as all others who for reasons of cost
or because of time constraints are unable to enroll on campus. Use of ICT will catalyse the cause and achieve
the goals of inclusive education in schools. There is no conclusive research to prove that student achievement is
superior when using ICTs in the education space, either in the developed or in developing countries. However,
there is a general consensus among practitioners and academicians that integration of ICTs in education has an
overall positive impact on the learning environment.

Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in educa-

tion is the mode of education that use information and communica-
tions technology to support, enhance, and optimise the delivery of in-
formation.

Worldwide research has shown that ICT can lead to an improved stu-
dent learning and better teaching methods. A report made by the Na-
tional Institute of Multimedia Education in Japan, proved that an in-
crease in the use of ICT in education with integrating technology to the
curriculum has a significant and positive impact on students’ achieve-
ments. The results specifically showed that the students who are con-
tinuously exposed to technology through education has better ‘know-
ledge’, presentation skills, innovative capabilities, and are ready to take
more efforts into learning as compared to their counterparts.

New trends

Introducing ICT into education is the answer for those who ask; ‘ how
can we increase the reach of our institution, to a larger number of stu-
dents?.’

The Mobile learning (m ‐learning) as a form of e ‐learning is a rising

trend where the education has outgrown the physical constraints of the
classrooms and acquired mobility. Students access information
whenever and wherever they want, and institutions that provides such
advanced technological terrains is rising in number day by day.

Various devices/technology in ICT includes:

 Access of course materials through remote devices,

 Online digital repositories for lectures, course materials, and
digital library,
 Online/ cloud based academic management systems,
 Employing the flipped classroom concept,
 Making use of handheld computers, tablet computers, audio
players, projector devices etc.

Also, the rising number of Massive Open Online Courses(MOOCs) like

the coursera, khan academy, and edx tells us that there is a huge de-
mand for off-the-classroom learning facilities. The future of our insti-
tutions will depend on whether or not they can satisfy those needs.

Why measure ICT in education?

. ICT essentially is a powerful tool for extending educational opportunities, both formal and
non-formal, rural populations, groups traditionally excluded from education due to cultural or
social reasons such as ethnic minorities, girls and women, persons with disabilities, children
with special needs and the elderly, as well as all others who for reasons of cost or because of
time constraints are unable to enroll on campus

Policy ‐makers accepts that ICT in education can help the students to
compete in the global economy by being part of a skilled workforce and
facilitate social mobility by:

 Enhancing learning experiences and providing new sets of

skills,
  Reaching more students with Massive Open Online
Courses(MOOCs),
 Facilitating the training of faculties,
 Minimising costs and saving time associated with information
delivery and automating regular day-to-day tasks,
 Improving the administration of institutions to enhance the
quality and efficiency of service delivery.

The movement of education industry towards quality assurance pro-

grams has been picking up pace and the NAAC and NBA accredita-
tion are evidence for that. These certifications are bound to become the
norms for selecting institutions by students and the government is
already taking measures to assure high quality education. Also, more
and more institutions are applying for accreditation every day to imply
that the education they provide is of high quality.

The purpose of ICT in educational sphere is to familiarize students and teachers

with the use and workings of computers, related social and ethical issues. ICT can
empower both teachers and learners. It promotes change in the education scenario
of the present era. Use of
ICT not only transforms teaching but also the learning processes. Besides, smart
solutions for the future including laptop learning, e-learning, smart classrooms,
didactic equipment and stimulation is the key to education. Today, MOODLE and
MIS software is an easy access which is availed by most of the organizations. With
the use of MOODLE and MIS students, teachers, administrators, and parents can
easily communicate and collaborate with each other, share information and a fond
knowledge beyond classroom communication. Effective use of ICT engages teachers
and students in teaching - learning process and creates an interest in education. By
integrating ICT into the classroom, students have the ability to learn more
effectively and explore the world around them. ICT paves the way to educators an
opportunity to transform the way learning happens, and enables student
development. ICT presents a range of tools that teachers or lecturers use to present
and display as part of their teaching and help educators interact with students as
well as engage them in a more meaningful way. ICT is
beneficial for teachers to share resources, expertise and advice. It is also easier to
plan and prepare lessons and design materials for students. At times, ICT helps
teachers to access up-to-date students and school data, anytime anywhere. Teachers
can enhance their professional image by using ICT. Negative impact on teaching,
learning and attainment.

On the other hand, there is some negative effect of the ICT on education. In college,
if computers are not enough for teachers to make the best use of ICT in the
classroom.
Teachers always depend on the information that searched from the web. It may
make a mistake. Information from the web or internet may be incomplete and
misleading Teacher who depend more on the ICT do not perform well as a teacher.
Students, however, feel lazy to attend the class if they can easily get the study
material from the web. It will change their behavior to become more irresponsible.
Let’s say lecturer give an assignment to the students, they may not understand if
they never attend that class. The technological reliability was important and yet the
students could respond negatively to a resource, both of teaching and technology.
Across the school or colleges, students might not value ICT that spent too much
time on presentation needs and copying without reading and understanding. At the
same time, students will search the information from the web and caught by
“cutting and pasting”. Through this type of behavior, reliability of the students will
be affected. By then the students will access the internet for other things, for
example, facebook, MSN, Yahoo, Twitter and others. While the lecturer having the
lesson in front, they will not pay more attention to the lecturer.

Teaching and learning with ICT tools: Issues and challenges

BydigitalLEARNING Network
Posted on October 12, 2020
 
 

🔊 Listen to this Article

In order to compete in a global competitive environment, a highly skilled and educated workforce with aptitude
and skill sets in application of ICT is inevitable for every nation. A detailed analysis by, Pankaj of Elets News
Network (ENN).

In the age of innovation and productivity, most Nations are focusing on ways to improve knowledge generation
and sharing; and creation and flow of new technologies. In this scenario, it has been duly recognized that
implementation and adoption of ICT in a nation at all levels, would certainly contribute and enhance its
productivity, efficiency and growth. ICT is inevitable for all sectors and all segments across regions. The COVID
crisis has accelerated the usage of technology in education.

ICTs offer the potential to share information across traditional barriers, to give a voice to traditionally unheard
peoples, to provide valuable information that enhances economic, health and educational activities. The role of
ICT cannot be undermined keeping in view its pertinent uses. ICT is useful in education; for digital literacy and
developing all kinds of resources; in infrastructure development; in logistics management; in healthcare; for
livelihood generation and empowerment of masses; for e-governance; in administration and finance; specialized
business and industrial uses; agricultural uses; in research and development and for economic growth and
poverty alleviation. ICT has a direct role to play in the education sector. It can bring many benefits to schools,
educational institutions as well as to the community.

ICT is the convergence of computer, communication and content technologies. It has attracted the attention of
academia, business, government and communities to use it for innovative profitable propositions. In order to
compete in a global competitive environment, a highly skilled and educated workforce with aptitude and skill sets
in application of ICT is inevitable for every nation. ICTs are a potentially powerful tool for extending educational
opportunities, both formal and non-formal, to previously underserved scattered and rural populations, groups
traditionally excluded from education due to cultural or social reasons such as ethnic minorities, girls and women,
persons with disabilities, children with special needs and the elderly, as well as all others who for reasons of cost
or because of time constraints are unable to enroll on campus. Use of ICT will catalyse the cause and achieve
the goals of inclusive education in schools. There is no conclusive research to prove that student achievement is
superior when using ICTs in the education space, either in the developed or in developing countries. However,
there is a general consensus among practitioners and academicians that integration of ICTs in education has an
overall positive impact on the learning environment.

ICT is important in schools and educational institutions as it assists in carrying out their activities and functions
such as record keeping, research work, instructional uses, presentations, financial analysis, examination results
management, communication, supervision, MIS, teaching learning activities, and general school management
functions.

ICT benefits schools in several ways: (i) enhancing learning in classroom; (ii) improving school management and
related tasks; (iii) improving accountability, efficiency and effectiveness in school activities; (iv) introducing usage
of Power Point presentations and internet.

Literature reveals that when well-utilized, ICT in schools has the potential to improve the teaching learning
process in many ways. ICT is learner centric and hence brings about active involvement of students in the
learning process. Students get motivated when learning activities are challenging, authentic, multi-sensorial and
multi-disciplinary. Schools tend to witness a higher attendance, motivation levels, academic accomplishments
and effective communication as an outcome of ICT programs and projects. Teachers too gain as a result of ICT
initiatives. They find ICT to be useful for teaching as well as for personal and professional work. Application of
ICT in teaching makes teaching more innovative, interesting, interactive, easy and effective. It complements the
traditional teaching learning process.

While imparting knowledge with the aid of ICT, educators find that students are more receptive and responsive.
Also, ICT can help to impart more information and knowledge to students in a shorter time, enabling maximum
utilization of resources and time.

Although ICT has the potential to improve education system of a country to a great extent, yet it is not the case in
the developing countries. There are multiple issues and challenges confronting the implementation of ICT
education in schools and educational institutions in these countries and the problems are much more magnified
in case of schools located in remote villages and rural areas. For rural schools in specific, the introduction of ICT
faces hindrances in the form of internal and external barriers.

Internal barriers to ICT implementation in schools in rural locations include:

Lack of trained teachers- A major obstacle in the use of ICT in rural education is the lack of knowledge and skills.
There is dearth of dynamic teachers formally trained in ICT. Moreover, there is hardly any quality training
imparted on a regular basis to teachers involved in ICT education.

Unfavourable organizational culture and poor attitude and beliefs-Often in developing nations, the educational
organizations and school management fail to perceive the importance and seriousness of the role of ICT in
education enhancement. Also, the teachers attitudes and beliefs are outdated and orthodox. They are unaware
and rigid and not willing to adapt to the change. They harbor false beliefs that ICT is meant primarily for the
youngsters and are sceptical about the effectiveness and utility of ICTs in school education.

Shortage of time-In schools, teachers are usually burdened with multiple tasks other than teaching. Moreover,
they have to teach all types of subjects along with ICT. They do not have time to design, develop and incorporate
technology into teaching and learning.

The teacher needs time to collaborate with other teachers as well as learn how to use hardware and software
and at the same time keep oneself updated with the latest technology.

Insufficient funds- Appropriate and latest hardware and software facility availability determines the effective and
efficient usage of technology. In developing countries, technology implementation into education systems is a
difficult task as it requires a magnum of funds, infrastructure and support facilities.

Challenge of language and content- A large proportion of the educational software produced in the world market
is in English. Majority of online content is available in English. In developing countries, English language
proficiency is not high, especially outside the urban areas which becomes a serious barrier to maximizing the
educational benefits of ICT.

Crucial external barriers in the implementation of ICT in rural schools are:

Shortage of equipment- There is lack of computers and computer-related resources such as printers, projectors,
scanners, etc. in government schools in rural areas. The ratio of computer per student is insufficient. The option
of private schools is very few or missing in these regions. There is a mismatch between the complementing
resources and inappropriate combination of ICT resources result into reduced diffusion of technology as well as
poor ICT understanding in these educational institutions. Unreliability of equipment- Even the basic ICT
equipment and computers possessed by rural schools are unreliable and undependable. The schools lack up-to-
date hardware and software availability. Old and obsolete equipment are major hindrances to ICT adoption and
application.

Lack of technical support- Rural schools face issues related to technical know-how, absence of ICT service
centers, shortage of trained technical personnel. Whether provided by in-school staff or external service
providers, or both, technical support specialists are essential to the continued viability of ICT use in a given
school. Without on-site technical support, much time and money may be lost due to technical breakdowns. One
of the major obstacles to optimizing computer use in schools has been the lack of timely technical support.

Resource related issues and internet- Rural schools usually face trouble with respect to the availability of ICT
related resources such as supporting infrastructure, uninterrupted electricity, supplementary resources like
multimedia, projectors, scanners, smart boards, and so on. Despite being an integral component of the ICT,
internet is lacking in most rural schools. Most schools cannot afford the high fees charged by internet providers
and even where there is internet, slow or erratic connectivity destroys the very essence and impact of ICT.

Other external factors inhibiting the usage of ICT in rural schools are social and cultural factors inherent to these
regions, lack of initiative by community leaders, corruption and burglary.

Revolution in information and communication technologies has reduced national boundaries to meaningless lines
drawn on maps. In this scenario, education has been identified as one of the services which need to be opened
up for free flow of trade between countries. India is developing as a knowledge economy and it cannot function
without the support of ICT. The gap between demand and supply of education has necessitated the government
and institutions to formulate policies for more beneficial use of ICT.

Digital Tools for Teachers to Use In Classrooms

Grabbing students’ attention and keeping everyone active during the class is very important, but also
very difficult to accomplish. In order to make classes more interactive, fun, and educative at the same
time, teachers should pay attention to new teaching methods and tools. These tools can help both teach-
ers and students, allow them easier access to learning materials, faster and more effective grading, etc.
For those teachers that are looking for a new way to improve their class, here are 5 tools that should
make their job easier and bring additional value to their students.

1. Google Classroom

This Google service allows teachers to organize their class, interact with students, grade their work,
check on their progress, and much more. Because it’s available on smart devices and only requires a
Google account, Google Classroom brings in a certain amount of flexibility to both teacher and students
alike.
It works pretty simply; the teacher creates a class and invites students to join by sending them an invita-
tion via Gmail. The students then join the class and they have instant access to all the materials that the
teacher provides. Moreover, the teacher is able to create quizzes, assign essays, tests, even create a class
calendar with important dates, so students could always stay updated, etc. The teacher has access to stu-
dents' ongoing work and has the ability to provide insightful feedback. In a word, this tool is a virtual
classroom that's always open.

2. Editing Services

Some students are talented writers and have no problem with creating any type of written content. How-
ever, not all of the students are the future Hemmingway and often struggle with essays and other writ-
ten assignments. Editing services can help students with their term papers, book reviews, research pa-
pers, proofreading, etc. These types of online services allow students to take some of the load off, in
case they have too much on their hands. Additionally, the proofreading feature allows students to learn
from their mistakes and get better at spelling and grammar.

However, this tool is not only for those that are not gifted writers. International students can also
achieve more and progress faster with the help of online editing services.

3. ClassMarker

This simple tool allows teachers to create an online test that is instantly graded, which can save them a
whole lot of time and allow them to focus on more important issues. What's really good about this tool
is that it allows multimedia content, so teachers could add pictures or videos to the test sheet to make
the whole experience even more attractive and interactive.

The teacher has the ability to create groups and give each group a separate test, but also has the option
to create a single test and share a link to the test with the entire class via email. The students get the test
results instantly, and all of the tests are stored in the teacher's personal database, which is a great way to
keep track of each student's progress. Additionally, ClassMarker allows setting a time limit for each
quiz and availability dates, which can help teachers in case they have a large number of students to pay
attention to.

4. Edmodo

Another useful tool that not only makes the teaching experience easier but also helps integrate teachers,
students, and parents in the learning process. Edmodo allows teachers to create groups, quizzes, assign
papers, manage students’ progress, etc. It’s also possible to connect Edmodo with your Google or
Microsoft account and transfer files from one service to another seamlessly.

This tool is a great way to keep parents up to date with future events, current grades, progress, etc.
Since teachers can allow access to both students and parents, each user has a certain level of access to
Edmodo content. This way parents will be able to see where they should jump in when it comes to help-
ing their children achieve better results.

Talking about achieving more, Edmodo also allows teachers and students from all over the world to
share knowledge and resources with each other. One of the features of this tool is the ability to share
any type of content with other users and get access to materials that others decided to share.
5. Kahoot

Did anyone say that games are not educational? Kahoot is a learning tool that allows teachers and stu-
dents to create fun games in order to test knowledge and engage the entire class. There is virtually no
limit to the number of questions or their format; you could place videos, images, and even diagrams to
each question to make the game more interesting.

This type of learning experience can really keep the whole class engaged, as each student joins the
game via their smart devices while the results appear on a shared screen for everyone to see. Forming
multiple teams can build a competitive atmosphere which students would enjoy. In addition, the online
nature of Kahoot allows you to include even those students that are unable to attend the class, but are
willing to participate in the game. Furthermore, teachers could assign homework using this tool, and
have instant access to results.

Conclusion

With the digital era taking over, it's important to include digital and online tools into the learning pro-
cess. Students rely on smart devices and internet more than on conventional learning methods. Keeping
up with this trend is what allows the teacher to better understand students and their needs. Additionally,
these tools make the learning process more interactive and allow easier flow of information, which
makes the teacher's job much easier.
Educational Technology Tools Free Educational
Technologyhttps://elearningindustry.com/tags/free-educational-technology

Explore resources and tools created by Google to inspire creativity, encourage hands-on
learning, and equip your students with digital skills.

Information and communication

technology (ICT) in education
Last update 11 Jan 21

BRIEF 4
ICT in education
Information and Communications Technology (ICT) can impact student learning when
teachers are digitally literate and understand how to integrate it into curriculum.
Schools use a diverse set of ICT tools to communicate, create, disseminate, store, and
manage information.(6) In some contexts, ICT has also become integral to the teaching-
learning interaction, through such approaches as replacing chalkboards with interactive
digital whiteboards, using students’ own smartphones or other devices for learning during
class time, and the “flipped classroom” model where students watch lectures at home on
the computer and use classroom time for more interactive exercises.
When teachers are digitally literate and trained to use ICT, these approaches can lead to
higher order thinking skills, provide creative and individualized options for students to
express their understandings, and leave students better prepared to deal with ongoing
technological change in society and the workplace. (18)
ICT issues planners must consider include: considering the total cost-benefit equation,
supplying and maintaining the requisite infrastructure, and ensuring investments are
matched with teacher support and other policies aimed at effective ICT use. (16)
 
Issues and Discussion
Digital culture and digital literacy: Computer technologies and other aspects of digital
culture have changed the ways people live, work, play, and learn, impacting the
construction and distribution of knowledge and power around the world.(14) Graduates
who are less familiar with digital culture are increasingly at a disadvantage in the national
and global economy. Digital literacy—the skills of searching for, discerning, and producing
information, as well as the critical use of new media for full participation in society—has
thus become an important consideration for curriculum frameworks.(8)
In many countries, digital literacy is being built through the incorporation of information
and communication technology (ICT) into schools. Some common educational applications
of ICT include:

 One laptop per child: Less expensive laptops have been designed for use in school on
a 1:1 basis with features like lower power consumption, a low cost operating system,
and special re-programming and mesh network functions.(42) Despite efforts to re-
duce costs, however, providing one laptop per child may be too costly for some de-
veloping countries.(41)
 Tablets: Tablets are small personal computers with a touch screen, allowing input
without a keyboard or mouse. Inexpensive learning software (“apps”) can be down-
loaded onto tablets, making them a versatile tool for learning.(7)(25) The most effect-
ive apps develop higher order thinking skills and provide creative and individualized
options for students to express their understandings.(18)
 Interactive White Boards or Smart Boards: Interactive white boards allow projected
computer images to be displayed, manipulated, dragged, clicked, or copied.(3) Sim-
 ultaneously, handwritten notes can be taken on the board and saved for later use. In-
teractive white boards are associated with whole-class instruction rather than stu-
dent-centred activities.(38) Student engagement is generally higher when ICT is avail-
able for student use throughout the classroom.(4)
 E-readers: E-readers are electronic devices that can hold hundreds of books in digital
form, and they are increasingly utilized in the delivery of reading material.(19) Stu-
dents—both skilled readers and reluctant readers—have had positive responses to
the use of e-readers for independent reading.(22) Features of e-readers that can con-
tribute to positive use include their portability and long battery life, response to text,
and the ability to define unknown words.(22) Additionally, many classic book titles
are  available for free  in e-book form.
 Flipped Classrooms: The flipped classroom model, involving lecture and practice at
home via computer-guided instruction and interactive learning activities in class, can
allow for an expanded curriculum. There is little investigation on the student learning
outcomes of flipped classrooms. (5) Student perceptions about flipped classrooms
are mixed, but generally positive, as they prefer the cooperative learning activities in
class over lecture.(5)(35)

ICT and Teacher Professional Development: Teachers need specific professional

development opportunities in order to increase their ability to use ICT for formative learning
assessments, individualized instruction, accessing online resources, and for fostering
student interaction and collaboration.(15) Such training in ICT should positively impact
teachers’ general attitudes towards ICT in the classroom, but it should also provide specific
guidance on ICT teaching and learning within each discipline. Without this support, teachers
tend to use ICT for skill-based applications, limiting student academic thinking.(32) To sup-
port teachers as they change their teaching, it is also essential for education managers,
supervisors, teacher educators, and decision makers to be trained in ICT use.(11)
Ensuring benefits of ICT investments: To ensure the investments made in ICT benefit
students, additional conditions must be met. School policies need to provide schools with
the minimum acceptable infrastructure for ICT, including stable and affordable internet
connectivity and security measures such as filters and site blockers. Teacher policies need
to target basic ICT literacy skills, ICT use in pedagogical settings, and discipline-specific
uses.(21) Successful implementation of ICT requires integration of ICT in the curriculum.
Finally, digital content needs to be developed in local languages and reflect local culture.
(40) Ongoing technical, human, and organizational supports on all of these issues are
needed to ensure access and effective use of ICT.(21)
Resource Constrained Contexts: The total cost of ICT ownership is considerable: training of
teachers and administrators, connectivity, technical support, and software, amongst others.
(42) When bringing ICT into classrooms, policies should use an incremental pathway,
establishing infrastructure and bringing in sustainable and easily upgradable ICT.
(16) Schools in some countries have begun allowing students to bring their own mobile
technology (such as laptop, tablet, or smartphone) into class rather than providing such
tools to all students—an approach called Bring Your Own Device.(1)(27)(34) However, not all
families can afford devices or service plans for their children.(30) Schools must ensure all
students have equitable access to ICT devices for learning.
 
Inclusiveness Considerations
Digital Divide: The digital divide refers to disparities of digital media and internet access
both within and across countries, as well as the gap between people with and without the
digital literacy and skills to utilize media and internet. (23)(26)(31) The digital divide both
creates and reinforces socio-economic inequalities of the world’s poorest people. Policies
need to intentionally bridge this divide to bring media, internet, and digital literacy to all
students, not just those who are easiest to reach.
Minority language groups: Students whose mother tongue is different from the official
language of instruction are less likely to have computers and internet connections at home
than students from the majority. There is also less material available to them online in their
own language, putting them at a disadvantage in comparison to their majority peers who
gather information, prepare talks and papers, and communicate more using ICT.(39) Yet ICT
tools can also help improve the skills of minority language students—especially in learning
the official language of instruction—through features such as automatic speech recognition,
the availability of authentic audio-visual materials, and chat functions.(2)(17)
Students with different styles of learning: ICT can provide diverse options for taking in and
processing information, making sense of ideas, and expressing learning. Over 87% of
students learn best through visual and tactile modalities, and ICT can help these students
‘experience’ the information instead of just reading and hearing it.(20)(37) Mobile devices
can also offer programmes (“apps”) that provide extra support to students with special
needs, with features such as simplified screens and instructions, consistent placement of
menus and control features, graphics combined with text, audio feedback, ability to set
pace and level of difficulty, appropriate and unambiguous feedback, and easy error
correction.(24)(29)
 

20 Best Apps for Teachers and Educators

Education, Educational Apps, Industries, Mobile Apps
Posted on Thursday January 7, 2021
FacebookTwitterShare
Using Smartphones in the class will no longer be considered as an punishable
offence. Thankfully, smartphone technology has evolved enough to approve the
use of phones and tablets in the classroom to turn the boring lecture into an
exciting learning system by means of educational mobile apps for teachers and
educators.

From expanding the horizon of learning environment to creating lessons, preparing

lecture subjects and enhancing student engagement, the learning-oriented mobile
apps can help maintain learning even outside the classrooms.

By having a right set of teaching software, teachers and educators can streamline
their activities like keeping attendance, recording behavior, engaging students
inside and outside the classroom with effective communication with mobile apps.

We have compiled a list of top 20 best apps for teachers and educators to
enhance digitally interactive learning.
Quizizz TED Pocket Edx

Extramark
Study Blue Seesaw Edmodo
s

Evernote Epic DIKSHA Trello

Remind Tick Tick Noon Academy Dropbox

 Slack ClassDojo Kahoot Google classroom

1. Quizizz : Plan to learn

Quizizz is one of the popular apps for learning at home and in classrooms. Quizzes
make your study more interesting. There are millions of teacher-created quizzes on
the app & children can compete with friends online. Teachers can make the whole
class play together and assign individual homework.

App Features
 Customize games for you.
 Track & get timely progress reports.
 Teachers are the quiz masters.
 Integration with learning management systems.
Ratings: 4.8/5
Installs: 1,000,000+
Download: Android, iOS
2. TED
TED serves as a perfect companion for both teachers & educators. Thousands of
intriguing sessions by experts can help students to get knowledge & topics to
discuss in classrooms.

New educators can plan innovative teaching strategies from the TED contents. Ted
helps teachers to bring out an enriched classroom with active students & prepare
unique lecture presentations.

App Features
 TED talks videos with subtitles.
 TED talks profile to save your favorite sessions.
 Discover enthralling lectures.
 Offline playing is possible.
Ratings: 4.6/5
Installs: 10,000,000+
Download: Android, iOS
3. Pocket

Pocket is an interactive solution to learn lectures on the go. You can instantly save
articles or video content for enhancing your classroom studies.

Teachers can also communicate with students and parents virtually. The latest
version provides an offline listening feature where you can hear saved articles
without the internet.

App Features
 Dark & Sepia themes for night reading.
 Pocket premium unlock advance features
 Eyes-free learning experience
 Multilanguage support
Ratings: 4.6/5
Installs: 10,000,000+
Download: Android, iOS
4. Edx

Edx includes lectures taught by educational experts of top universities. Here, you
can join a real-time online classroom teaching computer science, mathematics,
science & engineering, language, etc. Edx serves as a bonus tool for teachers.
Teachers add their courses & from external sources.

App Features
 Online classes & certificate courses.
 Intuitive user-friendly interface
 Versatile & curative video classes.
 Simple & easy navigations
Ratings: 4.8/5
Installs: 1,000,000+
Download: Android, iOS
5. Study Blue Flashcards & quizzes

Teachers can create flashcards, study materials & interactive sessions on

StudyBlue.It can store up to 400+ million flashcards for 10+ million students.
Students can also create digital flashcards for free with images & audio contents.

You can view study materials on multiple devices anywhere anytime. Get to know
about newer flashcard recommendations of your favorite subjects. You can get
connected to your schools, share flashcards with your teacher & classmates in real-
time.

App Features
 Stay connected with your friends & teachers.
 Unlimited access to over 500+ million study materials
 Quizzes to track your study process.
 Set reminders on bookmarked contents.
Ratings: 4.4/5
Installs: 1,000,000+
Download : Android, iOS
Read Also : 15 Best Apps For College Students 2021 
6. Extramarks
Extramarks is an exciting study platform for students from KG to 12 of CBSE &
ICSE boards. Teachers can conduct thorough checks on your learning journey
through SNAAP (Students Needs Analysis & Academic Profile) in Extramarks.

An AI study bot Alex helps each student. It’s all in one feature that makes extra
marks into one of the best apps for teachers & educators.

App Features
 Personalized learning experience
 Monthly subscription packages on study modules.
 Bite-sized modules for hard topics
 Attractive UI with rich animations.
Ratings: 4.5/5
Installs: 5,000,000+
Download: Android, iOS
7. Seesaw

Seesaw is an ideal app for teachers by saving their time. Students do their works
themselves & you can just browse good homework for them. They start creating
impressive digital portfolios for them.

Teachers and educators can translate notes to 50+ languages & integrate with
100s of other apps. Teachers get a chance to assess each student in a more prior
way than real classrooms through seesaw.

App Features
 Creative tools for engaging students.
 Real-time digital responses from students.
 Student-driven portfolio
 Student-friendly UI
Ratings: 3.8/5
Installs: 1,000,000+
Download: Android, iOS
8. Edmodo

Edmodo is a convenient app to have multiple communications. Teachers can speak

with their students, parents & other fellow teachers.

Edmodo comprises quality tools for teachers to create exciting study materials,
make parents updated about a child’s progress, thus an interactive classroom
ambiance. Discover useful content & reach out to individual students.

App Features
 One place for effective classroom activities.
 Direct messages to students & parents.
 Automatically updated planner.
 Dozens of educational resources.
Ratings: 4.5/5
Installs: 5,000,000+
Download: Android, iOS
9. Evernote

Evernote is a handy notetaking app beneficial for both teachers & students.
Teachers can replace those lengthy printed notes with notes in various formats
including audio, videos, PDFs, and more.

Students create separate notebooks for organizing each subject. Parents can also
view students’ activities. This transparency of Evernote makes it one of the best
apps for teachers & educators.

App Features
 Sync your notes on multiple devices.
 Keep track of your exams, assignments, deadlines.
 Easy to use UI
 Subscription plans for premium features.
Ratings: 4.2/5
Installs: 100,000,000+
Download: Android, iOS
10. Epic
Epic helps your child to engage in immersive reading habits. They can access over
40,000+ high-quality books & read books of their type. Epic ensures unlimited
reading and learning in children from home and at school.

The app is 100% free to teachers & librarians worldwide. They can identify each
student’s reading priorities & create customized profiles for them.

Various types of books like audio, video, read along, e-books & read to me books
make it unique from its competitors.

App Features
 Personalized book recommendations for students.
 No third-party ads.
 Hassle-free Subscription plans.
 Active on multiple devices.
Ratings: 4.5/5
Installs: 1,000,000+
Download: Android, iOS
11. DIKSHA

DIKSHA is popular for its enjoyable classroom experience for students, teachers &
parents. Teachers can create engaging materials based on the prescribed school
curriculum.

Students learn concepts & do activities as directed. Parents can ask doubts along
with the following classroom activities. The app provides tutors to join other courses
to increase their professional abilities & get certificates.

App Features
 Provide high-quality materials for students.
 Enhance problem-solving skills.
 Addition materials on topics
 Support multi-languages & multiple content formats.
Ratings: 4.4/5
Installs: 10,000,000+
Download: Android
12. Trello

Trello enables educators and teachersto have trouble-free project management

through apps. They can make students follow the instructions & mark progress on
each project stage.

It can be customized for your needs and reduce tensions regarding every detail of a
project. By turning on notifications, you can view the minute fabrics of your projects
in an organized manner.

App Features
 Create & drag cards to follow your project
 Add notes in Trello digital boards
 Flexible & faster operations
 follow your project from idea to action stage
Ratings: 4.4/5
Installs: 10,000,000+
Download: Android, iOS
13. Remind: School communication

Remind is an app assuring better communication among teachers & students.

Real-time feedback & comments in school or outside schools make students more
lively. Teachers can efficiently manage communication between and within the
school community.

App Features
 Safe & secure communication
 Translation of messages in about 90 languages
 Easy to use app on multiple devices
 Share files, photos & materials from various sites.
Ratings: 4.4/5
Installs:10,000,000+
Download : Android, iOS
14. Tick Tick

Tick Tick  is a popular to-do list & planner app. Many teachers rely on TickTick for
easy scheduling & reminding about individual sessions.

The app allows customizable profiles so that tutors can make events up-to-date &
easy teaching. TickTick makes the whole classroom stay organized & conscious of
each activity.

App Features
 Subscription per year for the pro version.
 Seamless collaboration with students & parents.
 Make checklists & sort goals by date
 Exciting & simple UI.
Ratings: 4.6/5
Installs:1,000,000+
Download : Android, iOS
15. Noon Academy
Noon academy offers you excellent classes from the world’s best teachers.
Students can attend live classes of their teachers & get real-time feedback from
them.

Collaborate with your friends like in your classrooms, enjoy doing Homeworks &
activities with your friends. Noon academy includes teacher-created contents for
grades 4-12 and the university level.

App Features
 Student-friendly interface
 Revise lessons through recorded sessions.
 Join teacher’s groups of various regions
 Challenge your friends in solving questions.
Ratings: 4.3/5
Installs:1,000,000+
Download: Android, iOS
Read Also : 15 Best Learning Apps For Kids 2021
16. Dropbox

Dropbox is very much familiar to us. We have come across this app to backup
photos, instantly share large files, etc. It enables tutors to upload files and share
them with students in different places.

It can store a great number of files to cloud storage and access files synced with
any of your devices.  Bye-Bye to paper assignments & dropbox can share your
creative work with your teacher and classmates in no time.

App Features
 Free dropbox trial & paid services after 30 days.
  Easy sending of large files through link sharing.
 Auto upload of photos and videos to the cloud.
 Convenient & easy navigations.
 Scan documents & convert into PDFs.
Ratings:4.2/5
Installs: 500,000,000+
Download : Android, iOS
17. Slack

Slack is the most preferred solution for team communication. Teachers use slack
for assigning group projects and have an unlimited exchange of ideas.

You can set a to-do list for assessing each stage of the project & performance of
each student. Students get instant feedback & edited documents from teachers.

App Features
 Easy searching for past documents
 Faster communication between students & teachers
 Customised profiles
 Integrate with various services like dropbox, google drive, etc.
Ratings: 4.1/5
Installs: 10,000,000+
Download: Android, iOS
18. ClassDojo
ClassDojo is a simple communication app for students, teachers, and parents. One
can recreate a beautiful classroom through the app. Children get more activities in
their digital portfolios.

Teachers encourage parents’ engagement through announcements & videos.

Parents can track the child’s progress and talk with teachers whenever they wish
to.

App Features
 Encourage students to do activities
 Free app without ads
 Safe & handy communication platform
 Attractive & easy UI
Ratings: 4.1/5
Installs:10,000,000+
Download: Android, iOS
19. Kahoot

Kahoot is a known app for interactive learning. Kahoot contains thousands of

engaging quizzes for teachers, students, and all other learners.

Users can create their quizzes and learn newer things. Teachers can pick out from
millions of quiz-based games(kahoots) on any topic. Students can join kahoots live
by their favorite teachers.

App Features
 Plan student-paced challenges
 Challenge friends with kahoots
 Progress reports of students
 Highly intuitive UI
Ratings: 4/5
Installs: 10,000,000+
Download: Android, iOS
20. Google classroom

Google Classroom has a hundred million-plus downloads & significant place in the
best 20 apps for teachers and educators. Teachers can add every student, directly
as in a classroom or by sharing a code to join.

Students view their assignments and notes which get filed in google drive
automatically. Whether inside or outside the school, teachers set up classrooms in
just a few minutes.

App Features
 Enhances effective communication.
 Affordable & no third-party ads
 Paperless assignment workflow saves time
 Learners and instructors stay organized throughout.
Ratings: 3.5/5
Installs: 10,000,000+
Download : Android, iOS
Read Also: 15 Best Kids Reading Apps 2021
Conclusion
As we forge ahead in the era of technology, we can see how the next generation of
young demographics interact with the digital resources to make their life better and
easier.

There is no denial that mobile apps are the future and add power to teachers and
educators in tomorrow’s economic and social culture.

These top 20 mobile apps surely follow a quantum leap in existing educational
system and help teachers and educators revolutionize their methods of engaging
with students.

The teaching apps have made the classroom ambiance friendly and students have gained im-
mense interest in learning with interactive and fun elements.

These teacher apps help teachers to communicate their ideas more freely and ensure the par-
ticipation of students.

 Meet connects students and teachers to teach and learn from anywhere
 Docs, Sheets, and Slides let you co-create and edit in real time
 Use Google Drive to store and access docs on and offline without losing a draft
 Classroom and Assignments helps you easily create and organize coursework
 Rubrics keep grading transparent
 Forms make permission slips and quizzes easy